Why is there always a love
triangle? Well let me just start off this blog post with the fact that I have
no idea so please do not read this thinking I am coming at this as someone who
has really studied love triangles because I haven’t, but it is a question that
I keep thinking of as they continually come out. Why is the idea of a love
triangle (or in Sookie’s case a love hexagon always growing bigger) so appealing for authors? It’s
often depicted in movies and the books the movies were originally based off of
(because there’s always a book first) - particularly if the main character is a
woman or teenage girl.
It is worth noting that within love
triangles, there are often two main roles that the love interests fit into are
that of what the main character wants and needs. One person is often the nice
guy type who is seemingly perfect for the character, but not quite right for
whatever reason and is later found to have a major flaw which kills of the
perfect image that they originally presented themselves with. The other character
is often “physically attractive but potentially hazardous” (thanks Wikipedia)
and therefore imperfect but very endearing and later becomes the more desirable
after the first is found to have some flaw.
Originally this design seemed like it
shouldn’t fit into the Sookie Stackhouse Series, but upon reevaluation it
really fits pretty well in spite of the number of love interests Sookie has by
being used over and over. What we’ve seen in class is the first of many love
triangles in the series- Sam and Bill. Sam could definitely fit into the boy
next door who is seemingly “perfect” (problematic as well but whatever) and
Bill is the endearing dangerous character who is later more desirable when Sam
is found out to be a shapeshifter (his major flaw). This cycle happens again
however with Bill and Eric. Bill is at first seemingly perfect, but it is later
revealed that he was looking for Sookie on orders from the Queen/his maker and
Eric loses his memory and is basically like a puppy rather than a killer blah
blah there’s also Quinn and Alcide and others.
So why is
this appealing? Aside from the fact that it apparently sells, who can really
know? In my opinion, it may be because to many people, the idea of being
overall fairly normal yet having some special thing inherent to you that makes
you desired by multiple people is not exactly an unwanted thing. While
certainly being desired is not the ultimate thing to strive for, the idea of
being viewed by someone as perfect and special and important is realistically
something many people want to feel. And if you have two people who feel that
way than you must be particularly great (or in Sookie’s case the most precious
thing this world has ever seen). So overall, it is probably a reflection of the
desire within ourselves to be wanted and feel special just because of who we
are inside.
