The love interest – basically it does what it says on the box, because
the love interest’s sole purpose is to be romantically connected to one of the
main characters of whatever television show, movie, book or comic you’re
looking at. Occasionally he or more likely she actually develops into something
more but most of the time this character is simply a series of stereotypes with
a pretty face. As a romantic
subplot is expected in most stories this trope is fairly prevalent but
sometimes it would be nice if they ignored the love story completely rather
than included these shallow characters.
This is the ‘Bond girl’ or the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ or even ‘prince
charming’; whoever they are they do not add anything other than romance (or
sex) to the plot. They are there to make the hero (and occasionally heroine)
look good, and be the well earn prize at the end of his or her journey.
It’s not like every romance falls into this trope, the best romances
don’t because they’re about two fleshed out individual characters that interact
in exciting and interesting ways - but we don't see it as often as we should. We excuse this trope in stand alone
films and books because the genre is not romance, they are action or science
fiction or fantasy and there is not enough time to flesh out the other half of
the romantic subplot. So the hero’s girlfriend is reduced to a basic stereotype
and that’s okay because she’s not really relevant to the plot anyway (that’s
sarcasm btw).
The love interest is generally treated differently for men and women. Female
love interests are the reward for the hero when he completes the task he has
been set the beginning of the story (even if that task is to get the girl). In
most masculine genres, such as action and science fiction her sole purpose is
to prove the protagonists heterosexuality – despite the fact that he spends
more time with men than women. Male love interests on the other hand are the
task that is presented – the heroine is only complete when she has the love of
a man and even if the protagonist is female it generally up to the male character to prove
himself worthy (and perform the inevitable chase at the end).
While this trope may be easier to forgive in stand-alone films and books
due to time constraints it unfortunately seeps into television shows as well. Eventually,
when a series runs long enough, they run out of people for the main
characters to hook up with, so they have to bring in some new blood. Generally
this new character is not going to last long because endgame couplings have
already been established, so the new ‘love interest’ is simply there to cause a bit
of drama between the expected romance or will-they-wont-they storyline. (See
also the introduction of a lesbian as love interest for a female characters
until it turns out she was straight all along – note this does not have a
gender reversal).
A lot of television series, (and even comics and book series) begin with
a stereotypical 'love interest' but because of the available time these characters can grow to
become more than just a romantic subplot (or at least we hope they will – we’re
often disappointed of course). Sometimes this, usually female, romantic
interest is killed off early in the series just to give the protagonist a
little more angst, basically she’s Gwen Stacy. Don’t worry though, because a
new love interest will soon be introduced.
Then there are the love interests that introduced in the second or third
season of a television show with a predominantly male (or maybe female) cast. The
first season presented the plot, but as romance was not an important part
of the story there were very few (if any) recurring characters of the opposite
sex. But then the show is renewed and there is only so long you can go without
having a heterosexual romance – slash fans know what I’m talking about here.
This also happens when the powers-that-be decide not to pair the spares
(aka couple the characters in an ensemble cast that are not yet part of an
official couple or will they won’t they romance). Spares present a massive
problem for writers because if they are not officially coupled with someone
then they can be coupled with anyone. Although making a couple official doesn’t
really stop the shippers.
If the writers are particularly lazy they might introduce a romantic
interest in the final season to pair with the third wheel of a love triangle just
so that they can have a happy ending without any loose ends. This is a pretty
big cop out, and is generally not well received besides if the love triangle
has not resolved itself by this stage usually the viewers are pretty apathetic
anyway.
Basically the love interest (or romantic interest) is part of the way
most narratives are structured, but just because history tells you there must
be a romantic subplot doesn’t mean there should be one. It’s perfectly okay to
introduce a character that will be romantically linked with one of the
protagonists, but if the characters sole purpose is to be a love interest then they are probably
not necessary. Just dump the dead weight and move on with the story (or better
yet just admit that the real love story is the one happening between the two
main characters that just happen to be of the same sex).
Anyway, there you have it. There are lots of different variants of this
trope but it’s one that annoys me because most of the time it could be easily edited out. Say it with me – THERE DOES NOT NEED TO BE A ROMANTIC
SUBPLOT!
That's all folks. Don’t forget to check out more talk about tropes here.
