Tropes: Grumpy / Sunshine
Opposites attract. While the previous sentence may not be true for all human beings, the phenomenon happened often enough for the saying to become a cliche. It still pops up in romantic comedies from time to time, usually in the form of a loving jibe or tell-tell remark from a quirky or mysterious supporting character. These days, it is more often implied than said aloud. Many different pairings illustrate this trope, but the most common and beloved is a couple we have come to define as grumpy/sunshine.
Personally, the grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my favorites simply because of how versatile it is. There are so many different levels of combative personalities you can choose from. Do the protagonists simply find one another annoying? Do they have vehemently opposing views? Are they open to occasionally adopting a more positive or negative outlook or staunchly set in their ways? All these questions and more go into creating a grumpy/sunshine pairing, and for this reason, no two are the same.
No matter how an author decides to hammer out the minute details, the starting place is always two characters with extremely strong personalities: one who is an eternal optimist and the other who is, well, not, to say the least. If an audience cannot immediately pick up on the fact that, on paper, these people would not be a suitable match, there is no fun to be had in watching them fall for each other anyway.
Tension is not hard to manufacture within this trope, as the characters' views and opinions create an instant layer of combativeness for any storyteller to play upon. Their inherent opposing natures set up perfect opportunities for banter that holds just the right amounts of truth and teasing. Plus, in many retentions, readers and viewers are treated to toe-curling internal monologues from one protagonist or the other as they attempt to force down these growing feelings of attraction, claiming the emotion to be something other than what it so obviously is.
We love a big, scary, mean teddy bear <3
However, I think my favorite component of this trope is the vehicle it provides for open and honest character growth. After all, when we partake in tales other than our own, one of the things we are searching for, outside of relatability and distraction, is proof that people can change for better or worse. In romance, it's usually the former that wins out. When one side of the couple at least appears to harbor a distain for all of humanity, it's nice to find out that even they can make at least one exception.
Thinking back, I believe the place I first encountered a Grumpy/Sunshine variant was in the 1997 animated classic Anastasia. As I was two when it was released, it took a few years for me to catch on to the phenomenon, but once I had, I was obsessed. I even saw it on ice. (Twice.) While 5-year-old me may not have liked it for the reason teenage and adult me do, there is no denying that Anya and Demetri fit this trope to a tee. She, trusting and hopeful, is trying to reconnect with her family. In contrast, he is a down-on-luck conman looking to make a quick buck. Over the course of the film, Demetri realizes the error of his ways, that Anya is, in fact, Anastasia, and that he is indeed, as much as he fought it, in love with her.
Ever since then, I have consumed Grumpy/Sunshine narratives. Many of my favorite couples fall under this category. From universally beloved pairings such as Jess and Rory from Gilmore Girls to newer iterations like Ted Lasso's Roy Kent and Keeley Jones, they constantly fill my screen and my bookshelf. Some notable titles include Beach Read by Emily Henry, Leigh Bardugo's King Of Scars (as well as most of her other titles. She is very fond of this trope.), Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan and Assistant To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. As this trope stretches far and wide, these are only a handful of instances, but each one contains its own level of "I hate everyone but you, or at least I seem to," that I don't think will ever get old.
