Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Worse Off Wednesday

This is the weekly meme hosted by me, The Book Buff in which we discuss those in books who have it oh so worse off than us.  Read on, enjoy, and pass it along!



My subject of Worse of Wednesday is not so much one individual, but rather a sad, totally not cared about demographic.  That is, that guy who loves the girl in the love triangle, but alas, is not even thought of enough to be in said triangle.  No one cares, not even us, the readers.  An example you ask?  Gladly.  The first to come to my mind is Mike Newton from the oft criticized and very polarizing series, The Twilight Saga.  Whether you love or hate the books (is there even an in between?) you probably didn't even notice this nice, but gasp! non paranormal dude.



See, he's cute, he's nice, he's not overtly controlling.  But he, albeit unwittingly, commits the most egregious sin in all of YA paranormal-dom.  He's not sparkly or semi canine, or __insert paranormal aspect here__.  How. Dare. He.  This character is very similar to and often overlaps with the best friend forever relegated to the friend zone no matter how hot/cute/sweet he is (i.e Duckie in Pretty in Pink, I will never forgive Molly Ringwald for picking the snob over him)  Sometimes the guy who doesn't get the girl lucks out and gets another one.  This other girl might even be prettier or more awesome than the original girl (again i.e. Duckie), but we don't care, because she isn't the main character. 


So next time you get caught up in Team Wars, just give a moment of silence to those who will never have a team, or if they do, it is very small and will never have an official t-shirt or snazzy blog button. 


If you are participating in Worse Off Wednesday, feel free to link the post up right here!  Remember to leave the URL of the Worse Off Wednesday post, not you blog URL :)

6 comments:

Jenn said...

Hmmm..... I do feel bad for them, particularly because each character is at the mercy of their creator (the author). They have to walk around the pages, tip-toeing 'round their love, hoping, wishing that one day, their creator will give them a set of.... cahones. :)
I have difficulty understanding those in the "friend-zone" in real life because it seems so simple to me, to get out. So, in literature, I always feel like "Nah. Nobody would just stand by like that", and find those characters difficult to relate to. However, I love the meme, and think by the way, that you have an awesome and playful approach to it, which I kinda love! :)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Ha ha. What a great idea for a meme! Thanks for finding my blog, Kaitlyn. I'm now following you here and on Twitter. :-)

Sam (Tiny Library) said...

Hehe, very true! :P

Mel Chesley said...

OMGah! Sometimes, I'm just a blathering idiot... I forgot where I got this meme! I'm SO sorry!
At any rate, I did link mine!

Good post! I agree, no one ever thinks of the non-sparkly/non-furry ones in the triangle. I got mad at Molly Ringwald's character for not choosing Duckie either, but hey, he did get a girl!

Have a great week!

Alexis @ Reflections of a Bookaholic said...

Haha! Great post. You are so right. I forgot all about the non-superhuman dude. You mean to tell me you are only human and nothing else? Hmmm...

Meg @ A Bookish Affair said...

Bahaha, poor Mike! I actually had to jog my memory to remember who Mike was... :/

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