I still remember the first time I encountered a love triangle. I was really young, maybe 9 years old, watching commercials on TV. An ad came up about a movie where a young woman had to choose between two love interests, a handsome, serious businessman, or a rugged, caring musician. I never ended up watching the movie, nor do I remember its name now, but at the time, the concept had me completely hooked. I couldn’t help wondering who she would end up with — both of them had their own strengths and treated her like a queen, so how on earth would she choose?

        Many years have passed, and the love triangle trope has been considerably worn down by now. Yet it seems to remain popular with audiences, forever popping up in books or TV shows and movies. This trope’s persistence spans genres, appearing in anything from fantasy movies such as the Twilight series to a corporate psychological thriller TV series like Severance. Somehow, throughout time, the concept of the love triangle has survived, perhaps because of its inherent flexibility. It can be used as the main story driver, such as in rom-coms, where the main character typically has varied experiences with both love interests before ending up with their one true love at the end, or as a way of exploring rifts between a character and their relationships through thematic interactions, as in The Hunger Games.

        I feel that this year, the significant rise in popularity of The Summer I Turned Pretty highlights the endurance of love triangles in romance. Its success as an original trilogy of YA books in the early 2010s and subsequent adaptation into a wildly popular TV show in the present day may seem surprising at first, especially because one would think people would be sick and tired of seeing love triangles everywhere by now. But judging by the immense social media reaction and posts discussing the endless drama the characters are caught in, I think it is emblematic of how the trope has weathered so many storms and still endures despite nearly two decades passing.

        Perhaps the persistence of the love triangle can be attributed to the compelling drama it creates between characters, which one can argue is pretty much a timeless way to create a story that people will tune in to watch or read. Regardless of someone’s opinions or personal preferences about whether a trope is good or bad, tropes that create interesting interpersonal drama will always be appealing simply due to the fact that people want to see interesting character moments and conflicts. Take the enemies to lovers trope for example. Two characters with opposing ideals and personalities inevitably clash, but over time, they find ways to work together and achieve a sort of middle ground which builds a genuine connection between them, eventually working its way into a satisfactory romance. Or forbidden love, where characters are kept apart due to various reasons and have to find workarounds to have a relationship with each other. After all, Romeo and Juliet is quite literally one of the most iconic works written in the English language! The same can be said for love triangles, where shifting character dynamics and conflicts pave the way for the main character to finally end up with the more ‘suitable’ love interest, thus paying off the audience’s expectations.

        Even if a trope is overdone or overused, there are still creative ways to adapt, subvert, or make use of them in unexpected ways that can leave audiences feeling pleasantly surprised. Tropes exist for a reason, emerging because they help to move stories along in a way that makes thematic sense in the first place, before eventually becoming part of a genre. Clearly, their very existence is proof that they are an integral part of storytelling.

        Of course, it's up to creators to make something fresh out of common tropes if they want audiences to come back for more. One cannot discuss tropes without acknowledging that many authors use them as a crutch to hook in audiences without building up the characters and forming a truly engaging story. Tropes can't exactly be blamed here — in fact, you could argue people end up hating them because they weren't used well! Like any tool, tropes come with their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's up to the creator to figure out the best way to utilise them to bring the most out of their story and characters.

        At the end of the day, it's not the tropes that make the story, but rather the ways they are used to bring out the most in the characters, conflicts, and plots. As long as writers keep making something engaging out of them, I suspect that love triangles and various other tropes, especially in the romance genre, will remain evergreen for years to come.