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So, this is going to come from a slightly different place of critique, because I have a lot of trouble thinking about OUAT’s characters without thinking about what the “puppet masters” are doing with their “puppets.”
In fiction writing, there is this idea about how at the beginning of a work, whether novel or screenplay, you make promises to your audience. Usually it’s about things like genre – and if you don’t fulfill the promise, that’s a sure way to alienate your readership or viewership. S1 OUAT made a “promise” that this was a character-driven show. Otherwise, what’s the point of playing with fairytale archetypes? By S4 it has completely broken this promise, and is now, instead, a plot driven show.
Rumbelle, is, I think, an example of a broken promise on the writers’ part. Not that the couple had to necessarily develop romantically, but Skin Deep set a particular tone for what that relationship would be. Specifically, very slow moving, very understated, painful but hopeful. But then, they changed their mind about how they wanted to develop it (for example, the rather sudden jump from Belle being locked away, to her physical involvement with Rumple. From the tone they set up in S1 that was a bit fast), and since the show’s characters progressively became more and more incidental to the plot, these reconfigurations feel completely forced. The “wrecking” of Rumbelle too seemed forced to me, but also deliberate on the writers’ part — and required for both Rumple and Belle to become completely 1-dimensional. So I’m actually really sympathetic to the Rumbelle shippers who are holding on — I think they are holding on to that promise originally made by the show.
Sadly, I don’t think OUAT gives a flying hoot about fulfilling the promises they made to their fans. This doesn’t mean that they won’t put them back together — they might. It just means that they couldn’t care less if in the audience’s mind, the relationship has died. They’ll cobble it back together and let it run around like some demented Frankenstein’s monster. And call it a day.
This isn’t the only example where OUAT drops the ball in this department. Arguably the bigger example is how a show that was about family, and children and parents became primarily about romantic ships. So Henry, Roland, and even the relationships of the “middle” generation to their parents have practically disappeared. The only way this now figures in the show is as plot device: “Lo and behold, these two people are secretly RELATED!”
Yay.
That’s half the problem. The other half is the ideology of relationships OUAT is peddling. I’m mildly nonplused at how the possibility of a long-term committed relationship on the show is now handled: whether as marriage or not, it’s now implicitly dismissed. So in addition to a normalized “rape culture” that has been pointed out by many here, the show puts no hope, and in fact puts a negative valence on any relationship past the initial honeymoon stage. In other words, even Snow and Charming, arguably the most solid couple on the show, have become both tainted and threatened — now physically (through Lily) — by their bad choices.
And all the other married relationships are absolute disasters. Ok, maybe it makes for better drama. Or, maybe contemporary US culture is so pessimistic about marriage and commitment more generally that it gets reflected in shows like this. To me, personally, Rumbelle is deeply problematic, but it’s simply the extreme example along a spectrum of negativity, which is how relationships with any mileage under their belt are portrayed on this show — as potentially abusive, deceitful, non-committed (Robin and Marian before we knew Marian is Zelena), or seemingly solid but recently revealed as morally deluded (Snowing). In other words, if you were wondering what happens after the fairytale “happily ever after”, the answer is abuse, neglect, separation, divorce. Well, and death of course. Oh, and sometimes weird pregnancies with the wrong people.
Ugh, sorry. Grumpy today.
[adrotate group="5"]Sadly, I don’t think OUAT gives a flying hoot about fulfilling the promises they made to their fans. This doesn’t mean that they won’t put them back together — they might. It just means that they couldn’t care less if in the audience’s mind, the relationship has died. They’ll cobble it back together and let it run around like some demented Frankenstein’s monster. And call it a day.
THIS! The writers don’t care, which is sad! I completely understand people holding on and wanting to believe in the promise, since this is a show that is meant to be about fairytale endings. But I will say that as a disappointed fan of Neal, I no longer believe these writers are aiming for a happy ending. And the more I think about it, I think Rumbelle was always going to be a tragic ship. I know people were probably expecting Beauty and the Beast fairytale ending, but I wonder if the writers just originally planned for Belle to have died. It was only due to popular demand that Emilie de Ravin was even promoted to series regular in S2. Since then, I think the writers just haven’t wanted to tell the story that the fans of Rumbelle desired, because the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too.
After Neal died, the writers decided to forget about all of Rumple’s character growth and sacrifice. They reset Rumple’s character, but instead of showing his descent and struggle with darkness as he lost a moral grip, they had him just go straight back into full villain mode. And Belle got in the way of that. So, the writers instead went down the path of an emotionally abusive relationship and showed the destruction of a marriage. I was all for Rumbelle once, and I enjoyed Skin Deep, but I didn’t want them to get married until after Rumple’s dark one curse has been lifted by TLK. Until then, it was always going to be an unhealthy relationship because Rumple is an addict and he has all the power in the relationship. Belle was put in the subordinate and weaker role of being his enabler by turning a blind eye. That was why I actually was glad when Belle stood up for herself and left that unhealthy dynamic, because Rumple mistreated her repeatedly (and still is like when he tricked her to get back into town and to get his dagger back). Rumple is like Golem with the ring; the dagger is the dark one’s “precious.” Until Rumple chooses Belle over power, (something I no longer have hope over), I don’t think there can ever be a romantic reconciliation, nor should there be one. And I think Rumple’s days are numbered, such that even if Rumple chooses Belle over magic in the end, he might still die a mortal death.
