Love and Romance on OUAT: What's the Message?

[Myril]

Ignoring for a moment a bit what has been said so far, late to join the convo here, sorry. And warning, it’s a lot of thoughts and I am not even done yet (but guessed better start posting now before more days and discussions go by)

Escapism or grounded in the real world? You can’t decently escape unless you can identify with characters and/or story, and a character can be someone you would wish to be like or someone who is in many ways like you are but doing things better (most of the time). Be it one or the other, characters have a connection to us as we are in the real world. Furthermore even if a show is meant as escapism it reflects on the real world and its issues, if we like that or not, if we are aware of it or not. It doesn’t matter if an audience wants to take a fictional show as something reflecting on their reality, it always does anyway, questioning or upholding believes and views and societal images. And we never can watch or read fiction without our very own bias, based on our believes and experiences.

I think the point is not if there could be perfect relationships (what would that be anyway?), we could easily agree that there are not, not in real world and probably even less in fictional worlds. In fiction everything perfect is uninteresting, because what is there then to write about other than a rather boring description of everyday bliss? I mean, how many novels, poems, TV shows, movies do you know telling about a perfect, or even a nearly perfect relationship/romance/marriage as the focus of the story? If anything you might get that as background of a character, mentioned but not that much shown. There is just no good story seen in it. And particular if it comes to moving pictures, to movie and TV, it is about getting action, movement, so the chase is the thrill not the capture, and even less what comes after the capture. We have tons of romantic chase stories, and some dramatic couple and marriage crisis ones, but barely any about a happy marriage. (If you want to read more about that I recommend a book by Jeanine Basinger “I Do and I Don’t: A History of Marriage in the Movies”, published in 2013; I didn’t read the book myself yet but followed an online course based on it by Jeanine Basinger, it was really interesting)

Relationships are work in progress from the moment on people meet first time, build a relationship, enjoy and maintain it, til they part or death does part them (and even we part we still have a sort of a relationship with people, the character changes). This goes for every relationship, romance as much as best friends and even for parents and children and siblings. Sometimes the build up is rather fast, happening in seconds or minutes, sometimes it takes time. To use a bit of a trivial picture: setting up a tent can be done quick, furnishing for a longer stay will take longer and never might be really finished, and living in it is an ongoing challenge.

I don’t have much of a problem with what is called love on first sight, though wouldn’t quite use the term love and call it attraction, interest, excitement. Research supports that first impressions are important, that in the first seconds of meeting we decide pretty much about sympathy, and that first impressions hardly change. And just recently have read about a study doing eye-tracking, and it seems that the first looks might be able to tell if someone is interested more in a romantic way or mostly attracted physically. The study is quite new and not sure how good it will uphold if looked at it closer and trying to reproduce it, but sounds interesting.

I have more of a problem with the concept of true love in general, and with love on first sight as a part of it, but I have discussed it before. In short: I don’t believe that there is for a person one special person in this world who they are meant to be together with. There is no book of doom, where it is cast in stone who should be with who, so no pixie dust or seer would be able to tell that. If anything, if thinking inside fantasies, pixie dust might be able to tell in a magical way if there is enough of a compatibility to be expected, so that these two eventually if working on it might become a love couple, but nothing is determined.

Now I had not much of a problem with how karmic love was brought up and shown in Xena, but that was never simply a love meant to be and sure not at all costs, it was that those two souls felt drawn to each other and had a deep going understanding of each other regardless in what bodies they were and what form their relationship would develop to be, but they still always had to work for a relationship. Xena had some of the best relationship moments I have ever seen in any fantasy show or movie going far beyond trivial romance (well aside Hercules: The legendary Journeys, same team, Xena was a spin-off of it, but they had less karmic love as theme).

But not even true love concept is what makes me feel uneasy, although what they make of it on the show is a part of it.

Happy ending true love is seen as something that good people get, the hero after his quest, the prince after proving he will be a good king, and the princess for being behaved, diligent, brave, caring and friendly. While in real life it doesn’t matter if you’re a good person or the most horrifying mass murderer, you might find love or not, in fantasy in fairy tales it does matter. Darth Vader lost his true love and Padme died of broken heart, and only after Darth Vader paid for his badness by sacrificing himself for his son and the good cause, he was allowed to show up again as Anakin in ethereal form, giving a hint of a loving and caring father, but he was not reunited with Padme – and Star Wars is the template for modern fairy tales.

