Authors note: No story here, just my opinions about stuff that I would like if you read : )
Thanks to any of you who may have read my first chapter, I really appreciate it. I understand that this kind of piece can be considered rather unusual; after all, I don't think many people enjoy breaking apart couples so much as bringing them together, ha ha. But truly, I believe what I wrote only makes the couple stronger than it would otherwise have been. In most movies, couples are brought together by various incidents. Some are traumatic experiences, like when two characters work hard to barely survive a difficult, continuously running struggle throughout the movie. They are then brought together by having gained the feelings together. Take National Treasure, or Speed.
By the way, I'm talking about non romance movies which have romantic elements in them. Romance movies use a number of techniques to make things work, but non romance movies are limited. There are some examples in which a weak guy falls for an amazing girl (sorta like Hiccup's position) and by doing various things on the side he ends up getting her. HTTYD is almost like that… but I believe that this kind of romance is weak. Why do I say so? Because the hero usually falls for the girl for the wrong reasons. Because she's pretty, popular etc all that garbage. No one seems to notice that this… doesn't really make for an interesting or enchanting story. Unless there is pure affection from both sides (for more reasons than just 'oh she's hot' or 'wow he's strong') then the relationship doesn't feel as convincing, in my humble opinion.
HTTYD did it right. While Hiccup did have a crush on her, the movie's lack of having him try to get her showed he changed his priorities. When he was about to kill Toothless, he was thinking 'fame…glory…acceptance…girlfriend'. But, for the sake of his humanity, he threw all of that away. He willingly gave up the idea of getting an instant girlfriend, finding something that to him was far more important. He realizes that society made it seem important, but it just isn't the top priority for him. Running away from people praising him, not really caring about adulation, not wanting to win dragon training… he grew as a character by being unique.
THUS his affection for Astrid was real. The movie didn't explicitly show it grow, but we can fill in the blanks. Astrid's affection was easy to follow; seeing just how amazing this guy was and how was ready to fight the Green Death charmed her considerably, and understandably. While technically Hiccup could have just followed Astrid's lead for the shallow reasons (pretty strong etc) I think the reason he did end up falling for her was more genuine. After all, the beginning of the story shows Hiccup is nothing if not a deep character who wants his own things, not just those that society expects him to want.
And that is why this romance in my opinion works so damn well. Character growth in both of them (Astrid realizing life is about more than just being strong), true feelings gained for each other by seeing all the things they had to offer, and the fact that the romance wasn't desperately yearned by either character but in fact a natural occurrence. The last part made it feel very honest.
I'm pretending to be a movie critic or a romance expert, but this is how I felt about the movie! Feel free to comment or call me an idiot, I'm just glad I got to write this all down!
Thank you for reading : D
