As a girl, I can always appreciate a good romantic comedy or other love stories. However, nothing is more detestable to me than movies that have a forced side romance.
When I pay $7.50 or more to see an action movie, I’m not exactly thrilled when a clichéd, unwarranted miniature love plot stumbles onto the scene. I want to get the most out of my ridiculously priced ticket, not be forced to endure the director’s awkward attempts at a “multi-genre” film. There’s nothing unique or interesting about the half-formed, formulaic romance that appears as if it were dropped into the movie at the last moment in an endeavor to appeal to a teenage, female audience.
The moment I spot such gaudy and, frankly, pitiful violations against the film industry, I condemn a movie to immediate failure. Although they are not typically transgressors, novels can be just as guilty as any movie when it comes to useless, artificial romances.
In order to purge this epidemic, directors and authors should possess enough confidence in their work to stand alone, rather than adding superficial substitutes. In direct opposition with their intentions, these distract from the heart of the plot and the natural flow of the film.
The saddest thing is that, in spite of several other excellent points in a movie, the clumsy, tacked on love scenes stick out the most. Thor had excellent action scenes and, rare for an action piece like this, great comic relief moments. However, that movie will forever be tainted in my mind because of the shallow romantic subplots. If they had cared to take more time to provide at least a hint of depth or relatability, they could have added a whole new dimension to the movie.
Their uncomfortable smiles reveal that they thought it was a dumb idea, too.
For now, I’ll sit back and hope that, after sabotaging themselves and their work, directors and other artists will have an earth shattering epiphany about the errors of their ways and decide to create stories independent of insincere love triangles.
Eternally In Progress 