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SECOND_LEAD
April 22, 2022
Another entry in the
A pair of syndromes: section on low-fiction
critical apparatus
Second Male Syndrome or
Second Lead Syndrome MAPPING_THE_LOWLANDS
and These "syndromes"
weren't invented
Second Couple Syndrome or by me for once.
Second Relationship Syndrome
SYNDROME_SYNDROME
A common plot in "Romance Fiction"
is the triangle: the female lead
meets a male character and begins The phrase "Triangle" is a
to get involved with him, then bit of "low fiction
meets a second male character who cultural apparatus" that's
provides competition for the first. too obvious for even a
pendantic nerd like myself
In the kdrama version of to expound on. I think.
this, the female lead is
*required* to return to the
first male. The first love
is always the true love.
In a typical story though, An oddity of the genre is that
it would leave you with they frequently discover their
the feeling that this "first meeting" wasn't actually
might've been a mistake: their first, and they knew each
the second male almost other when they were children.
invariably seemed like a
beter person.
Two reasons for this syndrome:
The first male invariably
comes off like a jerk, often (1) Gender sterotypes: real men
leaving you wondering if are buttheads, and real women
he was really a good choice. have an infinite capacity for
for forgiveness.
And that is "second lead
syndrome". Why did that And they lived happily ever
nice guy finish last? after in a state of co-dependency.
(2) it generates dialog and slows
the plot progress.
Having them fight with each other
first gives the story a place to
evolve from, and giving the female
lead a grievance (whether legitmate
or the ever-popular
"misunderstanding") is a useful
hang-up for the first relationship,
giving the second male a plausible
window of opportunity.
The fact that this
genre element serves
*multiple* purposes is
pretty key, I think--
Things like this can
make it hard to percieve
what's going on with a
genre-- you might think
you understand the
appeal of a common
feature, but be missing
an entire angle on it.
These structures have
always evolved,
they're only partly
designed, which can
complicate attempts at
doing variations.
You may think you're
being innovative and
getting away from a
dull cliche, without
fully understanding
it's function.
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