Yay, weekend!! It's been a crazy week, and I've only just finished my rewatch of S4.
Ah, yeah, I pretty much agree with that definition of love triangle. Love polygon, really, since it's rarely actually a triangle. It's not that I define this relationship as a love triangle, but that it's generally referred to as such, where I like to see it as a relatively happy threesome broken by outside influence.
But it's not so much that I like a threesome—I just tend to be happy with any relationship setup as long as the characters (or the ones that I care about, at least) are happy. I liked Lancelot a great deal (possibly more than Arthur) in this show. It pained me to see his story end the way that it did. (Gwen doesn't even mourn him the second time around! Nor Arthur, though that was more understandable. Damn it, people!)
Yeah, I can understand not being able to sympathize with Mordred. I actually didn't either, up until I started writing that little paragraph, when I suddenly saw the light. :P
Hm...I guess I don't really put much in store by the term "romance." I'd agree that Arthur/Gwen was a romance, and Arthur/Merlin, and Gwen/Lancelot and even possibly Merlin/Lancelot, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think it was sexualised. Similarly, I don't see friendship and romance as being exclusive. I think that Merlin and Arthur had a romance and a friendship, and that plus Merlin's utter, complete, unwavering devotion makes their bond deeper than Arthur and Gwen's. I also think that Arthur and Gwen's romance, while including a friendship that grew over the story, ultimately was more sexual in nature. It's just nice to see a non-sexualized relationship win out over a sexualized one, for once.
Again, I'm not rejecting the possibility that Arthur and Merlin's relationship could have included a sexual element, or might develop one in the future on Arthur's return. But their bond, their closeness, means that the sex is inconsequential: whether or not they're together that way, their relationship is one that holds strong. I'd argue that this isn't the case with Gwen's relationship with Arthur, as evidenced by Arthur's response to Gwen's betrayal and ultimate forgiveness, which was less of an, "I want you to be happy and to be a part of your life" and more of an, "I need you to be mine in some capacity."
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Part 2 II A
Date: 2013-03-16 05:13 pm (UTC)Ah, yeah, I pretty much agree with that definition of love triangle. Love polygon, really, since it's rarely actually a triangle. It's not that I define this relationship as a love triangle, but that it's generally referred to as such, where I like to see it as a relatively happy threesome broken by outside influence.
But it's not so much that I like a threesome—I just tend to be happy with any relationship setup as long as the characters (or the ones that I care about, at least) are happy. I liked Lancelot a great deal (possibly more than Arthur) in this show. It pained me to see his story end the way that it did. (Gwen doesn't even mourn him the second time around! Nor Arthur, though that was more understandable. Damn it, people!)
Yeah, I can understand not being able to sympathize with Mordred. I actually didn't either, up until I started writing that little paragraph, when I suddenly saw the light. :P
Hm...I guess I don't really put much in store by the term "romance." I'd agree that Arthur/Gwen was a romance, and Arthur/Merlin, and Gwen/Lancelot and even possibly Merlin/Lancelot, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think it was sexualised. Similarly, I don't see friendship and romance as being exclusive. I think that Merlin and Arthur had a romance and a friendship, and that plus Merlin's utter, complete, unwavering devotion makes their bond deeper than Arthur and Gwen's. I also think that Arthur and Gwen's romance, while including a friendship that grew over the story, ultimately was more sexual in nature. It's just nice to see a non-sexualized relationship win out over a sexualized one, for once.
Again, I'm not rejecting the possibility that Arthur and Merlin's relationship could have included a sexual element, or might develop one in the future on Arthur's return. But their bond, their closeness, means that the sex is inconsequential: whether or not they're together that way, their relationship is one that holds strong. I'd argue that this isn't the case with Gwen's relationship with Arthur, as evidenced by Arthur's response to Gwen's betrayal and ultimate forgiveness, which was less of an, "I want you to be happy and to be a part of your life" and more of an, "I need you to be mine in some capacity."