 That's how high I can kick what's shaking my name is Cam welcome back to another video You probably don't know this but aside from being great at being great at karate I'm a romance expert and now you're probably thinking well Cam if that's true if you're a romance expert Why have you been single for so long? Well, guess what the jokes on you? The reason I've been single for so long is because I'm terrible at talking to women. I Don't read a lot of romance books. They generally aren't written for hetero Felleros like me, which is fine. It's not a big deal at all in any capacity It's just that I rarely find that I can relate to the characters in those romance books with that said I am a big fan of rom-coms big time. I eat that stuff up like Like a wine mom with a cheese platter Today I'm gonna be talking about some of my favorite and least favorite tropes in the romance genre And I think of all the different genres This is the one where these tropes either fall almost completely into either. I love it or hate it basket I love the second chance romance trope. I Love it. I genuinely think it's one of the most interesting ways to approach a new relationship in a story Rather than just going with the old, you know, love at first sight angle So the second chance trope is basically when this story starts with our protagonist having either just left a relationship or in the process of leaving a relationship and The rest of the story is them getting a second chance at love a second shot with a new person in most cases our Protagonist let's just call him Harry for this video has been hit pretty hard by the breakup They either got dumped unexpectedly or maybe they caught their partner cheating Well, basically just doing something else Otherwise horrible now I think the best part of using this trope is that the writer is actually forced to kind of Implement that breakup from the start of the story Into the foundation of what is going to be the next relationship the new romance Rather than just having two happy people meeting each other and falling in love You're gonna have at least one character that is pretty damaged and that's going to play a huge part in how that new Relationship develops and it's for that reason that generally there's going to be a pretty good character arc I'm just I'm gonna generalize for a minute. So don't get defensive But I think most romance stories don't have a lot of detailed character arcs They'll have a relationship arc where the relationship will change and develop over the course of the story But usually the characters themselves are still the same people at the end that they were at the beginning But when you use the second chance arc You have to have at least one character that is going to go on an emotional journey and change Usually what you'll have is a really cynical character who believes that love is a sham Because they were in love with the last person and they gave it their all and they still got burned who can relate but then They meet someone special Entirely by chance and this new special person breaks down those walls and convinces them shows them that Love is still possible. Love is still possible if they just take a chance if they take a risk If they just take that leap of faith through the course of the story We watch Harry go from a bitter heartbroken cynic to a cautiously hopeful person to someone who believes in love again I just find as far as romance tropes go. This is one of the ones where it approaches romance in a realistic and Honest way even if it's not always pretty the second chance trope really dunks on the idea that love has to be cute or glamorous And it's a pretty simple message. It's never too late. And that's pretty dope. I Know that to all the boys I've loved before is kind of sacred on book 2, but I'm sorry. I I hate this trope I really do. Maybe I'm just being a bit too critical. I'm just a guy with a massive forehead What do I know? But I just don't feel like this trope The fake relationship trope. I don't feel like it leaves a lot of space for originality. Hey, maybe I'm wrong That's just my personal experience guy What I found is that this trope will create a Story structure a number of steps that it follows and kind of has to follow which ends up being the same rigid boring Formula so we don't know each other very well One of us is probably the hot popular kid or the wealthy successful one and the other one is just plain Jane We will start to pretend that we're dating usually to make someone else jealous or to avoid some kind of public Humiliation it'll be rocky at first of course because we don't really know anything about each other The only thing we know about each other is that one of us is hot and one of us is Plain we'll bicker a lot about really asinine and inconsequential things But don't worry. It'll be super cute and then in a moment of vulnerability We will kiss the build-up to the climax of the story will be that for whatever reason We both have to pretend that we don't have feelings for each other And then we will split and then one of us usually the protagonist will have a Revelation or an epiphany and then end up running as fast as we can so that we can kiss the other one in a really public setting The end. I don't know. I'm just not a I'm just not a huge fan I guess I think with the fake romance trope You can really guess pretty much everything that's going to happen or even how it's going to happen Within the first like 10 minutes of reading or watching again I'm just generalizing off of my personal experience But rarely there's any nuance and the character development is usually just well the hot bully is still a bully but Not to me. So that's okay I'm only human of course. I like this trope. I know these stories almost always follow the same like can be predictable Structure that I just ripped into but come on There's something nice about letting ourselves believe that there is one person that we are destined to be with okay I think the main reason I really like the friends to lovers trope is because it relies very heavily on the writer's ability To make good chemistry for the two main characters if