May 2, 2008...7:50 am
Zero To Love
A few days ago, my husband and I watched a movie called Born To Run. It stars Richard Grieco (remember him from 21 Jump Street) And some other familiar faces. The movie featured fast cars, a ruthless bad guy and a romance.
I was digging the relationship between the hero and heroine until the hero tells the heroine (after some drama with the villain) that he knows she loves him. I was light what? At this point, they’ve known each other for two days, maybe three and had sex one of those nights.
I had a hard time accepting their transition from flirting strangers to I-can’t-live-without-you-in-my-world lovers. That quickly wasn’t believable to me. And me made wonder about their happily-ever-after. If they fell into love this easily, how quickly would they fall out of love? Now if the hero had said, “I know you care for me”, I wouldn’t have had any doubts about their relationship or the longevity of it.
I read a similar lightening speed trip from zero to I love you in a book a couple of years ago. The hero and heroine spent a week together, fighting each other and their mutual attraction. Eventually, the sexual tension peaked and they had sex. I could deal with that. But I couldn’t deal with the heroine telling the hero she loved him two days and many sexual romps later. It just didn’t seem realistic to me.
For me, the best part of romance is watching two people go through the process of falling in love. I like seeing them change and their feelings for each other grow. In the movie and the book I mentioned, I feel the characters skipped or missed some steps.
How do you feel about characters going from zero to love in 3.2 seconds? Do you think it’s realistic?
6 Comments
May 2, 2008 at 8:13 am
Uhm, Yeah, well…
I met my hubby and knew in a matter of hours. He told me he loved me on day 4. He proposed on day 11. We were married in six months. Going on 12 years now.
So nope, no problem with it.
May 2, 2008 at 9:24 am
I have a problem with it. It kept me away from the romance genre for years. I was just so annoyed by what I felt was the ridiculous unlikelihood of anything like that ever happening. I felt like people who do nothing to gain a relationship except expose themselves to one another (lol, I didn’t mean it like that) have very little chance of convincing me of their veracity.
But then again I live in a world (or a religion) where Inez’s experience is not at all uncommon and the majority of people are engaged by the end of three months of dating and married after another two or three. Mike and I dated for a year before we got engaged and were engaged for another six months. We were a complete and total social anomaly. Everyone kept asking us when we were going to get married, lol.
AJ
May 2, 2008 at 9:37 am
I agree with Inez. I’ve lived it as well. Once my guy convinced me to go out with him (which did take a few weeks-despite my attraction to him), it was a whirlwind after that. Engaged in a matter of months. We were in late twenties and neither of us were naive about dating and all that. We did, however, have a two year engagement. We’ve been together now for twelve years, too. And we’re going strong even after having three boys.
I’m a strong believer in instant attraction that can turn quickly to love.
That said, some romances don’t present enough “getting to know you” elements. Those are hard to buy into. Even if it’s a hit you over the head type of love, there still has to be some understanding of each other and knowing what’s beneath the surface. I think that can happen in a matter of days or weeks, depending on the couple. Some books and movies just don’t do that well, and you’re left thinking, “no way.”
May 2, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I turned around, saw my husband and said, “yep–that’s the one”. Too bad he was trying to pick up my girlfriend, lol.
I dunno–they say pressure makes emotion run faster. (something I’d rather not test) so…waffling. Maybe, maybe not.
May 2, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Given that within a few hours of meeting me my dh of almost 32 years proposed I guess I believe in zero to love in 60 minutes
However in a romance book I do like the slow build up and the finding out about each other that the hero and heroine go through.
May 4, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I’m with you, K. I totally get into the act of falling in love–the getting to know each other part, the slow burn of sexual tension, and obviousness that they LOVE each other.
I don’t believe in love at first sight. I WANT to, but I know better.
~Andi
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