Is it considered "normal" to have a strong distaste for any material containing Romance?

[Legion]

Well if you want to go with stereotypes then as a guy liking romance makes you a "pussy" or "gay", whereas liking explosions makes you a manly man. So you are perfectly normal for hating all that "emotional" stuff.

I've got no beef with it, but I hate it when it's in something that I don't feel it should be in.

Transformers, for instance. The 'romance' between Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf was painful, I just wanted to see robots fight...

I'd go with this. If it feels forced or is there for ticking boxes, then it's normally painful to watch. If it fits in with the theme of the show/game/book/whatever then I don't dislike it.

Although I am kind of sick of the trope where the guy and the girl like each other, but go out of their way to make it seem like they don't. It's tiresome and cliché at this point.

 

[II2]

Context is everything. The McDonald's line in Wal Mart is an inappropriate venue for passion.

 

[excalipoor]

As long as it doesn't feel like tacked-on multiplayer, I love romance. On the other hand, I hate kiss and sex scenes. Does that make sense?

 

[Legion]

As long as it doesn't feel like tacked-on multiplayer, I love romance. On the other hand, I hate kiss and sex scenes. Does that make sense?

Yes because kissing and sex scenes seem gratuitous in most cases, like they are there to titillate rather than actually add anything significant to what's going on.

Game of Thrones (the TV version) would be an excellent example. Especially when 9/10 of the sex scenes were completely made up for the show and didn't exist in the books.

Unless I am mistaken in your reasoning.

 

[Mr F.]

I will try to come up with examples of books or films that do not contain any form of romance on any level.

Um. *ponders*

Uh. I guess the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes? It was a pretty good film and I cannot remember any "Romance". Not to say that there wasn't any, but hell, I think I was concentrating on the rise of the apes and whatnot. I do not watch many films. But even trashy stuff like Death Race (ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER MADE. ITS TWISTED METAL THE MOVIE) contains a tiny bit of romance, or at least a remembered romance, to try and make you empathise with the main character.

I guess if you only like to read non-fiction, watch documentaries about events and not people, and uh... Nope, that is about it.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a movie which I don't recall having a romantic sideplot. I don't recall one in Predator either. I've been specifically on the lookout for films that don't contain any romance, because I think that it's absurd how much it's shoehorned into things that don't need it. I think every romantic comedy, by law, should be forced to have at least one shootout or car chase, even if it disturbs the flow of the film.

I dunno. I don't think shoehorned is the right word. A lot of human interaction is centered around getting laid (To put it bluntly) or being happy with whoever you choose, which is essentially romance. Very, VERY few lives are totally devoid of romance, of relationships, and I do not think it is a bad thing whatsoever that this is represented in films.

As for your final statement, which was obviously a joke, not all "Romantic Comedies" need to have car chases and whatnot. Speaking as a dude (Albeit one that doesn't mind decent funny Rom Coms, like Love Actually, but fucking hates shit ones, like "Hes just not that into you" or whatever it was called) some rom coms are funny and they serve their purpose in the market. I do no LIKE this idea that ALL dudes love car chases and whatnot.

Hell, the sort of films I like are usually devoid of mental stupid fight scenes. Easy example is one of my favourite films: District 9. The "Action" scenes were utterly tacked on and badly done. They were interesting, sure, but they served no purpose other than to break the flow to get people who thought they were watching a usual "MAN VS ALIENS" film back into the waking world.

Romance has its purpose. Having a distaste for all romance is not normal. The only lives that are devoid of ALL romance are those lived by psychopaths.

 

[Jinjer]

I don't mind a romance subplot as long as it stay a SUBplot. When the emotional drama takes over the action we start having problems *glares at late Anita Blake novels*

 

[Psycomantis777]

I always find Romance material, written or otherwise, to be cliched and cheesy, so I don't like it.
Normal? Hmmm... I don't see why not, it's really all down to personal preference, especially with books or film, so yeah, I guess it's normal.

 

[Psycomantis777]

I don't know, but I have noticed that I got really annoyed when they wedged in the Romance plot into The Walking Dead tv show.

Hey, when I found out there was a romance plot in The Walking Dead and I figured it out pretty quickly, I wahn'ed to break yo' JAAAW...
My apologies, but his accent slips so badly in that scene...

 

[deadish]

Is it?

