In Boy Meets Boy, David Levithan seems to be trying to create a romance that any teenager could relate to. I’m happy that he decided to write stories like these, and despite their weird representation flaws, I think that these books do offer refuge to some teenagers who need queer media. That being said, Boy Meets Boy strays into so many heterosexual romantic comedy tropes that I was a little taken aback. I don’t really want to criticize Levithan for writing something cute and saccharine for a population that does not get a lot of those stories, but golly do I want to document these tropes. I’m going to use ones found from TvTropes.org. Let’s go.

1. Flowers of Romance
2. Third Wheel
3. Accidental Adultery (to a lesser extent since there is zero sexual content)
4. Anguished Declaration of Love: good riddance
5. The Bet
6. Better As Friends
7. Boy Meets Boy: There was not any way that this entire plot was not a trope
8. Cock Fight: Ted needs to calm down.
9. Dismissing A Compliment
10. The First Cut Is The Deepest (variation)
11. Friend Versus Lover: Oh, Joni.
12. Grand Romantic Gesture: THE ACTUAL WORST
13. Intimate Artistry
14. It Doesn’t Mean Anything: Paul, don’t kid yourself
15. Love At First Sight: Paul, stop
16. Love Martyr: As seen through Paul’s eyes, anyway
17. Love Triangle
18. Second Act Breakup
19. Serenade Your Lover

So these are just the tropes that I thought obviously fit – there may be more that I missed. I guess my question is: do the tropes of romantic novels help or hurt Boy Meets Boy? I didn’t like them, but I also have a big problem with Grand Romantic Gestures. Also, does the use of devices like the Grand Romantic Gesture help or hurt teens’ understanding of healthy relationships? I’m not sure it’s doing them any favors.