Pet Peeve #16
Fine! Call it “bromance” if the story revolves around two homosexual males involved in a romantic relationship with each other.
But if we’re talking about a close, platonic relationship between two heterosexual males, then there are far better terms to use than bromance. Call it what it is: male bonding, camaraderie, fellowship (like in Lord of the Rings), fraternity, brotherhood, or simply…friendship.
To me, bromance is a silly, condescending, disrespectful and sexist term. It implies that any close physical and emotional connection between men must be reduced to a liaison or can ONLY be romantic in nature. Hence, the “-mance” in bromance.
Why? Do women have a sis-mance? Or bitch-mance?
Women also have physical and emotional attachments to other persons with VAGINAS, but women don’t immediately sexualize or romanticize our relationship. We call it sisterhood, sorority, bookclub ladies, divas, All-Girls-Pajama-Party, bachelorettes, BFFs, coffee klatch, and bitchesoverdramas.
Do you get what I mean?
One would think that at this time and age, we’d be done with the hysteria and shock over heterosexual people choosing to show care and affection to a member of their sex. Surely, best friends can sometimes behave like married couples, i.e., bicker and nitpick over the ridiculous things, console with an embrace, pick up each other’s dry-cleaning, and even sleep in the same bed, WITHOUT outsiders and spectators ridiculing them, side-eyeing them or stigmatizing their actions with a sexual and romantic context. They’re simply good friends doing what good friends do for each other.
😝bromance.
Furthermore, in kdramas, this “bromance” often distract from the original storyline.
Primary example: Goblin. Ugh!
True: the sweetness between these two nearly eclipsed the real OTP of the story. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wooj were veritable eye-candies and I suspect that their “bromance” was generously dished out when the main story flagged. Not only that, it was exploited when the production team needed more endorsements and PPLs. 😂
However, I blame this claptrap over their “bromance” for the fangirls’ inability to grasp the true relationship between the Goblin and the Reaper. They were SIBLINGS!!! 🤦♀️ The Reaper was the reincarnation of the Goblin’s younger sister (not the evil King), making the Reaper and the Goblin brothers. 🙄 Pffffttt… so much for “bromance.”
Fangirls of the Reaper-Goblin and the undiscerning audience oh-so-conveniently refused to acknowledge the fortune-teller’s words that Sunny had no sibling, thus making HER the reincarnated King.
More examples of stupid bromance:
Winners of the Best Couple Award in 2010. Really? It beat the real Sungkyunkwan Couple? Rolling my eyes. If they’re going to award Best Couple to two men, they shouldn’t play cutesy. Be daring and groundbreaking: award it to actual gay lovers in a film or kdrama.
It’s teamwork not bromance.
It’s brotherhood not bromance. This merry gang of childhood friends had such a tight-knit bond that not even a love triangle could break it.
To be continued…
I was actually surprised when I first came across the word bromance in kdrama forums and blogs. And then YAI and SJK won the “otp” pair in SS. To see them on stage and really accepting award.. You are right.it should be brotherhood ot teamwork. But then..😜 you can’t help but smile when two males act like real siblings. When you see love and care between them as they bicker and annoy the other.
Another surprise for me was when I read kpop fan shipping male members with one another. I was..😱😱😱 i thought they are G at first but later found out that it is how it is in kpop. For me I never ship boy groups members but I do have bias brotherhood. Like in 2PM i like TaecKhun. But not in any way shipping those two full blooded hot males. Just prefer them to do antics together coz their chemistry is really nice.
I learned something new. Not to use bromance but brotherhood. Coz there is nothing like romance there. 👍
I know, right? I tested this term “bromance” with my brothers, sons, nephews, in-laws, and male co-workers, and to a man, they all cringed. (Hahaha “To a man” is an expression meaning without exception, unanimously.)
One of them said that it was demeaning to their 40-year friendship to reduce it to mere “romance” because it was definitely more than romance or a fling. Another said it would feel awkward if people saw his buddy system as sexual. And another one said grumpily that serving in the marines together had nothing to do with bromance but brotherhood, and to stop the innuendos.
I also had a good laugh when one of them said that “friends with benefits” simply meant male friends who’d bring the beer and wings over. Not a bromance. Ha!
I wonder now if this term “bromance” is a new-age-y kind of thing or a concept promoted by Hollywood.
As for kfan shipping male members together, I thought it was weird until I read from somewhere that shipping oppas together is a better alternative for these fangirls than having their oppa date a girl in real life. (rolling eyes)
I supposed it’s another Korean term that refers to brotherhood, like mslee said above. Just like they call selfie —> selca. But the word bromate sure does sound cringeeeeey.. hahahaha
tell me about that kpop fans ship male-male, usually members of same groups 🙄.. if their oppas get caught dating girls, these fans won’t feel guilty to leave bad comments, cyber-bullying and witch hunt the girls. You’re right, the reason why these fangirls do this is if oppa can’t be mine, no girls can’t have him too. So shipping him with another fellow male is better alternative. Maybe because since Korea is so homophobic and in denials, never openly acknowledge gay-relationship, so they believe that oppa-oppa romantic relationships wouldn’t never happen —> oppa is save, single, and waiting for his destiny (the delusional fangirls). Lol…