The strange
notion that lead characters on a television show should NOT get together
romantically, lest it ruin the romantic tension and the life of the show, has
been largely disproven over the past few years.
Numerous TV shows have recently taken this leap, and have shown that a
relationship is in fact, NOT the end of all storytelling. This comes as a surprise to no one and yet
some of these shows, including one of the most recent ones, Castle, have had to fight to prove their
worth post-hook-up.
For some
reason, the Moonlighting Curse is one of those topics that people constantly
feel the need to write about (example A, this article), like if women aren’t funny,
even though no one is really arguing that it’s true.
Now that
numerous shows have broken this so-called curse, they have paved the way for
new shows to explore romantic tension with more freedom. One such example of dealing with romantic
tension after the dissolution of the Moonlight Curse can be seen in New Girl.
New Girl provides one of the best examples
of a new kind of romantic tension on TV, one that subverts expectations of
typical romantic moments.
1. Introduction of Feelings
Introducing
feelings between two leads turns into a storyline too juicy to pass up, and
often takes over as the main focus of the series. Other storylines go out the window as the “will
they/won’t they” question takes over.
SUBVERSION:
New Girl started a possible Nick/Jess
romance as a one-off, showing possibilities for the future, but also assurance
that this was not the center of the
show.
The
possibility of feelings between Nick and Jess in New Girl shows up in the episode “Cece Crashes.” Cece mentions that Nick stands with his feet
pointed at Jess, meaning that he wants her.
The stress of avoiding the path of Nick’s feet gets to Jess, and after a
shopping trip she jumps out of Nick’s car and runs home. Later on while
brushing their teeth, they both agree to forget whatever weirdness happened
that day.
New Girl’s introduction to the faintest
possibility romantic feelings between Jess and Nick was small, focusing on body
language that may or may not be true.
And in the end, both characters decided to forget it, at least for the
time being, and just act normally. The
show did the same. After acknowledging
the possibility of further romantic developments, they just let the story sit
for a while, clearly in it for the slow build.
2. The Passionate Argument
Where there
is romantic tension on TV, there are bound to be loud, passionate
arguments. Often these arguments will
come to a head when both characters get right up in each other’s faces, pause
for a moment while they look into each other’s eyes, and then launch into a full-on
make-out session.
SUBVERSION: In the New Girl episode “Tomatoes”, Nick and Jess get into an argument
because they’re disappointed in each other’s actions. Jess yells at Nick for not taking positive
action in his life, and Nick yells at Jess for telling other people how to
live. Right when it reaches the breaking
point Nick shouts, “This is my only
face! I don’t have a lot of faces! And if you don’t like looking at my face
Jess…then look at my ass!”
From there
both Jess and Nick proceed to wiggle their butts toward one another while
shouting things like: “You bought the ticket now take the ride!” and “I have
the fastest butt in the land!”
While the
passionate argument is a clear indication of romantic feelings between the two
characters, especially based on a scene earlier in the episode when Jess says
she wants passion in a relationship, that doesn’t necessarily lead to a typical
romantic moment. Nick and Jess are
roommates who want what’s best for each other and get frustrated when they’re
making regrettable decisions. But
because they’re not at a romantic level in their relationship, when they get
mad it leads to butt-shaking. Naturally.
3. The Talk
Every TV
pair with romantic tension has “the talk” at some point; the moment where they
finally lay their feelings out on the table.
Sometimes this talk happens more than once, and it usually ends with
feelings hurt/a kiss/a new relationship.
Rarely ever does this conversation exist within the everyday world of
the romantic pair.
SUBVERSION:
In this season’s episode “Fluffer”, Nick and Jess have a conversation about
their possible romantic feelings toward each other. They acknowledge they have both felt
romantic/sexual things for one another at various points, but make the decision
to continue on as close friends and roommates, yet at the same time not denying
the fact that they feel more than friendship for each other. They’re roommates already, meaning that if
they start a relationship they’re already significantly further along than
most. On the other hand, completely
ignoring their feelings just because of that would seem unnecessary.
Thanks to
all of the shows over the past few decades, and especially over the past few
years, newer shows like New Girl can
ignore the looming doom of the Moonlighting Curse and are instead free to
explore romantic tension in their own way.
New Girl has struck a good
balance between furthering the romance, and yet not letting it overtake the
show, as it’s only one element in a show jam-packed all sorts of wild and crazy
stories. It’s a good thing this curse is
finally “broken”, as the Moonlighting Curse has been around longer than most of
New Girl’s audience has been alive.
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