Why is interspecies romance in sci-fi/supernatural media such a joke most of the time?

There's NO character development in 99% of it. And it's always about sex. *COUGH COUGH* The Shape Of Water *COUGH COUGH*.

It's freaking shameful that Hollywood, comics, etc don't do justice to integral characters in these genre stories when they consist of a human and *INSERT MONSTER, MYTHICAL OR ALIEN RACE NAME HERE* person as being in a relationship. A SERIOUS one, were they end up a full couple at the end of the series, or the non human dies at the end and gifts his or her human SO with a ring to remember them by.

The only good example for me is Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of the Rings. Arwen was willing to give up her immortality and defy Elrond's orders to retreat to Valinor so she could be with Aragorn, even if it meant they would both die.

That's what I'm getting at. QUALITY interspecies romance as the stories unravel, not barf-factor either. Aragorn and Arwen's sub plot was so well woven that it's better than most human x human date movies in general coming out now.

I wish this kind of stuff would happen more often. Me, I think any sort of creature romancing a human would be good, so long as it ACTUALLY MOVES YOU AND FEELS VITAL. With the CGI we have now, we can do more non-human looking beings and master their expressions so that audiences can relate more. Elves like Arwen? It'd be the same thing but easier.

What do you think? PS: Yes, I can't stand Twilight.

I've never thought about it nor have I ever cared about it. But you got me thinking, and why is there no serious animal/human relationships in movies/tv? Its also usually just a joke and/or gag at best. Hollywood better step up their game pronto.

one of the great unanswered questions of the modern age

Imagine being on that Battlestar Galactica ship where it's just thousands of clones of Tricia Helfer, Grace Park and Xena.

I don't think a movie is a long enough of a time to establish that relationship without simply bypassing all the courtship and bullshit that's boring.

Why does it always lead to sex? Because that's a very superficial way of "sealing the deal", for the creators to say "Hey look, see, they had sex, they must be in a serious relationship. TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!"

Second, I think a lot of issues stem from our natural inability to assimilate fully, or simply accept different cultures. Not saying we are bigots, but if you have ever dated any second-generation partners that have parents from whatever country they came from, it's very difficult at times. A white male from Montana dating a second-gen Korean American who's parents are from Korea might as well be like dating an alien. Yeah the girl is American and all that but there are a lot of customs, beliefs, and habits that simply don't translate. Even white people dating black people (and vice versa) presents certain cultural hurdles.

Finally there's the whole uncanny valley notion; is inter-species ridiculous to a lot of people? I think so. I think some would probably consider incest or bestiality a more approachable subject; lord knows people probably had an easier time watching Cersei and Jaime Lannister go at it than, say, Shepard and Tali in Mass Effect.

I think Avatar deserves a mention here. It's sort of a copout because Jake was in a cloned Navi body, so it's not really interspecies, but emotionally and mentally it was very much a human and alien courtship. They started off as enemies, then opponents, then frenemies, then friends, and finally as lovers; the relationship was allowed to flourish throughout the movie. Jake learned about their culture, beliefs, and language while in turn the Navi already showed signs of acculturation.

@sanghelle56: This is kinda related. There is a Hong Kong film called Spiritual Love, it stars Chow Yun Fat. He falls in love with a female ghost.

It’s actually a nice movie.

Because zoophilia is wrong and largely illegal? Animals can't consent.

I could be wrong but I thought V was talking about Furry culture type of Humanoid animals thing in a sci-fi thing. But looking back and your response, this is what I got out of it: