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Peyton |
1) Friends To Lovers: Stories with this trope can be some of the sweetest romances ever. My heart gets warm when I read friends to lovers romances, and even more when it’s childhood friends to lovers. This trope can be about friends who start to notice each other, but it’s often a “you’ve grown up/you’ve changed” kind of feeling from one of the friends. They begin to see their friend in a different light. The romance is almost always unexpected to the characters (but not to the viewers). Friends that land in this trope are often inseparable. The awkward jitteriness of the transition from friendship to something more is something most viewers know all too well, and it brings a sense of connection to the love story that fully immerses you in the world the author built. There’s also a bit of a taboo feeling that makes the romance exciting to watch. I think most people would love to live this kind of trope.
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Karla |
1) Friends To Lovers: These are my absolute favorite love stories to both watch and read. It seems so stereotypical that your childhood best friend is the person that you end up falling in love with, but there is just something so comforting about it that makes you keep going back. I love how this trope is something that people in both real and fictional worlds can relate to because it feels like their bond is able to grow and they can see each other grow as people. I just love how these friends get so jittery and tense with each other when confessing their feelings because they seem like genuine human beings. I am not kidding when I say that this trope is the best one out there, and no one can disagree because everyone has seen or read this at least once in their lives.
Movie: Brown Sugar (2002)
Characters within this trope:
Andre Ellis (Taye Diggs) and Sidney Shaw (Sanaa Lathan)
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Movie: Love & Basketball (2000)
Characters within this trope: Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy McCall (Omar Epps)
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Peyton |
2) Opposites Attract: I love, love, loveee this kind of love trope. “The Shy & The Energetic,” “The Hotheaded & The Collected,” “The Fun-loving & The Homebody,” ', “The Nerd & The Play-boy”--I love them all. Seeing the two characters overcome their differences to make something great is something I want to see every. Single. Time. I don’t think any romance is interesting without a little push and pull. In opposites attract stories, the two characters start off disliking each other, whether it’s based on status or a certain event. The pairing gets stronger because they compensate for their weaknesses through the inherent differences between each other. They’ll fight, try to reconcile but get angry, realize they still love each other, make up, and repeat. It’s very endearing because you can see how much they care for each other throughout it all. But sometimes this trope treads a fine line from just being love-avoidant and the characters actually hating each other. You want to see lovebirds who can’t always admit they’re in love, not straight up enemies.
Tv show: Let’s Stay Together (2011)
Characters within this trope: Charles Whitmore (Bert Belasco) and Stacy Lawrence-Whitmore (Nadine Ellis)
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Movie: Grease (1978)
Characters In Trope: Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) and Dannzy Zuko (John Travolta)
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Tv show: Martin (1992)
Characters within this trope: Martin Payne (Martin Lawrence), and Gina Waters Payne (Tisha Campbell)
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Karla |
2) Fake Relationship: I absolutely love this kind of trope and everything that it is able to bring to the table. The characters aren’t supposed to fall in love, but the more time they spend together, the more they realize that they are meant to be. These types of stories never disappoint me because they show how two people are able to get over their differences and learn how to be that strong, amazing, and badass power couple that everyone loves. This brings a different approach to your stereotypical romance because it shows how you can learn to actually love someone and change just to be able to fit their standards of the perfect significant other. While it's not always sunshine and rainbows in these types of stories, it gives us the emotion and passion that we love to see in relationships. Now I don’t know about everyone else, but I absolutely love when they have to go through a fake (but yet somehow super real) breakup in order to realize that they love each other and actually care for the other one. I just love a good cry, and this trope is the only one that delivers it over and over every single time.
Movie: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Characters Within Trope: Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo)
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Peyton |
3) Fake Relationship: The fake relationship trope will always stay as number three for many reasons, but here’s one: In fake relationship romance, there’ll be (what I would call) a “contract” stage. The characters have decided on set conditions that they originally intend to follow strictly until the end. They get so caught up in this contract that they literally lead every interaction with it, leaving trails of awkward misunderstandings. For example, the contract will state that they cannot, under any circumstances, have any love occur between them. The couple has to go out to an event, consequently, and they have to play the part of a loving couple. Throughout the whole interaction, both of them will constantly think, “I can’t fall in love, it’s against the contract” or “Oh no, I acted a little too happy when they did that for/to me. I hope they don’t realize I’m going against the contract and falling in love.” This part of the trope is so aggravating. You’ll go through 30 chapters/episodes of nonsensical back and forth that would be completely dissipated with simple communication. 100% of the time, neither one of them end up wanting to follow the contract, both of them fall in love, and both of them want to stay together past the final date of their contractual relationship. Just shut up and kiss already.