A look at romances we have or had on the show to hopefully get a bit closer to what makes me feel more and more uneasy with the show.

Snow and Charming are my smallest headaches. Their love has signs of unhealthy obsession and I wouldn’t want to be their child, grown up or baby (if the sharing heart thing hadn’t worked Snow would have killed herself and her unborn child), but I give them a bit the benefit of young parents, and the problem can be fixed quite well with a few lines here and there, it is not that fundamental.

I have more of a problem with Snow being made by now into a boring, uptight housewife by the writers though they started out different in season 1. She is not the only one increasingly isolated to a degree in her love relationship. Not talking interacting with people, she does, but she is rather reduced to family member. It’s not unrealistic, by far not, but still sad to see. It might change though, Ginnifer was a trooper working as she did, and still is, her pregnancy likely limited her appearance, and now they might be able to do a few different things (not more screentime but different stories) But dearly missing the connection Snow had with Red. That friendship was so important in many ways and IMO one of the lasting highlights of season 1 and still worked in 2A. It was a huge mistake in the overall balance of relationships on the show to neglect it the way they did.

More critical though is how much Belle is isolated, mostly has been despite a few moments here and there, namely with Grumpy, Red, Ariel and Mulan. Belle so needs connections outside of Rumple’s story. Back in the Enchanted Forest Rumple seemed to have kept her rather isolated, though as much he preferred to be isolated himself. But Belle was not really free to go unless Rumple was willing to let her go freely. I’s not just a problem of giving Belle more screentime, it’s about giving her continuing connections on her own with other people, and more importantly not somewhere in the past but in the here and now of Storybrooke. Right, the writers might just focus on Rumple and Belle, just that much space for stories to tell in 22 episodes, and maybe somewhere in their headcanon tons of things ahve happened, off the screen, but we don’t get to see it, thus we can at best speculate, we don’t know. Belle might have had some time with others or not, the focus is to show her and Rumple and it makes her look rather isolated from everybody else.

But the biggest problem in the whole relationship between Rumple and Belle: The immense power imbalance. Right, hard not to have a power imbalance when it comes to the Dark One, but, knowing that many didn’t like it all, the relationship between Cora and Rumple was more healthy and adult, they had a power balance, and though Cora first had to learn magic from Rumple, it felt from the beginning more even. Those two nearly were equals, using magic and being equally ruthless in pursuing their goals. Belle is the nice naive bookworm believing she can change the world with her puppy eyes, with true love, a sweet kid. It’s a nice idea, big idealism, but an idea I find displaced and hardly ever working, and it’s not a good ground for an adult love relationship. And Rumple is no young naive prince, he is a man with plenty of experience. What at the moment I see happening on the show is more Rumple corrupting Belle than Belle succeeding in changing Rumple permanently (or even for a longer time) to the better. She has become an enabler, and one unhealthy dependent on her love, and it fits that she still has something childish in her behavior and appearance (she was more grown up as Lacey), and Rumple treats her bit like a child as well. Rumple and Belle are no grown up relationship. It somewhat reminds me of Lolita, and that is no good thing.

Compared to that it’s the lesser problem, that Belle is not questioning Rumple’s bad doings as pressing anymore as she did at first, although a lot of people seem to have the bigger issue with that, which reminds a bit of Walter and Skyler White from Breaking Bad (later seasons). Belle is like a mobster bride. I wouldn’t have much of a problem with that if the writers would go full way with it, let Belle as an adult woman be corrupted by the charm of a magical powerful man, but I don’t see them going there. Difference to RumBelle: Skyler White at first didn’t know what was going on, then wanted to divorce her husband (and became because of that a hated character) and then supported him. But Belle is despite that she told Neal, that she loves the dark sides too, still more written as if believing that she can kinda tame the Dark One through her huge love. She still is more a dreamy, sweet kid in a grown up woman’s body.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not insisting on Rumple and Belle breaking up, they still could make something of even this relationship, but they have to make Belle a grown-up and more equal in power to make it less problematic. Or call it out for what it is at the moment.

