Second Couple Syndrome and Why it Exists
Jacey Chen (ISB G11)
Jacey Chen is a staff writer at Buddy! and a self-identified Fujoshi constantly struggling with Second Couple Syndrome.
With the power of God and anime on her side, she highlights and tries to identify why the common syndrome of love towards the second couple occurs in her 5th Buddy! article “Second Couple Syndrome and Why it Exists.”
Second couple syndrome, though not well known, is a very common occurrence. This syndrome is different from second lead syndrome, a popular phenomenon in the romance K-drama community where audience members tend to lean towards the rival love interest more than the main love interest. Second couple syndrome, however, deals with the problem of the audience feeling more connected to the side couple than the main couple; this side couple is usually in the same universe as the main couple and could be friends or even exes of the MC (Main Character), and they usually have something to do with the main couple in the first act of the story. After the first act, the story will begin to introduce a character present in the second couple and begin to tell their love story. After being away from the main couple for awhile, we start to see the appeal of the second couple, we start relating to them more, and we begin to completely forget that the first couple even existed. We don’t notice the main couple until they come right back up again, dissatisfying audiences from blocking the couple they like better and having them watch something that is so last season.
(From Freepik)
Second couple syndrome is not only seen in k-dramas; it can be viable to any other piece of entertainment that has a second couple imbedded in the story. I’ve personally come across this struggle in a lot of yaoi or BL mangas (things I’ve mentioned in the past) and so have a lot of others in the K-drama and BL community as well. For example, I was truly obsessed with a very popular BL manga called Pendulum. I would constantly wait for updates and loved every bit of the chemistry between the characters. However, all of a sudden, the side character, who I wasn’t even a fan of, gained a romantic story and stole the spotlight away, so much so as to gain their own series called Remnant. (Now I’m obsessed with the new couple.) This is proof of how I and everyone out there falling for the second (*cough* better) couple have this minor inconvenient syndrome. Second couple syndrome has not been thoroughly researched even though it’s such a common problem in many communities, so bear through my theories.
“Second couple syndrome is not only seen in k-dramas; it can be viable to any other piece of entertainment that has a second couple imbedded in the story.”
Many people speculate that we, as the audience, grow bored of the first couple. This is due to a common trend of first couples ending and finding true love, so in order to keep the universe of this story going, they give another character a romance as well. The spotlight has clearly shifted; our attention is now on the story that has not been finished and is more anticipating to audience, creating a sense of incompletion. As humans, we strongly dislike things that are not completed; it’s not fulfilling and can be distracting like something is always nagging at the back of our minds. People usually need closure in order to feel satisfied; this closure originates from whether or not a subject is complete. Something that is not complete leads to uncertainty, which is never a fun feeling (ChangingMinds). This information is what fuels the boredom theory; because the couple is not finished, we pay more attention to it, like it more, and are excited to see its completion and happily ever after. However, this theory does not sit well with many dramas; this is because in some stories, second couples are introduced while the first couple is still not resolved. This is a problem. In some cases, this theory is true, but there are exceptions such as stories that have multiple couples interacting at the same time. I have a few of my own speculations that will cover these exceptions.
(Omairi Desu Yo - Kotetsuko Yamamoto)
My theory is about how focused we are on the second couple due to screen time. This theory is similar to the boredom theory that many others seem to also believe in, but with a little twist to accommodate the issue stemmed from dramas of all sorts. The second couple is usually introduced after the main couple, hence why they’re the called second couple; this couple has not been explained as much as the first and are usually introduced during the middle or the end of the main couple’s act. Due to this lack of screen time, the second couple is left to the audience’s imagination. This tactic can be seen as a bit more alluring to audiences; the inner workings and imagination of a love-starved individual (the usual demographic for these sorts of entertainment) are too chaotic to really dive in to. This imagination can fuel the audience as they follow the new and fresh couple; their expectations will be altered based off of what happens in the story. Each person is different — there may be a strong dislike towards an event that has happened or the event might’ve been exactly what they had imagined in the beginning of when the couple was introduced. No matter what the feeling is, the audience is still enthralled with the second couple. Though, others may wonder why this doesn’t apply with the first couple. The first couple would have gone through something similar to the second couple, leaving audiences with the same emotion. However, both couples’ speed is different, and audience members might have already gone through the feelings of the first couple and have gotten over them by the time something happens to the second couple. Because of that, the second couple’s situation lingers more than the main couple, making audience members more passionate about the second couple. Either way leads to a certain favoritism that we’re all too familiar with.
(Oujisama, Douchirasama? - Kujirada Hiroto)
We may not be 100% sure on why we tend to favor the other couple more than the main couple — it really is a phenomenon. However, all I do know is that I apologize to every couple that I have accidentally discarded in my head and replaced it with the second. SCS is hard to conquer.
“As humans, we strongly dislike things that are not completed; it’s not fulfilling and can be distracting like something is always nagging at the back of our minds.”
Citations:
Freepik
Omairi Desu Yo - Kotetsuko Yamamoto
Oujisama, Douchirasama? - Kujirada Hiroto
http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/completion.htm
JaceyC
