OH PLEASE BABY, COMMENT PARAGRAPHS AT ME. THAT'S HOW I LIKE IT.
So much wooooord. I think people get a little sidetracked by how much it sucks to like someone who doesn't like you back, and forget that, while it can sound harsh, it's just not the crush object's problem. And I think fiction by its very nature plays into the expectation that if someone likes you, you have to do something for them, just because... plot. If the writer/s of something introduce a crush, odds are at some point they're going to want it to pay off in some kind of reciprocation - especially in television, where you need a lot of plot to keep shit rolling for years on end.
I just, I remember when I was... oh, gosh, fourteen or fifteen, and had finally seen the fifth season of Buffy and I was all excited for the sixth because obvs Spike and Buffy were going to get it on. And this weird moment where I stopped and thought, "Wait, why would they? Buffy doesn't like him" but then my tiny teenage brain was like, "But he likes her SO MUCH, you can't be that into someone and just have NOTHING happen EVER." THAT MOMENT HAUNTS ME.
Then I read this book of Japanese fairy tales more recently, with rather more awareness, and HOLY SHIT are they big on that - woman is beautiful, man/men fall in love with her, this is ALL HER FAULT and if more than one man loves her she has to kill herself because how dare she be such a temptress. And that one Norse myth, omg it's scary as fuck, if a dude is into you you better marry him or he will fuck you up for being a stone cold bitch. JUST. WHAT. NO.
Haha, I know, reading lots of multi-chapter stuff at once is confusing as hale. Sorting the polar opposites is bad enough, but I really trip up when there are ones that are sort of similar, like there'll be two fics with Blaine over at Kurt's for Christmas, and I can't remember which one Kurt and Finn are fighting in and which one they're fine in and shit like that. SO MUCH HAPPENING.
Re: hai back :)
So much wooooord. I think people get a little sidetracked by how much it sucks to like someone who doesn't like you back, and forget that, while it can sound harsh, it's just not the crush object's problem. And I think fiction by its very nature plays into the expectation that if someone likes you, you have to do something for them, just because... plot. If the writer/s of something introduce a crush, odds are at some point they're going to want it to pay off in some kind of reciprocation - especially in television, where you need a lot of plot to keep shit rolling for years on end.
I just, I remember when I was... oh, gosh, fourteen or fifteen, and had finally seen the fifth season of Buffy and I was all excited for the sixth because obvs Spike and Buffy were going to get it on. And this weird moment where I stopped and thought, "Wait, why would they? Buffy doesn't like him" but then my tiny teenage brain was like, "But he likes her SO MUCH, you can't be that into someone and just have NOTHING happen EVER." THAT MOMENT HAUNTS ME.
Then I read this book of Japanese fairy tales more recently, with rather more awareness, and HOLY SHIT are they big on that - woman is beautiful, man/men fall in love with her, this is ALL HER FAULT and if more than one man loves her she has to kill herself because how dare she be such a temptress. And that one Norse myth, omg it's scary as fuck, if a dude is into you you better marry him or he will fuck you up for being a stone cold bitch. JUST. WHAT. NO.
Haha, I know, reading lots of multi-chapter stuff at once is confusing as hale. Sorting the polar opposites is bad enough, but I really trip up when there are ones that are sort of similar, like there'll be two fics with Blaine over at Kurt's for Christmas, and I can't remember which one Kurt and Finn are fighting in and which one they're fine in and shit like that. SO MUCH HAPPENING.