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Cultural Corner|Lost in Translation|Crossing Over|Fandom|2 Cents

Fandom

Love Triangles Anonymous: the Fandom Angle

 

So you finally manage to find an series without a love triangle, or at least one where the main character has the backbone to make a choice in the end, everyone is happy, and then, what happens?  Fandom picks it up and makes a mess of it.  Is it some disease?  Some hidden, sick, recess of human nature?  Why do we never want anyone to settle down happily with their soul mate?  Hmm?  Do we not believe in love anymore?  Maybe it's just that we no longer believe in  soul mates, or destiny, or fidelity, or something like that. Fans may actually be worse than creators on this one.

My personal opinion on it?  We, as the fans, can't bear to see anyone hurt, and we forget that it happens.  We forget that they aren't real so it doesn't matter.  We want our fantasy to be happy, and we forget that our definition of what makes us happy can change over time.  That and the current movement against the "Mary Sue", or original character love interest.  That's just silly.  Naturally as life goes on we meet new people and our relationships shift.  What is wrong with a fanfiction writer introducing a new character and forming a relationship between them and an existing character?  The professional writers do it all the time.  It's alright for Toji, or Yuki, or anyone else to meet someone new and move on and be happy.  He doesn't have to be devoted to his current crush his whole life.  It doesn't make his original feelings less real, it just means he's moving on and letting her be happy.  That doesn't mean he'll be miserable forever! 

And three way relationships just don't work... as I pointed out in the related article under "Crossing Over". They're difficult and annoying (and immoral, but we won't even go there) and too much trouble all the way around.  Would you be happy if you had to share your significant other with a third party?  I doubt it.  So... let them go. Let them grow up and be happy!  You can do it fans!