The problem is not so much that relationships on OUaT might lean more to the icky side, I could take gritty, dark, more adult versions of fairy tales quite well, but that they are not called out on the show for being problematic. RumBelle is a true love’s couple and Belle still more shown as a sweetheart. It gives me the creeps, I would never see this couple as it is at the moment as an example for a good true love, as a great rolemodel – but when I look into the fandom that is what is happening, people seeing it as good example of true love. It worries me even if particular younger women, teenager girls might do that, wrongly mixing it with the fluffy romantic version of The Beauty and Beast in its animated Disney version.

[Myril]

Don’t get me started about Regina and true love, be it with Henry as a true motherly love or with Robin as romance, I have plenty of problems with her being able to feel true love at all at this point. I know, there are those who see such a great redemption story in the past 2 seasons, but I very much disagree with that, she lacks understanding and empathy and still is too much about her own happiness. But be calm, the writers seem more to agree with redemption already happening. But this is not so much about that.

I don’t see much of a problem with Regina and Robin getting fast into it – but it has all more the feeling of infatuation and physical attraction than any touch of a deeper love growing. It’s not a lack of chemistry, it’s a lack of profundity. Other things at the moment are more speculations and assumptions on the rather little we have about some things. I don’t know what Robin knew or not knew about Regina, but that is maybe a problem, that we don’t know that much about it, it is awkwardly ambiguous. Many assume he knew enough to make it questionable, that he could develop anything more for Regina than maybe some hots. And it looks to many even more questionable now after we know that Regina was about to execute Marian. Maybe I would feel differently if they hadn’t written that fireside scene so ignorant flirty and sexy. Or maybe it’s because Robin comes across more as some bon vivant than as responsible outlaw and rebel. I don’t know, but at the moment I have a huge problem to see them as happy end true love/soul mates at all, and they would have to do a great deal different to convince me otherwise.

My problem is not that even someone as evil as Regina couldn’t be able to change and get some sort of redemption (I loved Xena, if you doubt that I can see such a thing happen), but how they are writing it. Doing a bit of good, without an understanding and acknowledging how much suffer she has caused, is for me no redemption arc, it’s a cheap way out to make your lead somehow good. If I were EvilRegal I would be mad at the writers for letting Regina so easy of the hook, make her appear more as a lunatic who miraculously came to senses, or comes to them in between, than a person truly growing and working on doing things different.

It is telling that they came up with the pixie dust nonsense for Regina, of all people. Seems they can’t imagine, that a person truly can change and because of those changes earn a happy ending, nope, they had to put fate into place, just in case anyone could doubt Regina could overcome all obstacles including her own doubts and inadequacies. Poor Regina, they don’t trust her to be able to find love on her own, and it shows on the show. Maybe because in Fairy Tales only the good guys or are meant to get a happy ending, everyone else at best is entitled to a tragic one? It takes magic to overcome or trick this rather basic rule of fairy tales.

Interesting how Leopold and Regina was just discussed here. There is nothing right about the marriage of Leopold and Regina. Yes, it was pretty much the way marriages have been made, particular among ruling people, elite, royals, it was a union for economical reasons, politics, diplomacy and reproduction but had very little to do with romance and true love. In some parts of the world this hasn’t changed that much yet. Unless freely agreed to it by everyone involved (and most importantly bride and groom) it goes against human rights as declared by the UN (Article 16). Regina would have had any right to walk away from it , regardless how polite Leopold probably was. Didn’t give Regina the right to kill him though.

But that marriage as it was shown is one of the least problematic on the show in terms of what is problematic with the depiction of romance on the this show. It was not a romances and no one ever doubted that it wasn’t on the show (well, Snow as kid probably didn’t quite understood what was going on though). It was no happy love ending, it was wrong and forced, the show didn’t leave any doubts about that. And Leopold paid a very high price for his ignorance.

How they handled Graham and Regina though is another matter. Not that the show leaves that much doubt to me, that whatever one wants to call their relationship, Graham had no free will in it, he couldn’t consent. Or maybe I should be more precise for the the sake of ignorance of the writers and parts of the audience, maybe Graham did consent, but he was only a fantasy identity created by the curse of Regina’s doing, the Huntsman hardly has consented to be Regina’s toyboy. Not just that the Evil Queen could have easily crushed his heart, having his heart meant she could manipulate him into doing her biding like a puppeteer. The writers have a problem calling it rape, I don’t, but in this case it is more of a problem of what the writers say in interviews than what is shown on screen, because there is no sympathy for Regina fooling around with Graham, it’s shown rather casual and as boring, and in the end Regina kills Graham.

