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Post by Cordelia on Jul 19, 2015 3:06:07 GMT
Abigail is not a favorite character or anything but one thing I really hate about her and Chad's relationship is I don't get why Abigail is in love with Chad? He was extremely mean to her and treated her with disrespect since he came back with a new face & business skills. Chad spent the whole time slut shaming her or being generally douchey to her. What did she see in him that changed her mind about him? Last time they were together, she chose Cameron over him. They didn't leave in good terms. She was actually very cruel to him, and now he comes back with a douchey attitude and she falls in love with him. What gives? Does she have a thing for guys who treat her like a sex object and a possession?
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Post by honeybees on Jul 19, 2015 11:35:26 GMT
I have never cared for romances that begin with one of the parties being cruel to the other and then the other realizes deep down the cruel one is just in pain or something. I could never get aboard the Luke/Reid train for that reason on ATWT, even though Reid softened. It sends a pretty dangerous message because in RL people don't stop being cruel when they fall in love with you. I think that the Chad and Abigail story sends a really dangerous message in that Ben started out as the ideal, kind and loving boyfriend and Chad started out as a slut shaming rage monkey. Now, they've made it like Ben will turn abusive and Chad will be the hero -or at least they've adjusted the story so that's where I think it's going. People in abusive relationships tend to romanticize them - and they've got plenty of fiction to back that up. I don't mind if a nasty character stops being nasty, but for example, in the Jack and Jennifer romance - he was occasionally snarky and rude to her but he was never cruel to her during their initial attraction phase.
I know that functional relationships rarely make good fiction, especially on a soap opera, and I think KM and BF are doing their best to sell the pairing, and BF in particularly has tried to give Chad some layers. But I try not to overthink it because you are correct, Chad was awful to her to the point of emotional abuse and that's not cool.
I have a friend who teaches adolescent literature, and she's started working in a "fictional romance versus real romance" for the Twilight era - she starts with Wuthering Heights as an example of a romance that is riveting on the page but you would never, ever want to experience in real life.
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Post by Cordelia on Jul 19, 2015 18:57:30 GMT
You are spot on Honeybees. I was rooting for Abigail against Chad because I hated the despicable way he treated her and Jordan. He used them both and treated them like an object. He taunted both Ben & Rafe with his sexual escapades with Jordan and Abigail. When he apologized to them he was insincere and playing an angle, but then all of a sudden without any work or transition, Ben is obsessive and controlling douche and Chad is the tortured romantic who's sacrificing for Abigail's happiness.
Funny story about Wuthering Heights, my teacher was so in love with Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff. But I hated everything about the book. I was having a really hard time doing my assignment when I had a chat with my dad about it. At this point in my life, I was beginning to be introduced to 19th-century literature. And I was engrossed in everything Jane Austen. My dad sat with me, and I never forget what he said to me. He said: “sweetheart, I think you’ll love it if you stop looking at it as a romance novel. Look at it as a complex novel with tortured and damaged characters that abuse each other. Read it from the perspective of the abuser & the victim.”
My dad was right. Once I stopped seeing it as a romance novel, I fell in love with it. Needless to say, my book report didn’t get a high mark because Mrs. Briggs was invested in seeing Heathcliff as a tortured romantic hero.
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Post by honeybees on Jul 19, 2015 19:59:05 GMT
You are spot on Honeybees. I was rooting for Abigail against Chad because I hated the despicable way he treated her and Jordan. He used them both and treated them like an object. He taunted both Ben & Rafe with his sexual escapades with Jordan and Abigail. When he apologized to them he was insincere and playing an angle, but then all of a sudden without any work or transition, Ben is obsessive and controlling douche and Chad is the tortured romantic who's sacrificing for Abigail's happiness. Funny story about Wuthering Heights, my teacher was so in love with Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff. But I hated everything about the book. I was having a really hard time doing my assignment when I had a chat with my dad about it. At this point in my life, I was beginning to be introduced to 19th-century literature. And I was engrossed in everything Jane Austen. My dad sat with me, and I never forget what he said to me. He said: “sweetheart, I think you’ll love it if you stop looking at it as a romance novel. Look at it as a complex novel with tortured and damaged characters that abuse each other. Read it from the perspective of the abuser & the victim.” My dad was right. Once I stopped seeing it as a romance novel, I fell in love with it. Needless to say, my book report didn’t get a high mark because Mrs. Briggs was invested in seeing Heathcliff as a tortured romantic hero. The romantic part of Wuthering Heights comes when Cathy II and Hareton manage to break free of Heathcliff's horrific abuse and there's some implication they will be happy together. If you see Cathy I and Heathcliff as the central romance - you're mind will be twisted in knots trying to make it work. The movies almost always cut out Cathy II's storyline - and that's twisted. I certainly see that Chabby have their appeal - but it doesn't appeal to me. BF and KM are trying to sell what they've been given, but I hope they address what he did to her - and Ben and Jordan onscreen. Pride & Prejudice is the opposite - a healthy, happy romance that happens to be entertaining. Every romantic comedy since has been some variation of that or Emma or one of Austen's other books, but especially P&P. Although, I have to say that Clueless, which is Emma, is probably the best "set it in modern times" adaption of a literary classic I've ever seen and only now that it's a couple of decades old are people giving it its due credit. Anyway, I don't blame the actors, I blame the misogynist head writers. Also, this isn't a situation like Luke & Laura back in the day when the couple's rapport and chemistry caught the writers/producers off guard and they made a huge mistake and flailed around trying to undo it - but then finally owned it and made it part of the story. But that was a special case because it was never intended to be a romance in the beginning and L&L's chemistry was so unusually good. I think Chabby was the plan all along, and given how he treated her, that's pretty grim.
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Post by Cordelia on Jul 20, 2015 0:53:05 GMT
There was a bit of romance with young Cathy and Hareton but at 15, I thought cousins falling in love was gross. Also, Hareton's devotion to Heathcliff made me dislike the whole abusive relationship. I was just thinking if he'll repeat Heathcliff's cruelty. Anyway, they were both two damaged people. I wondered how they'll survive all that trauma between them.
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