# Stories where stalking actually works **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316 "2011-02-14T16:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/61 "2011-02-18T08:22:17Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Could someone define “stalking” for me? I think the definition is a whole lot broader than it used to be. Showing any romantic interest in someone. Geeze, didn’t ya get the memo? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/62 "2011-02-18T11:07:22Z")
I fell off the memo list a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/63 "2011-02-18T14:37:46Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > I came in to vote for “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. I loved that movie as a kid, and it wasn’t until I had kids of my own that the full psycho-ness of it struck me. Prime example of how our societal views change over a few decades. See [Values Dissonance](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValuesDissonance) and [Fair For Its Day.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FairForItsDay) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/64 "2011-02-18T16:04:42Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Would it qualify, in your opinion? (Though I’m a huge Frasier fan, I haven’t seen all that much Cheers, so I’m a bit spotty on how Frasier/Lilith got together.) Their depicted early meetings are actually pretty funny. Bebe Neuwirth first appeared as Lilith as a chilly blind date of Frasier’s and the occasion did not go well at all. They brought her back about six months later for an episode in which Lilith and Frasier appear together on some PBS-ish psychology debate show and the innuendos in their talking points are hysterical as they gradually and obviously succumb to mutual lust, hooking up (off camera) at the end of the episode. _Much_ later, four or five seasons I suspect, Lilith described a somewhat inconsistent version of their early courtship in which Fraiser caller her at all hours, parked down the street from her house, “essentially stalking me”. Frasier: It worked, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/65 "2011-02-18T16:36:02Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > The Prime Minister of Canada!? Sorry, US Midwest, late 70s. Not related to Canadian PM. Weird and creepy true crime case. I met one of the detectives on the case. There is some stuff not on the TV ep, and not in the book either. (police techniques in ascertaining the scope of the poisoning, and the ‘stalkees’ perceptions of the stalker) ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/66 "2011-02-18T17:26:29Z")
Does being too busy to actually stalk the person personally count? There’s a hell of a lot of romance novels out there where a powerful man decides he wants a woman for himself and when she gets pissed off at him for coming on too strong he sends lackeys to always keep track of her. Urban fantasy romance is especially full of this. It’s like every book is about some chick who hunts or kills supernatural things and a powerful client or target decides he wants her for himself and finds a way to keep tabs on her until she finally gives up and stays with him. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/67 "2011-02-18T20:19:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yes. It doesn’t strictly count for this thread, since Eliza doesn’t end up with Freddy, but it seems to be intended as romantic. Read the lyrics, though, very stalkerish. But in the original play by Shaw and the movie based on it, she probably does. Shaw’s notes to the play specifically say that she does not wind up with Professor Higgins. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/68 "2011-02-18T20:37:39Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But in the original play by Shaw and the movie based on it, she probably does. Shaw’s notes to the play specifically say that she does not wind up with Professor Higgins. The movie definitely implies that she and Higgins get together (which is ridiculous…the man’s as gay as an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race staged at a bathhouse!). I thought that was an awful spoiling of Eliza’s maturation between “Just You Wait, 'Enry 'Iggins” and “Without You”. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/69 "2011-02-18T20:59:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Their depicted early meetings are actually pretty funny. Bebe Neuwirth first appeared as Lilith as a chilly blind date of Frasier’s and the occasion did not go well at all. They brought her back about six months later for an episode in which Lilith and Frasier appear together on some PBS-ish psychology debate show and the innuendos in their talking points are hysterical as they gradually and obviously succumb to mutual lust, hooking up (off camera) at the end of the episode. > > _Much_ later, four or five seasons I suspect, Lilith described a somewhat inconsistent version of their early courtship in which Fraiser caller her at all hours, parked down the street from her house, “essentially stalking me”. > > Frasier: It worked, didn’t it? Ah. I think I vaguely remember hearing about that debate show episode. I really need to go back and watch some “Cheers” episodes to get my Frasier and Lilith fix. Especially since I’ve watched most every episode of Frasier multiple times. (Not addicted, though, nosiree!) ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/70 "2011-02-18T21:10:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > …stories where the obsessed stalker gets the object of his/her affection in the end ---- and gets her/him **by** stalking or stalking-related activities, not because of some unconnected and impossible set of circumstances. **The Graduate** ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/71 "2011-02-18T21:13:56Z")