The problem of the show is not so much that many of the loves and relationship shown have eventually dark sides, it is if they acknowledge that they have, that they are problematic to some or degree or more. It’s muddy particular when looking at the core characters and their romances.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[RumplesGirl]

Escapism or grounded in the real world? You can’t decently escape unless you can identify with characters and/or story, and a character can be someone you would wish to be like or someone who is in many ways like you are but doing things better (most of the time). Be it one or the other, characters have a connection to us as we are in the real world. Furthermore even if a show is meant as escapism it reflects on the real world and its issues, if we like that or not, if we are aware of it or not. It doesn’t matter if an audience wants to take a fictional show as something reflecting on their reality, it always does anyway, questioning or upholding believes and views and societal images. And we never can watch or read fiction without our very own bias, based on our believes and experiences.

Yes and this is becoming one of my most basic problems with any sort of morality on ONCE. The premise of ONCE, at its heart, is fairy tales in the real world. I expect there to be fantasy, but I expect there to be a real world, tangible connection to what I experience here on Real! Planet Earth. Season one in SB felt that way. The EF was full of fantasy and magic and myth, but there was also a lot of realism to it: the heartbroken EQ, the tortured father, the girl who felt trapped by patriarchy, the princess who was living by her wits instead of depending on the kindness of strangers. SB was the opposite: it felt very real with just hints of fantasy woven in. There was adultery, political intrigue, small town America judgment, rediscovery of self like with Archie in his centric episode, mothers and sons…but there was a dragon in the basement of a library to remind me that this was a show about fairy tales.

S2 and S3 keep moving away from that balance of fantasy and the real and when questioned, the answer tends towards, “it’s love! anything goes!” or “it’s magic! anything is possible!”

 

ETA: the moral message on ONCE might be that “all love stories have their problems but you can overcome it!” but the growing issue is that the problems faced by our ships (most of them) are so far removed from our everyday reality–murder, magic, revenge, dark hearts, portal jumping, wife returning from the dead–that it’s hard to relate and find something realistically positive in them because of how far removed they are from reality unless you try really really really hard, and every single shipper does it. We boil our ships down to a quick tagline: “perfect true love,” “second chances” “hope after heartache” “seeing the good in others” but remove every single circumstance in the show in order get these pithy sayings.

 

 

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[PriceofMagic]

Belle is a gangster’s girl. She’s determined to believe that she has something good.

Belle could be an interesting character. Despite all her apparent sweetness, I don’t think she has an ounce of empathy — otherwise, the magnitude of Rumpel’s crimes would overwhelm her. She had an “Ick!” reaction when she saw Rumpel torturing Robin; I’d say that she helped Robin escape not to ease his suffering but so that she could have her fantasy back. As long as Rumpel’s crimes are out of sight, she’s okay with them. I kind of think this makes her more monstrous than him, since Rumpel at least sometimes seems to have a tortured soul.

Screwball Ninja has a very interesting essay on how Lacey was actually Belle with the brakes off.

http://screwballninja.tumblr.com/post/63687743483/lacey-belle-with-the-brakes-off-essay-in-6

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[PriceofMagic]

But the biggest problem in the whole relationship between Rumple and Belle: The immense power imbalance.

That power imbalance was pretty much corrected by the end of The Crocodile. At the start, Belle had no job, didn’t appear to socialise with anyone outside of Rumple, lived with Rumple and was in a relationship where Rumple wasn’t honest with her.

By the end of the crocodile, Belle had a job, had made a friend in Ruby (and continues to make friends), had her own place, and was dating Rumple on the provision that he was honest with her (which Rumple demonstrated on the date that Regina interrupted).

Yes Rumple has magic whereas Belle doesn’t, but that’s no different to saying Regina has magic but Robin doesn’t or Emma has magic but Hook doesn’t.

One of the relationships on Once that has clearly demonstrated a power imbalance within the couple is the Cora/Henry senior relationship.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

Power imbalance doesn’t have to mean who has a job, who has magic, who has friends, ect. It’s about respect and consequences of actions.

