From the Guidelines:
- Romance: a genre that focuses on emotion-driven plots that are primarily focused on the relationship between the main characters of the story.
Question for the Forum - if you see Romance listed as a genre on MDL, what are your expectations going in? A happy ending, as with Romance novels? If it's a tragedy or bittersweet, are they still in love at the end/when they part? That the story is ultimately about their relationship? What else?
Does it matter to you that those expectations are met? Except for some specific red flags, I'm very much a go-with-the-flow watcher but it's clear from comments and reviews many aren't so I'm curious about that.
This is on my mind because of something I just watched where the relationship (used broadly, not as partners) is significant but they aren't a couple and the romance largely occurs before the series begins. It's far more about power and court intrigue than love.
A comment from someone implies that they were expecting a love story so I thought it might make sense to ask for Romance to be removed from the listed Genres. But the deteriorating relationship between the FL & ML is important and that technically fits the definition in the Guidelines. Emotion drives the plot (it's Thai melodrama so that's a given =D ), but the predominant emotions aren't romantic love, especially as it progresses. Again, technically within the Guidelines definition but perhaps not within the way potential viewers will read it.
Anyway, this seems an interesting question and a good topic for discussion. Please be careful about spoilers and please use the spoiler marker if you feel you need to include specifics.
