I think that the widower angle is used to create the noble, wholesome character that we should sympathize with because he struggles against lost love without having been at fault for the loss while they simultaneously have the option for always presenting renewed romance in the storyline to keep the viewer interested while simultaneously self-destructing the new relationships to keep that option open without inciting feelings of resentment or distaste in the viewer toward the male character as being a womanizer. Instead, he is tortured by striving to overcome that point.
By comparison, the divorced male is a comedy vehicle. We laugh at his plight because he was failable and lost love for that reason and thus is the butt of the joke. In those storylines, the humor in romancing is renewed through laughter at his inability to hold anything together.
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Date: 2009-03-23 07:42 pm (UTC)I think that the widower angle is used to create the noble, wholesome character that we should sympathize with because he struggles against lost love without having been at fault for the loss while they simultaneously have the option for always presenting renewed romance in the storyline to keep the viewer interested while simultaneously self-destructing the new relationships to keep that option open without inciting feelings of resentment or distaste in the viewer toward the male character as being a womanizer. Instead, he is tortured by striving to overcome that point.
By comparison, the divorced male is a comedy vehicle. We laugh at his plight because he was failable and lost love for that reason and thus is the butt of the joke. In those storylines, the humor in romancing is renewed through laughter at his inability to hold anything together.