Poem: There's Three People in a Love Triangle (So Why is There Only One Ending?)

[meridian_rose]

Title: There's Three People in a Love Triangle (So Why is There Only One Ending?)
Fandom: Original
Pairing/Characters: Multiple implied relationships of male and female characters
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 418
Prompt: For the writerverse prompts 'Triangle' and 'Down the Rabbit Hole'
Summary: Why love triangles are trite and dull, and how things could go differently
Warnings: None
Notes: Author notes follow at close of poem


Alyce loves Bob.
Alyce loves Chad.
Bob and Chad love Alyce.
This is a love triangle.
A staple of fiction
Where two people
Usually men
Fight (physically, verbally, or by other means)
For the attentions of a third person
Usually a woman
Because she's a prize to be won
And Alyce will have to choose
Often between the 'good guy'
And the 'bad guy'
Or at the not-as-nice guy
(Though it's no choice at all as you'll see)
And almost inevitably
Alyce chooses the 'good guy'
The 'nice guy'
Even if he's an obsessive stalker
Or abusive and controlling
If he mostly just can't wait to make her his wife
And for her to bear his children
(He rarely mentions how he wants her
To go back to school
Or take up painting
Or open a bookstore
How he wants to support her dreams
To help her achieve anything other than
Monogamy and motherhood)
This is how Alyce's story ends
(There can be only one end)
She chooses the 'right' guy
Or picks the 'wrong' guy but then
Realises her mistake and goes
Running back for Mr Right
While the other loses out
(They rarely even remain friends
His character may get written out of the narrative
Once his purpose as rival has been negated)
He's excluded from her life
Because he had other dreams
Other ways of being


It doesn't have to be this way
Maybe Alyce and Barbara both love Chad
(Or they both love Cheryl)
Or maybe Bob and Chad love each other
And only see Alyce as a friend
Perhaps Chad loves Bob and Alyce
(bisexuality exists)
Maybe Alyce lives with Bob
But also has a relationship with Chad
Openly, consentingly
(polyamory exists)
Maybe Alyce and Bob and Chad
Form a triad, a threesome, an OT3
Perhaps one of them is asexual
So they're still a ménage a trois
But not everyone is sleeping
In each other's beds – or the same bed
(Or maybe they are, but only for cuddling)

If the love triangle wasn't destined
To end with the prized woman
Choosing once and for all
The One Man
"The Happy Ending"
If we threw out the rulebook
Went down the rabbit hole
Or through the looking glass
What stories might we have then?
What endings might be feasible?
What possibilities might exist?
What of instead of one path
(The Path)
We had a myriad?

Alyce loves Bob.
Alyce loves Chad.
Bob and Chad…that's more complicated
Where this could lead
No-one yet knows

---

This is an incredibly prevalent trope in fiction though in particular I'm thinking of "The Vampire Diaries" love triangle and the current frustrating storyline. I have more thoughts but I think I could write meta about this trope and its implications about relationships and sexuality, so I'll save them for later.

Comments

[meridian_rose]

Complex is good! But I'm usually shipping her with not-Good guy anyway. Because Good Guy is often incredibly bland and 'normal' and boring, all white-picket-fence and stop-being-X (where X is slayer, kickass FBI agent, etc)

I didn't remember that about Flubber! (Though I'd certainly have Thoughts if I saw it again now. It's great that your father noticed and spoke to you both about that.

TVD is a big motivator for me writing this, but I won't go into detail now because I want to write meta about it and I'll use up all my energy if I write it out now :)
Ugh, it really sucks what they did to LJ Smith. They basically now own her characters and have forbidden her to write about them any more so they can force their own agenda on the books (written by a third party with Mr Bland Stefan taking centre stage I believe). Instead of just letting the two media part ways as with 'True Blood' which no longer has any ties to the storylines in the novels at all. That's a cautionary tale for authors. For all the whining some authors do about how fanfic is 'stealing' characters*, it's a big business tv production that's taken a writer's characters away from her permanently.
*Not LJS herself, but others who we all know too well

[meridian_rose]

Mr Bland vs Mr Danger is a good way of putting it! I like your idea that writers put ridiculous obstacles in the way (Confession, the DNA specific virus) to create tension, while letting the Bad Guy actually develop a kinship with the woman. If I do get round to writing the meta I'd like to borrow some of these thoughts (with credit!) and maybe even ask you to brainstorm with/beta the finished article if that would be ok with you.

[meridian_rose]

No problem! I've been a bit overwhelmed myself so I haven't done anything more on the topic yet, but it'll be useful to have someone to brainstorm/beta the meta if/when I get to it.

I finally watched "Avengers Assemble" (I think that's the UK title) and suddenly fell in love with Tony/Pepper in a way I hadn't before - I couldn't understand their distance beyond "for plot reasons" in Iron Man 2, but I had no problem with them being a couple in either film, I just wasn't invested it. They had one scene together in Avengers which really sold me on the ship though. They were just hanging out, talking about Tony's latest plans, drinking wine, and bantering. I love banter! It seemed real and relaxed and supportive.
I decided that Tony is Mr Danger but Pepper is well aware of that, and they've worked through those issues, and he needs her more than she needs him, and he knows how much he needs her in a work capacity and how she brings him stability outside of work. It's harder for me to like canon pairings with a few exceptions, and this is one. Just a thought :)

[meridian_rose]

Yes, yes, all this; the "Nice Guy" syndrome and the abusive relationships and the taking her for granted, and the not opening up about his feelings! The back and forth of Clark/Lana/Whitney reminded me of Dawson/Joey/Pacey and other teen dramas - I find myself yelling "Just pick one! Preferably that one!"

I shall avoid what might have sounded like a feminist or at least inspirational movie, The Circuit, now!

I think at the crux Mr Bland is a "Nice Guy" who wants to possess her as part of the Life Script. He is, at least on the surface, a good prospect (eg not a rapist and he thinks he deserves a cookie for that), and so he's entitled to a beautiful woman who will marry him and obey him and bear his children. He'll change her to fit this ideal (get her to give up her job/separate her from her family etc) He gets all the benefits aside from financial stability that the wife receives.
Mr Danger however, tends to not want to change her because he needs her as she is. Being with her makes him want to be a better person. He wants to keep her safe and happy, and the Life Script is less important to him than that she is the best version of herself she can be, the woman he's in love with. He doesn't require anything beyond emotional reciprocation and support, and he'll often open up to her in a way he doesn't to anyone else. (I'm particularly thinking of Damon here, but other examples apply)

I also liked Clint/Natasha and *everyone's* interactions with Coulson - who, rumour has it, will appear in the SHIELD tv show, and so is not dead. (Or maybe, as the TV Trope has it, Dead, but He Got Better!)

[meridian_rose]

I think writers get confused about a lot of things with regards to healthy relationships!

I just fell into hate for Stefan when he started spouting about he needs the cure for Elena so she can have babies, and they can age together, and then DIE. It's supposed to be really romantic that they get old and ill and die! As compared to what Damon wants, which is to be with Elena in good health (as a vampire) for, potentially, eternity. Now that's commitment!
The cure seems pointless to me. I've always thought that unlike other vampires, since they can eat, drink, have sex, and with a daylight ring, go outside, there is zero downside to being a TVD vampire - some would argue the infertility, I guess, but passing on genes is something mortals do in an attempt to gain immortality of a sort; vampires don't need to breed because they are immortal (and can make more of their kind if they really feel the need to be paternal!)
So Damon gets my vote every time.