rachelmanija (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija) wrote2011-08-25 11:14 am
rachelmanija) wrote2011-08-25 11:14 am
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The Ubiquitous Love Triangle
Love triangles, always popular in many genres, seem to have become a near-requirement for YA fantasy and science fiction.
I usually do not like love triangles. They bring up the possibility of infidelity, which I hate in literature.
They bring up a lot of angst which I find hard to identify with - this is probably a very personal reaction, but I always think, "Having not one, but TWO attractive guys you like? What a great "problem" to have! That's like getting two fabulous job offers, or being accepted by your top two colleges!"
Plus I find it annoying that, if the heroine genuinely loves them both, no one ever even considers the possibility of polyamory, or even not choosing immediately and seeing how things shake out. (Honorable exceptions: a few books whose titles are spoilery given that this is surprising and happens at the end, but they're by Janni Simner, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Caroline Stevermer. Um. And Laurell K. Hamilton. Maybe that one should be dishonorable.)
It's also usually excruciatingly obvious who the heroine will pick, making her angst annoying and pointless - one guy is clearly evil, unworthy, or doesn't reach the heights of exquisite wonderfulness as the other.
It is very annoying when the triangle is resolved without the heroine making a meaningful choice, because one of the guys dies or turns out to be evil or falls for someone else. Total bait and switch!
Finally, the ubiquity in certain genres may be why many seem to be pasted on as an afterthought. Elements pasted on due to marketability rarely add to the artistry of a work.
One of the few that I've ever liked was in Patricia McKillip's Changeling Sea, in which there were three guys and a girl, and they all had about equal screen time and were all attractive and likable in some sense. Plus, she picked my favorite.
Talk to me about love triangles. Why do you like them? Why do you like the ones you like? Why do you dislike them? And which are your most and least favorites?
Please mark triangle-related spoilers in the header of your comment, ie, "Spoilers for Hunger Games."
I usually do not like love triangles. They bring up the possibility of infidelity, which I hate in literature.
They bring up a lot of angst which I find hard to identify with - this is probably a very personal reaction, but I always think, "Having not one, but TWO attractive guys you like? What a great "problem" to have! That's like getting two fabulous job offers, or being accepted by your top two colleges!"
Plus I find it annoying that, if the heroine genuinely loves them both, no one ever even considers the possibility of polyamory, or even not choosing immediately and seeing how things shake out. (Honorable exceptions: a few books whose titles are spoilery given that this is surprising and happens at the end, but they're by Janni Simner, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Caroline Stevermer. Um. And Laurell K. Hamilton. Maybe that one should be dishonorable.)
It's also usually excruciatingly obvious who the heroine will pick, making her angst annoying and pointless - one guy is clearly evil, unworthy, or doesn't reach the heights of exquisite wonderfulness as the other.
It is very annoying when the triangle is resolved without the heroine making a meaningful choice, because one of the guys dies or turns out to be evil or falls for someone else. Total bait and switch!
Finally, the ubiquity in certain genres may be why many seem to be pasted on as an afterthought. Elements pasted on due to marketability rarely add to the artistry of a work.
One of the few that I've ever liked was in Patricia McKillip's Changeling Sea, in which there were three guys and a girl, and they all had about equal screen time and were all attractive and likable in some sense. Plus, she picked my favorite.
Talk to me about love triangles. Why do you like them? Why do you like the ones you like? Why do you dislike them? And which are your most and least favorites?
Please mark triangle-related spoilers in the header of your comment, ie, "Spoilers for Hunger Games."
Re: Spoilers for Elfquest and Song of the Lioness
I also liked the various ways Elfquest handled Recognition, and how it didn't mean you instantly had an awesome permanent relationship--Dewshine and Tyldak didn't want that kind of relationship at all, Cutter and Leetah had to work at building the relationship on top of recognition, Nightfall and Redlance were lifemated before they ever Recognized and Leetah had to force it (iirc). And Recognized relationships weren't necessarily "more important" or even "more intimate" than others--I always thought Cutter and Skywise had as intense and important a relationship as Cutter and Leetah, just a different one (and I think it's significant that Skywise is there in Cutter's "peace" image in book 9.
I don't think Elfquest is YA per se, but it tends to get stuck in the YA section by people who assume comics are for kids (and I'm with the Pinis that honest treatment of healthy sexuality is better for teens than glamorization of violence, and it was always the sex that they got parental complaints about, not the unglamorized violence). Sigh. Elfquest really had, IMO, a lot of really good values, although it could have done with a bit less of the Brutish Humans and attendant subtext.
Argh, I want to reread now, but my books are in another state.