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m/f romance and the skeptical audience
I just watched I Know Where I'm Going, another lovely Powell and Pressburger film with another m/f romance that I found completely unconvincing. The IMDB forums, on the other hand, are full of praise for the love story.
Now, I know I'm a tough audience for m/f romance. But there have occasionally been some that I've believed in and liked! Really! So when I find them unconvincing or unmoving, it makes me wonder whether many viewers find heterosexual romantic stories convincing merely because they're heterosexual (the stories, that is, not the viewers, although I suppose straight people are the target audience for straight-focused stories), and because the convention is that the female and male leads will get together. Whereas because I am not straight and not invested in this assumption that men and women should pair off together, I tend to want evidence that these people really love each other and will be happy together; I don't just assume that they "naturally" do and will.
I may be a tough sell, in other words, but the storytellers assume they're making their pitch to people who are 90% sold already.
And it tells you a lot about how much I like Powell and Pressburger's work that I'm willing to sit through the romance parts.
Now, I know I'm a tough audience for m/f romance. But there have occasionally been some that I've believed in and liked! Really! So when I find them unconvincing or unmoving, it makes me wonder whether many viewers find heterosexual romantic stories convincing merely because they're heterosexual (the stories, that is, not the viewers, although I suppose straight people are the target audience for straight-focused stories), and because the convention is that the female and male leads will get together. Whereas because I am not straight and not invested in this assumption that men and women should pair off together, I tend to want evidence that these people really love each other and will be happy together; I don't just assume that they "naturally" do and will.
I may be a tough sell, in other words, but the storytellers assume they're making their pitch to people who are 90% sold already.
And it tells you a lot about how much I like Powell and Pressburger's work that I'm willing to sit through the romance parts.