Romance

Been wanting to write this for a few days, because I just watched little Mermaid, legend of Korra, and the new Muppet movie.
And I just realized that it ties in with Ellen's post about character development.
So, here's a topic I don't spend too much time on.
Romance.
Romance is pretty much impossible to avoid. It's in almost every movie/book/show I can think of. Not that there's necessarily anything bad about that. But I've never really sought out anything that was a designated "romance."
Some romances turn out better than others. Obviously.
So, for fun, I'll pick some of them apart. Beware possible spoilers.

I'd better start with some of my views on shipping. If you don't know, "shipping" is when someone pairs up different characters from a show/movie, whether or not they're ever involved.
Since everyone here knows Avatar: the Last Airbender, I'll use that as an example. People that like to pair up Katara and Aang use the phrase Kataang. Katara and Zuko is called Zutara.
Which would I choose? Kataang (man, I feel stupid using those phrases). Why? Because that's clearly what Katara and Aang want, once they make their choice. Nowhere in the series do Zuko and Katara show any interest in each other. Katara threatens to kill Zuko!
I don't like shipping. Never have. Stop messing with the characters! Let them choose who they want! Zuko and Mai are happy together (though it can be hard to tell), Aang and Katara are happy together.
Last year at Fanime, when I dressed up as Yellow, someone asked me who I liked to pair Yellow with. And I said that I wanted her to choose what made her happy. That girl stared at me like I was crazy in the head.
Okay. Now that fan-made pairings are out of the way. Let's go to ones that actually occur during the train of events.

Let's start with Disney, because they're notorious for, uh, very simple romances.
Since I just watched Little Mermaid, let's begin there. Ariel sees handsome prince on a boat. First time she's gotten close to humans. Immediately, she's madly in love with him. And whaddya know? Once Eric's free from Ursula's spell, he immediately says that he loves her too! The only things keeping them apart? The evil octopus lady.
(Don't get me wrong. I love most of the Disney movies. Even if they do seem kinda phony sometimes. I like every movie I'm going to discuss here).
Hmm. What next?
Beauy and the Beast. Well, at least it took time for them to realize that they loved each other. But wasn't it only a few days? I can never tell. Because the weather seems to change dramatically. But on the other hand, I don't think it would have taken Belle's father too long to get lost before Belle went to rescue him.
Lion King and Bambi. Childhood friends who they didn't see for a long time. They grow up, meet again, and magically fall in love with each other pretty darn quickly (especially for Bambi).
Hercules falls in love with Meg pretty quickly. Though she at least takes a while to sort out her feelings (I love the song she sings about it).
Ohhhhhh. Of course. How could I forget? Snow White. They met for about 1 minute, with a window and about 30 feet between them. Yet that seems to qualify as "true love." Once Upon a Time has a much cooler relationship between Snow and the prince (I'll take this opportunity to recommend this show yet again).

Before I bore you all to tears by mentioning every single Disney Romance, because I think all of them have romance even if it's a small background romance, I will leave Disney behind and look at a couple other things.

Oh, must start with FMA. Only at the verrrry end does Ed finally ask Winry (which is pretty adorable in the anime).
Legend of Korra. Since we're in the middle of it, I obviously don't know how things will play out, though they've been setting up Mako and Korra since the beginning, pretty much. Where does that leave Asami? And then there was a whole episode where everyone was trying to figure out how they all felt about each other. I totally buy that. Teenagers sometimes need to sort out their feelings like that (though maybe they just wanted to appeal to the scary fangirls).
And then because I just watched the new Muppet movie. Kermit and Miss Piggie. Very... unlikely. But hey, that's okay. Unlikely relationships can work if they're done well. Besides, this is the Muppets. They're never quite normal. I forgot how amusing it was to hear Miss Piggy go "Kermiiiiiieeeee!"
Oh, and I like this one, because the same actor did both of these characters - Hiccup from "How to Train Your Dragon," and Dave from "Sorcerer's Apprentice." Both movies start with a somewhat nerdy boy (Nerdfighters!) who likes a girl that some would consider "beyond his reach" (which is a concept I don't buy). Fortunately, both Hiccup and Dave have something that designates them as "awesome." Hiccup has Toothless. Dave is a sorcerer. Dave, at least, was getting to know Becky before he told her that he was the heir to Merlin's power. Astrid pretty much hated Hiccup until he takes her for a Magic Carpet Ride. At which point, her attitude towards him changes abruptly. Although, to be fair, if someone took me for a ride on an (adorable) dragon, I would probably go "whoa, you're awesome!" (though not necessarily in a romantic way).

And then something else that bugs me. Since I finished reading Buso Renkin recently, I'll use that as an example. Kazuki and Tokiko. Yeah, they'd been through a lot together. And I'm sure they were very close. But at the beginning of the series, they made it very clear that Tokiko was like a "big sister" figure to Kazuki. And then all of a sudden, they love each other (a quick clarification before I continue. I totally get that Buso Renkin was canceled, so the author had to wrap everything up very quickly. I'm sure that given the time, he would have developed it better).
Wait a second. Just because a guy and a girl are close doesn't mean they have to love each other romantically!
That's something that's bugged me pretty much forever. Pretty much everything you read or watch wants you to believe that because a guy and girl are close, they must be in love with each other.
Dude, what the hell? Can't people of the opposite gender be friends without everyone asking if they're boyfriend/girlfriend?
I could go into my "types of love" thing again, but I'll limit that to a small reminder - love family, love friends, love animals, and romantic love.
Just because your two main characters are different genders doesn't mean that they have to fall in love. Guys and girls don't really fall in love with everyone they get to know.

And something else I just thought of, also about Once Upon a Time. This is a little bit spoiler-y, considering I don't think any of you have watched it. I'll be as vague as possible. So, there's the thing where "true love is the greatest magic," and "true love's kiss can break any curse."
Blah-di-blah, right?
Not necessarily!
Not when a curse is broken because a mother loves her son! See, even "true love's kiss" doesn't have to be romantic!

Whoa, that post was a lot longer than I thought it'd be. It was kinda fun to write though.

Oh, oh! I forgot!
Fact of the day:
Chicken eggs. If you never wash them after gathering them from the chickens, you don't need to refrigerate them. Washing them removes a sort of protective coating from the shell. (You probably don't want to leave them lying around for a really long time though).