fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4639 ]

02. https://i.imgur.com/98d00iS.png

It's so aggravating. Hollywood insists on cramming a romance into so many films, even big action flicks, but then there's no time to do a good job and it's not the point of the film. Frankly, sometimes they barely bother to find two actors with decent chemistry to help make up for lack of plot and character development but... here's your crap romance, audiences!

I feel like this about Jack/Sam from SG-1. <3

Yes! Slow burn done right. Love those two.

I agree. Slow burn is the best. I love friendship romances. The kind of bonds that develop over time and the kind of romance that is earned. That's probably why I tend to mostly ship non-canon things, honestly.

The kind of bonds that develop over time and the kind of romance that is earned.

You hit the nail on the head.

Agreed. Those romances are so satisfying.

I think I'd appreciate "slow burn" if it was really slow burn and not "we're going to move this relationship forward during major ratings weeks and pretend it doesn't exist otherwise."

I do love a slow burn, but X-Files was soooo slow, although that was probably for the best since if they couldn't write the relationship well (although Mulder was mostly gone so there wasn't much to write!) then it was best that it didn't happen until the show was nearly over.

The main problem with Mulder/Scully (which I shipped so hard) was that it taught me a very bad lesson: if I wait long enough and want it hard enough, my ship will be canon! Eventually. Some day. This has basically never happened to me before or since. (I've had some small ships that became canon, but the wait between "Hey, they have chemistry" and "Hey, it's canon" was considerably shorter and I wasn't as emotionally invested, anyway.)

As a Niles/Daphne shipper, agreed :D. Granted, I do think there can be a point where it becomes a "shit or get off the pot" situation, and depending on the characters, it might make sense for a particular pairing to rush into a relationship.

But yeah, for the most part, that buildup is important, not just for the relationship itself, but for the individual characters as well. I'm a friends-to-lovers sort of shipper, so I love seeing the development of their friendship and then seeing how that transitions into something deeper over time :).

Plus, a slow burn done right is just so good :D.

One of my top 5 ships of all time is Niles/Daphne, that ship, much like Mulder/Scully, is a quintessential example of a true Slow Burn, and it came with the added bonus of the writers not fucking them up after. Bar one iffy story-line they put in to accommodate the actresses pregnancy, they remained a solid and beautiful ship for the rest of that show's run.

But, I don't actually think TV really allows for that kind of slow burn anymore, it's all about instant gratification and not allowing arcs the time to build because no one knows if it's going to get cancelled, so we gotta do it all now! I also think some genres(pretty much anything teen-orientated) have always been move inclined towards quick-romances without much build-up.

Personally I can roll with it depending on the media in question and so long as I'm having fun watching a couple get-together I won't mind if it happens by the end of the first season, and in all honesty constant will-they-won't-they will actually annoy me after a certain point and I'll give up caring.

Movie are another matter entirely and tbh I tend to have a lower-bar for them simply because the story is working with such a limited time-frame. I don't think most movie-romances(action movies especially) are particularity good, but so long as they don't feel completely shoe-horned or out of place I won't really mind. And in some cases I adore the romance so really, it's a grab-bag. xD

Honestly I think it all comes down to whether I enjoy the tropes employed than some kind of 'quality' barometer.

Edited 2019-09-19 00:03 (UTC)

One of my top 5 ships of all time is Niles/Daphne, that ship, much like Mulder/Scully, is a quintessential example of a true Slow Burn, and it came with the added bonus of the writers not fucking them up after. Bar one iffy story-line they put in to accommodate the actresses pregnancy, they remained a solid and beautiful ship for the rest of that show's run.

So much agreed. I really appreciate how once they got together, they kept them together, and what's more, they didn't shy away from addressing some of the issues that they would have to deal with upon getting together (their class differences, his idealization of her, their respective insecurities, etc.).

Yes! They were honestly so delightfully written, and such a breath of fresh air when it came to sit-com couples, there was no resentment or hatred of one another. Just a lovely, equal, fulfilling partnership that saw them through the rest of the show.

his idealization of her

That scene is still one of my absolute favourite scenes on TV of all time, like it's just so romantic and wonderful and honest. Daphne got to be insecure about it without being treated as though she was being stupid, instead he just reassured her that with her it was different, and I loved it.

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(Anonymous) - 2019-09-19 06:50 (UTC) - Expand

OH do i feel this. i'm writing a fic that so far has 23 chapters that start before two characters ever get together and i am still sitting here asking myself if this burn is slow enough haha

I was at work for 16 hour today and didn't have time to comment in this thread at all, and now I'm too exhausted, but I just want to say that you are doing god's work. 23 chapters of build up and ust and pining sounds like EVERYTHING to me. I LIVE for these sorts of fics.

Honestly, I just want it not to feel formulaic. Slow burn is a really nice way to do that, because it allows you to build and build. On the other hand, one of my favorite TV ships got together in the 2nd episode of the series. So it can go either way.

Also I didn't ship Mulder and Scully but that's not really germane here

Gillian Anderson lost too much weight. I wish she would put some back on.

I'm with you. There are multiple instances where I didn't even ship something until a couple seasons in because it took that long for them to build up the characters and their dynamic.

Seven years is a bit *too* long for me, but yes....how about we don't have 'twue wuv' in ten minutes?

Or, you know - romance-free plots work, too!

Seven years is a bit *too* long for me

I agree. Stretch it out too long and it becomes unsatisfying and unrealistic, but definitely don't have it happen instantly because then nobody cares!

I think if they'd been playing the will they/wont they game from S1 with Mulder and Scully, then seven years might've felt too long. And definitely if the entire focus of the show had been on their relationship, then seven years would've been too long.

But I loved it and it worked for me because there were 3+ seasons where the relationship, on screen, was written as two deeply bonded colleagues with a shared mission and an increasing amount of shared trauma. There was a single scene here or there that felt like it might be hinting at the possibility of attraction, but even then it was really ambiguous.

Plus, the focus of the show was on the work and their experience with the work, and how they worked together. Their relationship was the vital underpinning of everything, but it wasn't the focus, so development could be a lot slower without it feeling ridiculous.

Seconding that romance-free plots work too. TBH, I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and a hardcore shipper. But even I think there are times when a story doesn't call for romance, or times when a story has a place for romance, but not the lush, idealized "endgame" romance that's so standard in most fiction. And definitely I would rather have no romance than something trite and shoehorned in (aka like 70% of canonical het).

TBH, I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and a hardcore shipper. But even I think there are times when a story doesn't call for romance, or times when a story has a place for romance, but not the lush, idealized "endgame" romance that's so standard in most fiction.

I'll agree with this, too. Some pairings are just meant for that bittersweet "what could've been" ending, and done right, that can be just as poignant and touching as a happy-ever-after.

Re: OP

tabaqui - 2019-09-20 00:35 (UTC) - Expand

awwwww, i just started watching the x-files in earnest and i love how their relationship is developing (i'm currently on season 4). this secret made me really happy.

(my comment has nothing to do with it really but it did make me happy.)

This is why I'd never want my ships to be canon. If they're not rushed together without buildup, (and really, even when they are) the writers never know how to write them, and it always ends up bad. There are extremely few canon parings that actually turned out well, imo.

In movies, definitely romance happens too fast. On TV shows, though, they are almost always dragged out way too long to the point where I just stop caring. Mulder & Scully are a good example of that, as are Josh & Donna on West Wing. Absolutely there should be a slow burn with good character development but many writers are really bad at knowing when enough's enough. If you want me to believe that two characters can't live without each other, then don't show me 7+ seasons of them doing exactly that...