Mmmm…I’m not sure I’d really put Beatrice and Benedick in this category. Duke Orsino and Olivia from Twelfth Night, perhaps (and they end up with other partners anyway) or Romeo and his first crush Rosaline, but not really B & B.
Beatrice and Benedick are hinted to have had some kind of relationship before, but he skipped out on her. (“Indeed, my lord, he lent [his heart to] me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one. Marry, once before he won it of me with false dice.”) The Joss Whedon version expands on this in its first scene.
It’s obvious they have feelings for each other, but their pride and past history is getting in the way of their opening up to each other again. Since Benedick is always making “cuckold” jokes, perhaps he’s observed infidelity before, and won’t let himself trust anyone enough to make a fool of him–hence his breaking things off with Beatrice before. For her part, Beatrice, having been burned by him before, won’t give him the chance again, no matter how she feels. Once their friends have intervened and put on their little show, they feel sure of each other’s feelings and can admit their own.
So I don’t think that’s an example of the genre discussed here (which I’m not crazy about myself).
And regardless of whatever history there was between Beatrice and Benedick, before the trickery by their friends, they’re both resisting. Neither can be said to be “stalking” or “wearing down” the other.
The “persistent romantic” goes back to ancient times, but for full-on batshit dysfunctionality you need Heathcliff and Cathy. And yet Heathcliff is considered a romantic hero.
That’s exactly what I thought. It’s apparently pretty popular and has been picked up for another season. I read the description and decided it wasn’t for me. On Facebook all my friends that have touted it as a good series have been women. Hardly a scientific sampling but the results are 100%.
Pretty much this … I was stalked off and on for almost 25 years, and though the guy is now dead I still get triggered if I see someone who looks like him, or hear certain sounds or phrases and I can’t tolerate a couple aftershaves.
Though obviously enough people like the genre to make it reasonably popular …
It doesn’t involve Drew Barrymore but I believe you are thinking of The Notebook, widely regarded by many women as one of the most romantic movies of all time.*
*At least, by two former (female) roommates of mine, who would literally cry every time they watched it as it was just “so sad and romantic.” The internet tells me they’re not the only ones.
That’s an awfully broad brush. I won’t say a majority – or even a sizeable minority – of women like it, but it’s not all women who don’t like it or it wouldn’t be put out.
“I don’t understand it, Larry. We printed 10,000 copies of The Man who Stalked Me and the bookstores returned 9,960 of them.”
When I came into work one morning, the cube of the guy next to me was festooned with dozens of half-sheets of paper with a large number (357 IIRC) on it as some sort of prank. When he came in a few hours later, he stopped, and sighed on seeing them. I popped up and asked what the significance of the number was.
Well, the etymology of “pornography” is literally “pictures of prostitutes”, it was a genre of Greek vases. I think if it doesn’t include pictures it’s “erotica”, not “pornography”.
That was a good movie, but I didn’t even remember the romantic angle until you brought it up. He tries to re-do and improve everything in his life. And that’s more a do-over than stalking.
Well, he starts off being manipulative (for a long time and with at least one other woman), using prior knowledge to build up a fake common ground. It isn’t until after he becomes sincere in his love that he’s allowed to proceed with his life.