Excuse me while I go off on this picture.
It’s from the upcoming Fallen movie, which is apparently based on a bunch of novels where the heroine is literally being fought over by the forces of Heaven and Hell, which are of course exemplified by two brooding bad boys, fresh out of the secret laboratory where they grow these dudes. I admit to being conflicted about series like this: yes, they’re dumb and absolutely formulaic. But the people writing them can’t hear my sneers over the sound of all that MONEY, so what the heck do I know?
Well, one thing that I do know is this: the person who they got to do costuming is a legit artist, at least. You can immediately tell which one is the nominally Good one, and which is the nominally Evil one. In fact… you can pretend that that picture is from any new movie. Our heroine is trapped in a doomed love for the ages! Who will she pick?
- The brooding, yet sensitive, vampire on the right? Or the sensitive, yet brooding, werewolf on the left?
- The moody, yet angry, Prince on the right? Or the angry, yet moody, Rebel leader on the right?
- The son of the police chief, or the son of the Godfather?
- The pirate, or the ninja?
- The Big-Endian, or the Little-Endian?
…Seriously, they should do a pirate/ninja YA romance movie. Because then at least you’d get shuriken and cannon. But that’s probably not the real point of flicks like this, huh?
Moe Lane
I think the important question is this- will anyone sing “Time is on My Side” at any point in this?
I take some heart in that young women still value *being valued* and fought over, as opposed to deriving self-worth only from their capacity to act like men.
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That said, young adults also are notorious for making bad decisions, which clearly spills over into *types* of heroes they want fighting over them…..
My first thought on a pirate/ninja YA romance was to make it an historical fantasy in what’s now the East China Sea, with a Chinese pirate and a ninja. The fantasy aspect allows you to do it with the romantic pair being the respective pirate and ninja, Romeo and Juliet style, or the ever-popular rivals vying for her affections. The biggest challenge is that there are cultural minefields there (racial divisions in the Far East can get nasty) and I wouldn’t know what to look for. Still, it could be a lot of fun, especially with an author who did his homework.