If Rumple or anyone else–Regina, Hook, or even someone we consider “hero” status from the start–can make morally black decisions and not face consequences of those actions from their loved ones then there is a definite power imbalance. Staying with the Rumbelle example for a moment: Rumple feels that he can have his cake and eat it too. He can get revenge on Zelena through murder but also lie to Belle and then get his happy ending by marrying her. He doesn’t stop to consider that this could cost him everything. And when there is a chance that he is discovered in 321, he simply magicks it away. Even after Belle learned about Milah in The Outsider, she did not leave. She took the news with a straight face and then said she’s never stop fighting for Rumple. In other words, she has basically given him permission to do as he likes because she hasn’t the heart to stomach to leave. He is the power in the relationship because Belle won’t make him face the consequences of his actions. The one time she did was the Crocodile when she walked away, but she came back and then stayed even through a bunch load of other stuff including: beating Keith, not helping to save SB in 222, ect. That’s a definite power imbalance.

Cora and Henry Sr have the same thing: Cora can do as she likes knowing that Henry Sr will not stop her, including being abusive to his daughter.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[PriceofMagic]

In regards to Belle’s isolation in Storybrooke, how much of that was Rumple’s doing and how much of that was actually Belle’s own doing?

Rumple is one of the least social people on the show and it’s been suggested that this isn’t necessarily by choice. The reason he chose to have a caretaker was because he was lonely. In Storybrooke, before Belle came back into his life, Rumple lived alone, he worked alone, his only interactions with people were negative in nature, he was either taking rent, collecting on unpaid debts or manipulating people. Nobody wanted to socialise with Rumple because they enjoyed his company except Belle. In season 2, people only tended to interact with Rumple if they wanted something.

Belle spent the majority of the curse in a non-identity state. She existed, that is all. When she does get her memories back, the first person she sees is Rumple. She lives with Rumple in his house, she “chose” to be him. People who’d lived in Storybrooke throughout the curse were struggling to find lost friends and relatives. Snow didn’t even know Johanna was in Storybrooke. So in this strange new world, Belle is going to stick by the one person she knows-Rumple. Rumple isn’t holding her captive which is exactly what Belle tells her father, she chooses to be with him. Belle recognises that a relationship without honesty isn’t a good one to be in hence why she walks out on Rumple. Also Belle is pretty much blanked by the main characters except Rumple throughout season 2, they completely ignored her whilst she was in hospital. It’s not until Dark Hollow where we see some of the recurring characters properly interacting with Belle and it’s not until 3B where we actually see the other main characters interact with Belle beyond barging in on RumBelle’s dates because they want something from Rumple.

Rumple doesn’t actively encourage Belle to go out and socialise with other people, this could partly be because of his own solitary nature and the fact that he’s perfectly content for Belle to choose to spend her time with him, however he’s not discouraging her or telling her not to. He’s letting Belle decide. In fact, Belle went to Archie’s funeral without him. Belle CHOOSES to spend the majority of her time with Rumple, she’s not forced to.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[PriceofMagic]

Power imbalance doesn’t have to mean who has a job, who has magic, who has friends, ect. It’s about respect and consequences of actions.

If Rumple or anyone else–Regina, Hook, or even someone we consider “hero” status from the start–can make morally black decisions and not face consequences of those actions from their loved ones then there is a definite power imbalance. Staying with the Rumbelle example for a moment: Rumple feels that he can have his cake and eat it too. He can get revenge on Zelena through murder but also lie to Belle and then get his happy ending by marrying her. He doesn’t stop to consider that this could cost him everything. And when there is a chance that he is discovered in 321, he simply magicks it away. Even after Belle learned about Milah in The Outsider, she did not leave. She took the news with a straight face and then said she’s never stop fighting for Rumple. In other words, she has basically given him permission to do as he likes because she hasn’t the heart to stomach to leave. He is the power in the relationship because Belle won’t make him face the consequences of his actions. The one time she did was the Crocodile when she walked away, but she came back and then stayed even through a bunch load of other stuff including: beating Keith, not helping to save SB in 222, ect. That’s a definite power imbalance.

Cora and Henry Sr have the same thing: Cora can do as she likes knowing that Henry Sr will not stop her, including being abusive to his daughter.

You can’t really blame Belle for the Keith beating because she was Lacey at that time. Rumple was in a no-win situation there. He tried being on his “best behaviour” and Lacey was completely uninterested and was looking for kicks elsewhere. By keeping Lacey interested, Rumple ensured that she didn’t get into trouble thus ensuring that Belle stayed safe.

