I was talking to some friends the other day and one of them mentioned that she was thinking of reading a book I had already read. I recommended it to her and mentioned I really liked the series because each book focused on a different arranged marriage situation in the same universe.
Later on, another friend who was present during the conversation said they though arranged marriages in fiction were problematic.
I wanted to know what your thoughts are on this trope. Is it inherently problematic? Can it be done well? What are some reasons you like/dislike this trope?
And before anyone mentions it, yes I know there have been similar discussion on r/romancebooks. I specifically posted here because I want diverse opinions. Not just that of romance readers.
It’s not my favorite trope, but I don’t mind them in historical because that was a reality.
When it comes to contemporary ones though, unless they are set in a culture/subculture where they are common, the plot reasons just never make sense. (Unless maybe it’s a marriage for health insurance in the US or for immigration status, those are the only believable reasons to me.)
The one that does bother me is when the marriage is the result of a dead relative mandating the person marry within a certain timeframe or marry a certain person to get an inheritance in a will–no matter how much the protagonists may have loved that relative, it’s deeply deeply shitty and manipulative to try and play on someone’s grief for you and force them into something as big as marriage and try to make their lives fit in the box you mandated from beyond the grave like that. And yet the plot and characters never recognize that. It’s usually oh teehee, great-uncle Bob was so romantic/just wanted me to find love and look how great it worked out!