Post by justinate on May 23, 2022 7:56:41 GMT -5
I feel like race could be less of an issue between Victor and his future lover for the very reasons you mention because (a) he's in a different, more mature stage of his journey as a young gay man, and (b) he has experience working through that issue once before, with Benji. Not to say he won't ever face issues for being in an interracial relationship but it could be less likely to be internally triggered.
While I agree there are real-life couples who met in high school and remained together for the rest of their lives, these are very few and far between, and almost never feature on television shows unless they're already in a later stage of their lives and they're not portrayed as romantic leads. Otherwise, even the couples who are established OTPs, destined to end up together by the end of the series, will encounter a breakup at some point due to cheating. So in that sense, this show isn't reinventing the wheel but playing out well-established tropes. For me, that's a win because Love, Victor was always about bringing a queer lens to the traditional teen rom-com. If anything, too many gay storylines have suffered from fan backlash insisting the very first romance a gay boy encounters must be his OTP. I just don't think it's remotely realistic.
As for the shows you quoted, I think it's not so much how their characters' stories ended as it is them playing certain roles for so long that casting directors fear viewers will only see them as a Kurt or a Rachel or a Ted. Grant Gustin didn't play a remotely likable character on Glee but he got to lead a superhero series for several years. Emilia Clarke got a rubbish ending in GOT, but she has been working steadily in lead roles since. With the YA shows, I tend to think it's because a lot of those actors are cast for their looks and less for their talent. Once they outgrow high school roles, it's harder to cast them in "serious drama" roles.
While I agree there are real-life couples who met in high school and remained together for the rest of their lives, these are very few and far between, and almost never feature on television shows unless they're already in a later stage of their lives and they're not portrayed as romantic leads. Otherwise, even the couples who are established OTPs, destined to end up together by the end of the series, will encounter a breakup at some point due to cheating. So in that sense, this show isn't reinventing the wheel but playing out well-established tropes. For me, that's a win because Love, Victor was always about bringing a queer lens to the traditional teen rom-com. If anything, too many gay storylines have suffered from fan backlash insisting the very first romance a gay boy encounters must be his OTP. I just don't think it's remotely realistic.
As for the shows you quoted, I think it's not so much how their characters' stories ended as it is them playing certain roles for so long that casting directors fear viewers will only see them as a Kurt or a Rachel or a Ted. Grant Gustin didn't play a remotely likable character on Glee but he got to lead a superhero series for several years. Emilia Clarke got a rubbish ending in GOT, but she has been working steadily in lead roles since. With the YA shows, I tend to think it's because a lot of those actors are cast for their looks and less for their talent. Once they outgrow high school roles, it's harder to cast them in "serious drama" roles.