Discover Top Posts Tagged with #rom cons

Which of my favorite rom coms are Dean and Cas most like?

Bridget Jones’s Diary

When Harry Met Sally

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Notting Hill

Pretty Woman

10 things I hate about you

Two Weeks Notice

The Proposal

The Princess Bride

Love Actually (pick a storyline)

Red White and Royal Blue

other/they’re not a rom com fuck you

Voting ended onApr 23, 2024

#this is for me but also for a fic #rom com destiel #seems a little out of place #cause they’re always a tragedy in canon #but not in my little world #spn #supernatural #dean winchester #destiel #castiel #deancas #casdean #spn poll #spn polls #rom cons

So last night while waiting for the sweet release of sleep to claim me I was thinking about the Lifetime Christmas movies my grandmother's been watching and I've been mocking for the last month. My main criticisms with them are that they're unrealistic, contrived, and promote completely unrealistic fantasies. And then I realized, those same criticisms can be applied to my escapism of choice--buff men in spandex solving the world's problems by punching or debonair aliens dashing about and rescuing people. So, am I a hypocrite for poo-pooing my grandmother's escapism of choice when it's no more unrealistic than my own?

What makes superhero stories *better* than rom-coms?

Well, I think it all boils down to the characters. If you take a step back, most of the people in these rom-coms are pretty awful people. Oh sure, the narrative tries to frame them as sympathetic characters, but most are single-minded characters who only care about their own little worlds who almost always do something objectionable but the stories try to frame as "romantic." Stalking, cheating, etc. are portrayed as "okay" if it's done for "true love!" These stories contribute to our society's already-unhealthy views of romantic love.

My buff men in spandex and debonair aliens, on the other hand, actively work to make the world around them a better place, often with great self-sacrifice. Are problems and solutions oversimplified compared to the real world? Oh of course. But at least these characters can inspire people to do better, to make the real world a better place. How many people, in their journeys to be more like Superman or Spider-man or Captain Kirk or Doctor Who, have actually gone out of their way to help others?

So yeah, superheroes and rom-coms may contain the same level of hokeyness. Both contain the same levels of BS, but at least superhero stories own up to that fact and have fun with it rather than trying to pass their brand of BS off as reality and makes you feel bad when your life doesn't match up*. And I would rather enjoy some escapism with wholesome characters than selfish myopia mislabeled as "love."

*Listen also to "The Grand Illusion" by Styx