This isn’t the only example where OUAT drops the ball in this department. Arguably the bigger example is how a show that was about family, and children and parents became primarily about romantic ships. So Henry, Roland, and even the relationships of the “middle” generation to their parents have practically disappeared. The only way this now figures in the show is as plot device: “Lo and behold, these two people are secretly RELATED!”
This is the biggest sticking point I have with this show. All of the relationships between parents and their children have been put on the back burner (e.g. Emma and Henry, Regina and Henry), totally taken through the ringer (e.g. Snow, Charming and Emma), or totally ended due to a major death (e.g. Rumple and Neal, Neal and Henry). Any potential grandparent-grandchild relationship has also been glossed over in favor of “drama” (e.g. Rumple and Henry, the Charmings and Henry).
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
but I wonder if the writers just originally planned for Belle to have died. It was only due to popular demand that Emilie de Ravin was even promoted to series regular in S2.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised that this is the case. Charming was supposed to be dead, afterall. Heck this could even explain why Belle gets so little screentime, they have nothing planned for her to do.
After Neal died, the writers decided to forget about all of Rumple’s character growth and sacrifice. They reset Rumple’s character, but instead of showing his descent and struggle with darkness as he lost a moral grip, they had him just straight back into full villain mode. And Belle got in the way of that. So, the writers instead went down the path of an emotionally abusive relationship and showed the destruction of a marriage. I was all for Rumbelle once, and I enjoyed Skin Deep. But I didn’t want them to get married until after Rumple’s dark one curse has been lifted by TLK. Until then, it was always going to be an unhealthy relationship because Rumple an addict and he has all the power in the relationship. Belle was put in the subordinate and weaker role of being his enabler by turning a blind eye. That was why I actually was glad when Belle stood up for herself and left that unhealthy dynamic, because Rumple mistreated her repeatedly (and still is like when he tricked her to get back into town and to get his dagger back). Rumple is like Golem with the ring; the dagger is the dark one’s “precious.” Until Rumple chooses Belle over power, (something I no longer have hope over), I don’t think there can ever be a romantic reconciliation, nor should there be one. And I think Rumple’s days are numbered, such that even if Rumple chooses Belle over magic in the end, he might still die a mortal death.
This.
"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGICAnd all the other married relationships are absolute disasters. Ok, maybe it makes for better drama. Or, maybe contemporary US culture is so pessimistic about marriage and commitment more generally that it gets reflected in shows like this. To me, personally, Rumbelle is deeply problematic, but it’s simply the extreme example along a spectrum of negativity, which is how relationships with any mileage under their belt are portrayed on this show — as potentially abusive, deceitful, non-committed (Robin and Marian before we knew Marian is Zelena), or seemingly solid but recently revealed as morally deluded (Snowing). In other words, if you were wondering what happens after the fairytale “happily ever after”, the answer is abuse, neglect, separation, divorce. Well, and death of course. Oh, and sometimes weird pregnancies with the wrong people.
In reply to this point, I totally concur. Almost everyone wants a fairytale happy ending, but so few people seem to know what that actually even looks like. This is a major problem, not only on this show, but in the wider culture. Disney fairytale movies and romantic comedies all end with a wedding (as if that were the end of a relationship, rather than the beginning of a lifelong partnership). Yet, few stories show what actually comes after the wedding, or if we do see what happens, the couples in question usually end up becoming less than interesting (e.g. Snowing), going through adultery (e.g. Rumple/Milha/Hook, “Marian”/Robin/Regina or Kathryn/David/Mary Margaret), hating each other to the point of killing the other (e.g. Rumple/ Milha or Regina/Leopold) or getting divorced (e.g. Rumple/Belle). Even Snow and Charming, who are meant to be a paragon of faithful married love on the show, used each other to cast the dark curse! Snow actually killed her husband, without knowing there’d be a way to save him via magical-plot-device heart transplant. They have been reduced from an amazing power couple to backseat, bumbling idiots who may or may not commit selfish acts of villainy from time to time. Even couples who supposedly had very good off-screen marriages (David’s parents, according to Ruth in S2), turn out to not have been as great as previously thought (according to David in S4). Leopold and Eva supposedly were deeply in love, but he wasn’t even present at her deathbed. There are literally no good examples of committed, faithful, long-term marriages for anyone to look to on the show. The only person with any wisdom about parenting seems to be Granny, and even she had great difficulty raising a wolf teenager, no thanks to Regina’s curse. Oh, to be sure, there probably are good and happy marriages on the show (e.g. Philip and Aurora or Cinderella and Thomas), but we never see those couples, so they might as well not even exist.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
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