Certain stereotypes and clichés are going to be a part of every fictional genre; it just comes with the territory. But in romance breaking out of those clichés is like climbing K2 without an oxygen mask, Sherpas and in your underwear. The roads of romantic attraction are well-worn and deviating from that path is dark and uncertain: which leaves many writers with one option – stay the course. This leads to the same bland, underdeveloped cast regardless of their target audience. Like I joked about in the teaser for the AMG Reviews, when you cut down to the marrow, there really isn’t a lot of difference between Exhibit A and Exhibit B: it all comes to your POV.
So what does this have to do with Backstage Pass? Remember in Pt. 1 when I talked about Sian being detached from romance? That comes into play hard with the different guys because, except for maybe Matthew, the guys aren’t introduced in an attractive light. Don’t get me wrong, none of them are shown to be offensive people. But…hm…let me try using a visual aid.
Keeping in mind my contention that clichés are clichés regardless of the target audience, and that said clichés makes up the backbone of the bulk of romance-centered fiction, let’s do a test case using a classic anime series that I have yet to kick about: Inuyasha! Hold the cutlery people: this is for science! Now let’s show how this particular series show introduces a love interest to our protagonist. Don’t worry; you only need to watch about 15 seconds of this. THEN we will resume our discussion!
Everyone caught up? Good. Now, do you see what I meant about the whole ‘attractive light’ thing? It is quite literal in romance fiction. It is done to show the audience the spark between said characters caught in said light. That doesn’t happen in Backstage Pass; at least not in the demo.
What we get instead is far more interesting and it brings out the actual theme of this game: the price of talent and fame. But I have drawn the argument out a bit long so I could knock Inuyasha. Let’s me make my case starting with my favorite male character in the game, and for your long time readers this won’t come as a surprise.