Also the “not helping save Storybrooke”, Rumple had just lost his son to “death”, everything he’s worked for, everything he’d done was suddenly pointless. Rumple was visibly shocked at hearing about his son’s death and kind of just shut down completely. His emotions got the better of him there. The Charmings initial solution to saving Storybrooke was to let Regina sacrifice herself trying to slow the diamond down, gather just their friends which didn’t include RumBelle or any of the other minor characters we’d seen throughout season 1 and 2 and then portal out of there. In fact the only reason the Charmings even went to the mine was because Hook had stolen the bean so they wanted to die together. So the Charmings weren’t exactly saving Storybrooke either until the very last minute.

I don’t think Rumple properly planned through his murder of Zelena because of the fact that he forgot about the important detail of the cameras. Rumple is normally very meticulous in his planning and carefully orchestrates everything. The using magic on the camera to make it look like he wasn’t there was an afterthought and a panicked one at that since he looked decidingly uncomfortable at the thought of being found out. Rumple acted on his thirst for revenge without thinking about the consequences and now he’s trying to deal with those without Belle finding out. Unfortunately, the more Rumple tries to cover up what he did, the deeper the hole he is digging for himself.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

Ok, again, let’s not make it a “defense of ship” thread. I’m trying very hard to spread out the criticism of each ship with the understanding that everyone leaves their shipping preferences at the door. This isn’t about trying to excuse away or justify one ship over the others, nor is it about vilifying one ship over the others. Shippers are experts at doing this as you’ve shown. We can, on the whole, come up with a multitude of “yes, but what you have to understand is that Rumple/Belle/Regina/Robin/Neal/Emma/Hook/Snow/Charming did X it was for Y reason and that’s why I, the shipper, think that this action was totally okay.”

That’s not what this is about. It doesn’t matter what excuses we can come up with; what matters is the actual text of the show (as canon) and what message it’s showing the audience. Is it actually fair or accurate to say that ONCE’s message about love and romance is one that we should hold up as acceptable, right, morally good?

Every single one of these ships has some sort of problem (see post #1). And they are not morally gray problems for the most part because of the very morally black (murder for example) actions being taken by some characters. Even in the case of less morally black actions–Snow and Charming’s possessive love–is still super problematic from certain view points.

At what point do explosive so-called bold storytelling moments begin to overshadow morality and believability?

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Myril]

The power of Rumple is based on magic, knowledge and experience. Maybe in knowledge Belle might be able to compete a bit with him, thanks to reading a lot, but not in magic and experience. Regina has more magic abilities than Robin, but concerning knowledge and life experience those two are IMO pretty much equal, I would even say in some ways Robin might be more grown up than Regina, he has a greater mental balance. Power imbalance might express how respect is shown (or not) and what consequences action have, but that is the result of power imbalance not what it is about.

I don’t care much if Rumple is isolating Belle, if she’s doing so herself, or the towns people staying away from them, it’s a mix of all of it IMO. The point is she is rather isolated as character and merely there as Rumpel’s love and occasionally useful for side stories with other characters. It’s rather convenient to use her and not introduce just another character for a few minutes on the show. They don’t bother much to show Belle not rather fixated on Rumple. People complain there is not enough Belle, and though guess some are more eager to see more cuddling with Rumple, some want to see Belle as a character able to stand on her own and not as an enabler, appendix to Rumple. I never shared any fluffy feelings for RumBelle, because I find the story “The Beauty and the Beast” quite problematic in pretty much any version I’ve seen or read so far, and never was charmed by the animated Disney movie, but in season 1 and 2 it didn’t bother me much. Now during season 3 that relationship has increasingly become repellent to me.

After all they work with fairy tales, and while I doubt that true love is a concept they put much merit into, I am quite sure they are aware, a lot of people and particular many in the audience do, not just has some idea but as an ideal of how good romance should be. Putting so many alleged, prophesiedor proven true love couples into one place makes it easily look as something casual, nothing special. Funny enough I would be the first to agree, true love is not special in the sense of something only a few could find, but maybe OUaT has an inflation problem. True love is something that looks kinda cheap to come by by now.

RumBelle is to me just the worst example for this show more or less labeling relationships as true love that are highly problematic and not just dramatically stressed. Okay, to them true love is the greatest magic at all, but I think exactly that ideal stands in the way of finding, or building a true love relationship on the show by now.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[Author]

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