r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KalzK • Sep 06 '26

miscellaneous Tropes that became problematic

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The Persistent Suitor: A guy who is after the girl and just wont take no for an answer. Nowadays we just call stalking and harassment, but it used to be romantic. Example: The Notebook (2004), Noah asks Allie out while she's on a date with another man. She refuses, but he threatens to let go and fall unless she agrees to go out with him.

Comedic Woman On Man Violence: Mostly seen in anime, recently it has decreased a lot but years back every show had a woman hitting a guy and showed it as funny. Example: Toradora!, where the quintessential tsundere, Taiga, beats up the MC regularly.

Kid Bags Adult Baddie: I remember a few of these, sometimes it was to show how cool and awesome a kid was because an adult woman fell for him, now it's just seen as problematic shit. Example: Blank Check, the woman likes the kid and kisses him telling him to look for her in 10 years.

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u/Excellent_Law6906 Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26

Wow, I've never seen The Notebook, but anyone pulling that garbage on me is getting told, "So let go, then."

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u/Square_Role_4345 Sep 06 '26

I remember hearing how romantic the movie was, but watching that ferris heel scene had me so confused. He was so creepy and she didn't want him!

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u/Pension_Pale Sep 06 '26

That's RomCom 101, lots of creepy or unhinged things get a pass in romcoms. Especially dumping the supportive and dedicated, if a little boring guy who has done nothing wrong in favour of the handsome loose cannon you just met but he's so totally right for you coz he gets you.

Hallmark movies are especially guilty of this

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u/Brief-Coach-1812 Sep 06 '26

Somethings that feels daring and exciting but does not work in real life. That is the fantasy of Romcom.

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u/ProfessionalOven2311 Sep 06 '26

Reminds me of how many stories involve protagonist employees breaking the rules and eventually getting rewarded for it.

Part of it is probably the fantasy of knowing more than the stupid bosses who made the rules, and getting rewarded for it

But the main reason that shows up so much is because it's more exciting for a story. It creates risk and stakes that wouldn't be there if the employee did everything by the book. It's not supposed to tell you how to do your job, it's just trying to be entertaining. And applying that to real life (especially when the 'employees' are in law enforcement) it can be pretty concerning.

I assume RomComs follow a similar mentality. Part of it is the fantasy of the perfect man falling out of nowhere, but it's also a lot of doing daring things to be exciting, when those area actually pretty messed up in real life.

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u/Pension_Pale Sep 06 '26

Yeah, I agree, it's supposed to be fantasy, something not realistic at all, and when you accept it isn't real it becomes more entertaining than not, even if you realise how disturbing it'd be if it actually happened. Like Kevin throwing bricks at the crooks in Home Alone. Haha delightful antics in a movie, horrifying in real life.

The sad thing is some people can't separate the fantasy from reality and start thinking that's what the ideal romance is

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u/Excellent_Law6906 Sep 08 '26

This shit ain't cute in a story, either, though. Like, there's plenty of wild, romantic, unrealistic things that don't involve textbook abuser behavior.

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u/ElvenOmega Sep 06 '26

No, the sad thing is your misogyny. You think children can understand not to throw bricks at people's heads but women can't differentiate reality from movies?

The Notebook isn't even considered a real romance. Sparks himself gets pissed his books are shelved in romance when they're not.

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u/Pension_Pale Sep 06 '26

Way to put words in my mouth, bud. I never said "women", nor did I say kids won't think throwing bricks at people's heads. I said the sad thing is that some people can't differentiate fantasy and reality. That means men, too. There are some twisted men that think this is the ideal way to pursue women, too. And yes, kids do also need to be taught how to separate movie hijinx from reality and learn the consequences of things like bricks to the head.

Please do not assume "misogyny" where there is none. You make an ass of yourself when you do so.

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u/NerdHoovy Sep 06 '26

Reminds me of an ‘after hours’ video, where the joke was that almost ever Romcom was about bad people

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u/Wobbelblob Sep 06 '26

RomComs in general are extremely weird. You either have plots like these that are gross and/or weird or plots that revolve around "if you wait for 2 seconds and let me finish a sentence we could save each other weeks of grief". And the latter is usually not even catching your partner actively kissing someone but seeing something strange and immediately jumping to the worst conclusion known to man.

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u/MaraiaLou Sep 06 '26

I used to feel that way about rom coms until I watched breakfast at Tiffany's and moonstruck. They fixed me

Granted the guy in baT is boring as hell and the guy in moonstruck is unhinged (Nicholas cage can be hot??) but it works pretty well

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u/darkestarc Sep 06 '26

Any one of those movies (including the Notebook) just reverse the genders of the leads and see how 'romantic' they seem then.

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u/bolobar Sep 06 '26

Sleepless in Seattle is a good example of this too, but reversed since the woman comes off as the crazier one. Funny enough, another Tom Hanks movie even though another movie of his has already been mentioned.