there's not good chemistry there The story just won't work anyway Usually two characters that have been friends since childhood will be inexplicably reunited after a really long time apart That's really heartwarming in any kind of story when two old friends get back together And you know they you read or watch about them reconnecting and regressing to being Childhood buddies all over again. That's really nice I enjoy that but it's even better when those two characters are Regressing and starting to realize that those old feelings that they had might have been more serious than they thought And those feelings are still around. There may be other barriers Which almost always takes the form of one or both of those characters already having a boyfriend or girlfriend But that friend is still the one I Personally think this one is a cliche not a trope But the reason I'm mentioning it here is because it it ties in really well with the friends to lovers trope That I just talked about any time in a romance where one of the two main characters Already has a partner that partner is always shown to be a de-hole in the most obnoxious way It's like the writer really wants to rub your face in it. Look look look okay Look, it's okay for the love interest to leave their boyfriend for Harry because their boyfriend Sucks. I don't know man that it just feels like it's really cheap writing or even worse This is like actually way worse I really hate it when they do this the boyfriend or girlfriend is really nice for pretty much the entire story They're supportive and that kind but as soon as it gets to the point of the story where the character has to make a choice between Their boyfriend or girlfriend and the love interest the boyfriend or girlfriend's personality will immediately flip and they will start being a D-hole or it will be revealed that they were cheating all along even though there was no Suggestion or hint to this in the first place I think the reason they do this is just entirely to make you feel better about The character leaving their boyfriend or girlfriend for the love interest But I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world if the character was faced with the genuine dilemma of Choosing between a nice kind Supportive and loving boyfriend or girlfriend or the person that they are actually in love with that's more interesting than me Where is the conflict or the stakes in someone choosing between someone that they're in love with and someone that? Abuses them constantly. We know what they're gonna do. The choice is obvious I don't like it personally But I get it. It's a fantasy getting swept up by the attractive wealthy mysterious person They could have anyone so why did they choose me and also now they can buy me nice things I get it It's just not for me Forbidden love is a fun one. I like this one and I'm not talking about like Finding out that those cousins that go to your school were Busted kissing each other at Kevin's party the forbidden love romance trope could take many forms Romeo and Juliet's the really obvious one And the reason I like this trope is because it's usually not just a love story It's also an exploration of the very thing that divides them It might be a class divide or a cultural divide the list goes on a good writer will use this trope Not only to tell a love story a story about perseverance and hope for those two characters but usually they'll make some kind of statement as well about the thing that's stopping them from being together and the end of The story is always super cathartic because you watch these two characters go through so much and fight against so many Outside forces that are trying to stop them from being together and then in the end they get a win the prize being each other Unless one of unless one of them dies, which does it happens a lot Maybe a weird example, but take West side story the musical. It's not just a love story about Tony and Maria It's also a story about racial tension in 1950s America Obviously this trope doesn't always have to go into topics that intense and sometimes You know, it doesn't have to do any kind of deep exploration at all I just think there's still plenty of room to be very creative with stories like this and take it in many different directions Okay, look, I'm gonna keep this brief just because of how easy it could be to take something I say here the wrong way I'm not a fan of the trope where a love interest is revealed to be sick and dying or Gets into a serious accident at some random point near the end of the story Just to give the other romantic interest a reason to stick by their side. I don't like it. I think it's stupid I just don't like it. Sue me. Go ahead. Do it. So do it. Sue me. Sue me Sue me you little bitch. I want to be clear Sometimes the terminal illness is a central focus in the story itself. It's important to the plot and that's okay That's completely fine. But I feel like there are a lot of stories more than there should be where Terminal illness or a serious accident is used as nothing more than a plot device Just to make the reader sad, you know If the writer feels like their story's coming to a grinding halt and they need something to give it an emotional punch Well easy-peasy just add a cancer diagnosis or a car crash even though it's had nothing to do with the story so far It's a super easy way of making your story really emotional without actually doing any work I not only think that's lazy, but something about it just feels Wrong, you know, like kind of icky. I just feel like Serious things like terminal cancer and serious accidents Shouldn't be used as a last-minute quick draw for writers to try and bring these characters together I don't know. That's how I feel anyway. So yeah Those are some of the romance tropes that I love and hate the most there's others of course, but let's be honest If you stick around here too long You and I might fall in love Damn it. I want to do more videos like this on other genres So keep an eye out. Let me know what you think about these tropes or others in the comments below and Let's see how right or wrong I am. Thanks for watching. Catch you