Movie “Every Girl Should Be Married” Cart Grant Betsy Drake. She stalks him in the movie; they get married in the movie AND in real life. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/72 "2011-02-18T22:08:41Z")
Indie flick called ‘Good Dick’. The star is whassisbutt from ‘Three’s Company’'s son. He is a very charismatic actor. This is somewhat helpful in selling his character as a good guy, because his actions are beyond creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/73 "2011-02-18T22:08:56Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Could someone define “stalking” for me? I think the definition is a whole lot broader than it used to be. That’s what tends to happen when people learn they can use reasonable laws in an unreasonable fashion to address petty grudges that they’re too cowardly to do anything about on their own. Which is why this thread keeps Ping-Pong-ing… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/74 "2011-02-19T00:50:39Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > **Big Fish**? > > Ewen McGregor sees Alison Lohman at a circus, works for free at the circus to find out information about her, travels to her college and asks her out. She replies that she’s already engaged. He starts to walk off, them screams that he loves her and he WILL marry her. > > Later, he shows up at her dorm, with a field full of her favorite flower. She sees it, and goes to talk to him. Her fiancée shows up and kicks Ewen’s ass. Alison dumps hubby-to-be, and gets together with Ewen. > > If that happened to ANY girl IRL, she’d have had his ass thrown in jail within the hour. To be fair though, in _Big Fish_, the whole plot revolved around the main character telling his son all these fantastic stories, and his son thinking they were all a bunch of bullshit. Most of them turned out to be exaggerated. And as always, [_The Onion_](http://www.theonion.com/articles/romanticcomedy-behavior-gets-reallife-man-arrested,757/) has this covered. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/75 "2011-02-19T01:11:27Z")
SNL skit: [“Stalk Talk,”](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92dstalktalk.phtml) with Christopher Walken. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/76 "2011-02-19T01:56:43Z")
John Cusack does some post-breakup stalking in **High Fidelity** …and wins the girl back. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/77 "2011-02-19T03:48:31Z")
**Sugarbaby** - 1980s German art film about an obese female morgue assistant who stalks and eventually romances a handsome subway conductor. It’s billed as a “comedy” but is creepy to the max. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/78 "2011-02-21T08:34:07Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > That’s what tends to happen when people learn they can use reasonable laws in an unreasonable fashion to address petty grudges that they’re too cowardly to do anything about on their own. Which is why this thread keeps Ping-Pong-ing… Well I think it’s actually just what I call hyperbole creep\*. “Stalking” started out as a specific term only applicable in extreme cases of romantic or other personal obsession manifesting in illegal or borderline illegal behaviour, and now at its loosest it seems just to mean unwanted romantic attention of any sort from someone who doesn’t give up the second they receive any discouragement at all. \*Which is as I’ve said before is my pet term for the way a word starts out meaning something specific and then people start to use it as hyperbole and it gradually loses its specific meaning as listeners come to learn it is just a term thrown around carelessly, and so some other term has to be invented to have the specific meaning in question, and so it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316/79 "2011-02-21T10:39:06Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > “Stalking” started out as a specific term only applicable in extreme cases of romantic or other personal obsession manifesting in illegal or borderline illegal behaviour, and now at its loosest it seems just to mean unwanted romantic attention of any sort from someone who doesn’t give up the second they receive any discouragement at all. And not even “unwanted”… some people would hear that a boy has taken a 500-yards detour to walk by the street where a classmate he likes lives, on the offchance he’ll happen to be able to see her and/or strike a conversation with her, and would file it under “stalking” - no questions about her own opinion asked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-stalking-actually-works/571316.md?page=3)