(Of Monsters and Men reference, baby! 😋)
Anyway.
It seems to me that when a lot of people go about designing a male love interest, or just a male character in general, they forget that they're supposed to be creating someone human.
I mean, seriously - he's not a robot! He can have emotions! And he can be shorter than 6 feet! And you know, be polite and respectful!
I mean, come on! Not every dude is gonna be freakin' 6 feet 4 inches tall with abs and an accent vaguely referred to as "British" and have some shady, angsty past that comes back to haunt him after he finally stops sleeping with every female on the planet to suddenly settle down with little miss "I'm a good girl, I am!"
I hate the whole thing with a male character who shows no emotions other than like, I don't know, anger, obsession, and testosterone-ness. Guys are human, too. They cry, they feel sad, betrayed, happy, giddy, awkward, all that stuff. Most characters seem like sociopaths or psychopaths who literally can't feel emotion at all. Ugh.
Not all guys want to sleep around. Not all guys have abs. Not all guys are all gung-ho to go investigate what made that weird noise in the kitchen at 3 AM.
"Go check it out."
"But I'm just as freaked out as you are!"
"Oh, man up!"
Ugh. How dumb is that? Yeah, man, just swallow your natural instincts, forget all of your own individual personality traits, and fit the mold, bro!
This can go for girls too, like, you know, the whole "don't speak your mind, be pretty, you need a man to protect you, ALWAYS SHAVE YOUR LEGS" thing, among many others, but that's a rant for another time.
And like, in a lot of stories, the guy is just all obsessed about protecting the MC. Too obsessed, actually. He's a stalker. Always around. She is never allowed out of his sight. He gets mad if another dude even so much as looks in her direction. This isn't how (90% of) real guys are, and they don't need to go around thinking that's how they're supposed to be.
The whole "bad boy" trope is choking the goodness out of guys everywhere! They're going around thinking that nice guys finish last and I'm over here like, "No! Don't change yourself for some stupid idea of what's 'cool'!"
Think of the "manly-man" action hero, who is tough and strong and never expresses any kind of emotion. Except for, perhaps, rage or something. I mean, what's up with that?
And like, invincible guys who get shot fourteen times but then the next day they're taking My Fair "I'm a Good Girl I Am" on a ride on their stupid motorcycle.
(Does anyone get the "I'm a good girl I am" reference?)
"Oh, Zander Zane, you're hurt!" Mary Sue gasped.
"I'm fine," Zander Zane replied in a husky voice, holding his intestines in with his hands. "How 'bout a ride on my motorcycle, Princess?"
....
....
....
"Okay!"
Oh. My. Fudging. Fudgesicles. Fudge-pops. God.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
I don't get it! Why is invincibility like, just something that these weird characters automatically have? Why can't they actually experience pain? Oh, right. Because the creator of said weird character forgot that he is supposed to be human.
Of course, if your character is actually a robot, by all means...continue. Or if they have like superhuman powers that keep them from getting super hurt by things like bullets, you know, it makes more sense. But they need a weakness no matter what.
Everyone has a weakness. That's what makes us human, and if your character has an semblance of humanity, they need a weakness, dammit. Even freakin' Superman has a weakness!
Imagine if Flynn Rider had no weakness.
Rapunzel hits him over the head with a frying pan after he scrambles into her tower, and he just turns around like, "oh, excuse me, young lady, but would you mind telling me what exactly this tower is doing here in the middle of nowhere?"
Ughhhhhh.
Which one is better:
Tall, muscular, Greek-God appearance,
sad, mysterious, haunting backstory consisting of mean and/or dead parents or some sort of crime he's committed,
sudden bursts of rage, insults, meanness,
leather jacket, motorcycle,
obsessive behavior, jealousy issues, zero patience,
alcoholism, smoking habit,
...did I mention the blind rage?
He randomly beats people up if they piss him off by just breathing weird or not even lifting, bruh.
Also throws things, doesn't let anyone tell him anything - fuck authority figures,
he's NEVER wrong, he can call you whatever he wants,
no time for feelings whether they're his feelings or someone else's,
fake IDs, parties, sex sex sex, general recklessness, antisocial but also super popular,
screams "mine!" more than a seagull from Finding Nemo.
He has BLUE ORBSSSSSSS
Or
Just some guy of 'average' height, his appearance is not particularly striking, he's not Mr. Six-Pack, no weird soap-opera-esque backstory,
he gets fed up with people's shit but just leaves any heated situation instead of randomly beating up people,
makes movie references all the time, wears t-shirts with puns on them mostly but he cleans up all right,
likes pancakes (maybe a bit too much), drives a good old four-wheeled vehicle,
knows how to give people their space,
and prefers orange juice to alcoholic beverages because you need your liver to live, man. That's why it's called a "live-r"?
He can take constructive criticism, and doesn't call people mean names.
Also he has actual feelings.
He has like one best friend and a few people who are in the 'I don't hate your presence and when I need a group I'll call you' category.
He knows that people don't "belong" to other people.
Also, he has brown eyes.
Personally, the second guy sounds much better, and much more realistic. You know, because he sounds like an actual human being. Of course, he doesn't sound like every human being out there, but he's more human than Mr. "I Really Need Some Therapy and Anger Management" up there.
I don't know, this just really bugs me, like, in a story they might finally give us a less cliche, actually relatable and realistic female character, or lots of realistic female characters, but then all the guys are exactly the same.
It's super annoying.
Anyway, bye. 👋👋
BINABASA MO ANG
I Don't Wike It: The Cliches and Sterotypes of Wattpad
RandomNo! Not the cliches! Aah they're killing me! (Figuratively, of course) Here's a book filled with me rambling, ranting, and giving 'advice'. It's funny-ish, I promise! (Also, most of it was written years ago by wee little idiot me. Older me joins in...