If not, well, aparently, I'm not normal, since I have a strong dislike for the genre and themes wherever it appears.
Doesnt help considering how unavoidable it is.

And for the record, I can discern between love and lust.

Depends on how it's done.

Normally romance plots and scenes designed to appeal a female audience will bore a guy to sleep - and vice versa, those designed to appeal to men will be boring to women.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't mind romance at all, unless it's bad romance, i.e. no chemistry, i.e. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

 

[Nantucket_v1legacy]

I never used to like romance until I got older.
I still don't like romantic interests just for the sake of it but if I've seen two characters progress and produce so much sexual tension I like to see it end fittingly.

This goes to you Mulder & Scully! Nine years? But the good thing with them two is it never played into the show - you just got playful hints that more was going on. Very professional.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Depends.

Do you dislike material with romance strictly because there is romance? Or, do you dislike it because the material in general or its attempt at romance in particular is shit?

Do you dislike The Princess Bride? If you do, that's... That's just... Inconceivable!

The Princess Bride is crap. Funny, cheesy crap, but Wesley and that ***** of a princess woman are just nauseating.

However, I am not opposed to romances. I just watched RED, and the two romances in that made me all soppy. So I'm not a monster, I just need the romance to be believable, between two sympathetic characters and not clashing with any other parts of the story.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I don't mind it in literature but I hate watching a movie when they just throw in a sex scene. I'm fine with it implied or even done tastefully like we don't get to see it but I don't want to see a movie to watch 10 minutes of rather bad porn.

 

[Worgen]

Romance can be really good, but its also probably the hardest thing to get right and most of it seems to be utter crap.

 

[joshuaayt]

I don't have any problem with romance of itself, but I'm convinced that fewer and fewer writers understand what the fuck it is.

Going off the modern presentation, romance is a mysterious force that randomly binds together the two people in the room with the worst chemistry, then compels them to shout awful dialogue at each other until the dicking happens.

So, as far as I'm concerned, it is 100% normal to tend to hate romantic material nowadays.

 

[excalipoor]

As long as it doesn't feel like tacked-on multiplayer, I love romance. On the other hand, I hate kiss and sex scenes. Does that make sense?

Yes because kissing and sex scenes seem gratuitous in most cases, like they are there to titillate rather than actually add anything significant to what's going on.

Game of Thrones (the TV version) would be an excellent example. Especially when 9/10 of the sex scenes were completely made up for the show and didn't exist in the books.

Unless I am mistaken in your reasoning.

It's not so much sex for the sake of sex that bothers me. It's the portrayal of relationships as means to an end, the end being sex. I feel it cheapens the whole thing when a story goes all "Look at this! This is the best part, your reward for sticking around!" Games are full of this too (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect). Maybe it's just me, but when the goal is to get laid, romance is already dead.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I can't stand rom coms and shoe horned romances in films, but apart from that I don't mind there being romance in films.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Is it?

If not, well, aparently, I'm not normal, since I have a strong dislike for the genre and themes wherever it appears.
Doesnt help considering how unavoidable it is.

And for the record, I can discern between love and lust.

Are you sure it's the concept in itself that you don't like reading about, or just that everything you've seen has done romance really badly?

 

[Legion]

As long as it doesn't feel like tacked-on multiplayer, I love romance. On the other hand, I hate kiss and sex scenes. Does that make sense?

Yes because kissing and sex scenes seem gratuitous in most cases, like they are there to titillate rather than actually add anything significant to what's going on.

Game of Thrones (the TV version) would be an excellent example. Especially when 9/10 of the sex scenes were completely made up for the show and didn't exist in the books.

Unless I am mistaken in your reasoning.

It's not so much sex for the sake of sex that bothers me. It's the portrayal of relationships as means to an end, the end being sex. I feel it cheapens the whole thing when a story goes all "Look at this! This is the best part, your reward for sticking around!" Games are full of this too (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect). Maybe it's just me, but when the goal is to get laid, romance is already dead.

Admittedly that was my biggest issue with ME2 romances, it just seemed like a "Say the right thing repeatedly until you win (get sex)". I think Dragon Age: Origins and 2 did it better where you could actually have the sexual aspect and then still talk to the character afterwards if you so chose, it felt more organic and less "Put in to keep the fans happy".