The central archetype that gives the triangle its emotional pull is the “pining male,” a character who, despite his love interest’s actions or the passing of time, remains faithful to his infatuation. This figure echoes Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s knight of infinite resignation, introduced in his work Fear and Trembling, who idealizes love so deeply that he renounces any hope of fulfillment. The knight’s very identity rests on his longing, which becomes a form of pure suffering. The allure of being unconditionally wanted is understandably tempting to the audience, yet both the pining male and the Kierkegaardian figure overlook the complex reality of individuals and their relationships.
Following the success of the third season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, it is clear that the popularity of the literary trope of the love triangle is once again rising in contemporary narratives. From classics such as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women to today’s dramas such as The Vampire Diaries and Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys, audiences continue to be drawn to stories built around the tension of choice. The triangle, at its core, is a problematic trope whose resurgence reflects a shifting attitude toward affection. In this article, we dissect the elements that constitute this structure as well as the factors behind its recent popularity and analyze them through the work of various thinkers hoping to understand the deeper implications of its appeal.
The pursuit of platonic affection may be valuable, but being unable to move beyond the transcendental idea of unattainable love condemns the individual to suffering, since the material world we inhabit is incapable of sustaining it.
The idealization of the “other” denies each person their individuality and turns them into an object. When examined closely, the very geometry of the triangle fractures exposes the inequality of two figures projecting their desires onto a cornered third. The identity of this third vanishes, transforming her instead into a vessel for idealized longing. People are flawed, as is human affection. To live in constant yearning is to reject reality and create standards that can only lead to loneliness. The only way to reconcile this obsessive idealization is to ground the ideal and use it to love the imperfect human being before us.
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However, this growing inclination toward idealized love is not necessarily a conscious avoidance. Few people intentionally pursue a platonic ideal, yet it is an increasing pattern in present attitudes toward relationships. This may reflect a generational condition rather than an individual philosophical decision. In a dating culture shaped by social media and technology, intimacy and connection are becoming increasingly distant and abstract. This detachment from the “other” fosters an unrealistic set of expectations, which might be the leading cause of the demand for exaggerated tropes such as the love triangle.
Our growing unfamiliarity with genuine connection is manifested in the most recent versions of this motif, where the narrative refuses to conform to a simple rivalry. From Conrad and Jeremiah to Stefan and Damon to Alex and Cole, popular love stories in pop culture keep circling back to the same problematic setup: two brothers pining after one girl. It plays with an almost incestuous tension that turns family rivalry into romance. Whether set on a beach, in a boarding school, or a small town, the pattern repeats.
The use of siblings heightens the tensions within the triangle, transforming it into almost an Oedipal rivalry, one where the brothers are not competing only for the girl but also for a symbolic place in the family order itself. It is no coincidence that the latest season of The Summer I Turned Pretty concludes with the “winning” brother and the girl alone in the mother’s beach house, a setting filled with symbolism that echoes the Oedipal struggle beneath it. If triangles are already unrealistic, their normalization of sibling rivalry is absolutely absurd. This hyper-fixation in popular media only points to a deeper generational longing for spectacle over substance.
The persistence of the love triangle in contemporary story-telling points to emotional disorientation. Its latest evolution into a sibling-centered conflict reflects a generation hungry for emotion, reaching toward extreme fantasies shaped by a distorted sense of attachment. If our generation is turning toward platonic idealization, it must do so consciously and accept the consequences which follow. The drama and chaos of this structure may be entertaining, but we must ask ourselves if this is the kind of affection we are willing to accept as normal and what that acceptance says about our understanding of intimacy.
© perediza 2026