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Karla |
3) Opposites Attract: Now even though I do really like this trope, it doesn’t really give me the wow factor that it needs to get into the top two spots. I feel like this was just a spinoff of fake dating because it talks about people having to get over differences and learn how to bond. But what I do really like about this is that it brings people together in a way that you could never imagine. While I do love this, I feel like there isn’t as much to say about it because it always seems to be in the middle. Now while I do love a good story about the shy girl talking to the overconfident jock, I don’t feel like it gives a genuine reason to actually love the couples in the storyline. But nevertheless, there is still a good crying session to look forward to because it helps to give us a sense of what dating someone in the real world might be like.
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Peyton |
4) Cinderella Story/Rags to Riches: Cinderella Story/Rags to Riches: I don’t dislike the Cinderella romance, but it’s a little dull. And a little weird in my opinion. Watching a prince-like figure picking a poor girl off her feet is a little unrealistic to me. In the original Cinderella story, he literally fell in love with the version of Cinderella made of fairy dust. He didn’t know her, and I doubt that with such a difference in background they would have actually had a successful marriage without a shit ton of arguments about him spending too much and her spending too little. And some stories almost present the richer counterpart as a savior of sorts. Weird. It’s odd because it’s almost like it’s thanks to them that the poorer counterpart gets anywhere or gets any success in life.
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Karla |
4) Cinderella Story/Rags to Riches: Right off the bat, I’m going to say that the only reason why this isn’t last is because it reminds me of my Disney days. Since I was little, I have always loved to see the Cinderella storyline and how the prince falls in love with her because she wasn’t as stuck up and conceited as the other girls. While I don’t really like the more modern twist that these movies are going with, the storyline still gets across to us somehow. The one thing that absolutely makes me dislike this so much is that it makes it seem like people who aren’t as fortunate as others can only get ahead if they marry the super-rich (and sometimes really cute/hot) prince charming. It just right away gives the illusion of fake love and only using someone for what they have and not who they actually are. While there are some movies that don’t display the rags to riches as much, it still feels like there is too much missing. While I do love Disney, this trope makes me like the Cinderella movie less and less each time.
Movie: Another Cinderella Story (2008) Characters In Trope: Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez) and Joey Parker (Drew Seeley)
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Peyton |
5) Three's a Crowd/Love Triangle: I dislike this trope so much. That trope that’s basically centering a girl (usually bright in nature, thinks she’s dull, but has a literal fan club, and extremely indecisive) that [usually] has two boys that are head over heels for her that fight for her affection. From the jump, you can typically tell whether she really likes one over the other. However, she’ll always have a hard time choosing between them because she “doesn’t want to hurt anyone's feelings''. And almost always, the second male lead would’ve been the better choice. She’ll choose the first male lead that hurts her the most and leave the second male lead that always comforts her during those downs. It’s sickening watching the vicious cycle. And when the triangle is centered around a man, the love interests are usually between this “not like other girls' ' character and a “glitz and glam prom queen”. This trope is so worn out you couldn’t even call it a cliché. It’s so basic and predictable. This trope, though, is popular because the drama can be addicting and draw you in. There are some love triangles that surprise me in how enjoyable they are, though the ones that do usually deviate from the usual love triangle story. Storylines that follow this trope can be very charming, and I’m sure if you look back, you’ll find that some of the stories that live in your heart were love triangle romances.
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Karla |
5) Three's a Crowd/Love Triangle: I can honestly just say that this is the most unrealistic love story there is. I am a person that loves when movies and books perfectly represent what love could be like, but this just never hit that mark for me. I really do not like how they end up putting a girl in the middle of two guys that are trying to fight for her because it sets unrealistic standards for what love could actually be like. While there are a couple of shows that can capture this, they never hit the mark because the two male leads were always acting like children. It is pretty much predictable that the girl will choose the guy that treats her worse and doesn’t care for her as much.
Show: Gilmore Girls (2000)
Characters In Trope: Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel), Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki), Jess Meriano(Milo Ventimiglia)
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Movie: Just Wright (2010)
Characters within this trope: Morgan Alexander (Paula Patton), Leslie Wright (Queen Latifah), and Scott McKnight (Common)
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Karla Lopez
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Peyton Henderson-Howell
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