Let me set the scene for you, the heroines of both of these shows are in love with someone else's man. They're cheating and many of us cheer for them. But would you feel that way about romantic story? I mean, yeah, we loved The Bridges of Madison County, but would we love to read about a married man who fell in love with another woman while married to another?
Or moreover, do we hold women to a higher standard when it comes to fidelity in fiction? Some of the comments about Olivia Pope on Facebook and Twitter are down right harsh. But not many people go in on the men in that way.
So, do readers and watchers of scripted TV have more sympathy for a cheating man than a cheating woman?
It's hard for me to write about a cheater without painting him or her like a villain. My cheaters are mostly selfish bastards who end up floating in a river. Why, you ask? Because I base many of them of exes. Hey, writing keeps me out of prison.
There is one cheater that I wrote about who I kind of love. Maurice Goings, the hero of Let's Get It On.
That cheating cad kind of got what he deserved by being stood up at the altar, but he grew on me and readers seem to love him. I really take a sadistic pleasure in teasing my Facebook friends with the death of Maurice. Those posts are funny because I'm the one who ends up getting threatened. LOL. I'm going on record right now: Maurice won't die.
But I've often wondered, why are women expected to forgive the cheater but men who cheat are supposed to be forgiven?
No comments:
Post a Comment