#but i'm so used to ignoring bad hallmark movies while mom watches them that i can't think of any specific romcom i'd want to slam

[kiralamouse]

This is absolutely true. At the same time... bear with me through a metaphor.

I like sweet tea. For those unfamiliar, "sweet tea" in the southeastern US means "sweetened iced tea". It started being popular at a time when tea was relatively expensive, so eating places would disguise how little actual tea was used to make "iced tea" by loading it up with sugar. Sweet tea is usually served with about the same sugar level as a soda.

My dad does not like any sugar in tea. So rather than say "why is this sweet tea so sweet?!" he'll order unsweet tea (don't waste a server's time ordering "iced tea" in the South; they'll need to ask "sweet or unsweet?" anyway, so you might as well be specific). In the metaphor, he's avoiding a genre entirely.

Mom quite likes sweet tea, but she likes it at a sweetness far below the usual restaurant fare. She'll order half sweet and half unsweet, which usually ends up being a pretty good sweetness for her, but it varies by restaurant and she prefers to order more predictable things. In the metaphor, she likes some of the genre, but finds the more extreme versions not to her taste.

I adore sweet tea. Full strength. In the metaphor, I love the genre for what it is.

And yet. I have had sweet tea that was too sweet for me. I have had sweet tea that actually made me thirstier the more I drank, because it had so much sugar that it felt like I was drinking syrup. Because even though sweetness is a core characteristic of sweet tea, there does need to be some balance with the tea and water and ice etc.

Even romcoms need enough realism to keep the viewer in the story. Even tragedies need to provide a sense that this was impossible to avoid, whether through external pressures or internal character personalities.

The problem is that the threshold is different for every person. People who feel about X genre the way Dad feels about sweet tea have it easy: just shrug and avoid it entirely. People who feel like Mom does about sweet tea have it harder: they know they might like it, but they also know they have a low tolerance for it going too far. "Look, I know sweet tea is sweet; I'd just like to be able to have it a bit less sweet." Which is also fine!

And then there are the people like me, who are trying to explain "but this one is TOO sweet" and if you don't have the context of knowing how much I like sweetness, you don't know how little it's like my dad complaining of sweetness.

Anyway. I still wanna know why that one restaurant makes sweet tea that sweet. They've been doing it for years, so it must be on purpose; all I can do is order something else there. And I intend to never watch A Perfect Storm because they all could've been fine if they'd just stayed home.

I feel like some people need to relearn Genre Expectations... "Man, this tragedy sucks!!! Why didn't they just do XYZ, then everything could have ended happily!!" well, then it wouldn't be a tragedy, would it. "Man, this lighthearted teen romcom is terrible, it's so sappy and unrealistic!!" Well, yeah. If it had been gritty and dark, it wouldn't have been a lighthearted romcom, would it. Is the writing actually bad or are you just trying to order a milkshake from a Home Depot