Just to get things out of the way before I do this, before I did this topic my opinion relating to the topic was rather...meh. I didn't love it or hate it but had a more indifferent opinion concerning the concept. But as of late, I believe ever since Thor: Dark World, I'm starting to dislike the concept. Especially since it brings about the main concept that I completely despise. The Damsel In Distress.
Now for the record this isn't a Dark World rant since I've said what needed to be said about the movie but I just want to point out something. What is Jane beyond some human chick swooning over Thor? Ok she's supposed to be really smart and all that but I haven't seen anything of her beyond this hot chick that constantly gets in harms way. And gets all angsty because Thor is off saving the freaking world. There is a reason even Natalie Portman hated the character. In two Thor films I saw nothing that signifies character development from Jane, she still is the same character that she was from the first movie but probably have gotten progressively worse in the second. There were moments I thought to myself "What the hell did Thor see in this woman?!"
To add another example, Lana Lang from Smallville. When first introduced she wasn't that bad but once the show progresses she couldn't walk a few feet without having some super powered psycho coming after her and Clark coming to the rescue. Granted she did have character development but some debated on if said character development was handled well.
The Designated Love Interest concept usually have these pitfalls.
1. The character has to get saved to make the person that is attracted to DLI instead of making some attempt to save themselves.
2. The character has nothing of interest other than being the object of the main character's affection. What does the character do? What is the character's goals? Etc
The other drawback that a DLI usually have is that if there is another character that is interested or interacts with said DLI then that character usually has better chemistry with the DLI then the main character does. Especially if the character interacting with DLI is the villain. For instance I thought Lex and Lana had better chemistry than Clark and Lana while I thought Janes moments with Loki actually made the Jane character more interesting. Meanwhile Clark had better chemistry with Chloe, Lex, and Lois than she ever did with Lana while Thor had better chemistry with Lady Sif. In Twilight I thought Bella had better chemistry with Alice and Jacob than with Edward. With Jacob she actually felt like a normal person while with Alice....GOG is hot.
I thought Pepper Pots was the best developed love interest in Iron Man because they actually took time to develop Pepper and Tony's relationship and they bothered to develop Pepper into someone thats more than just a DLI. Bonus points in having Pepper being someone thats capable of taking care of herself. By IM3 she ended up taking several levels of badass. She's an example of a love interest done right.
If one is going to hook two characters up then at least do some proper build up by having the audience get to know the characters and maybe show what makes the characters connect well and most importantly convince the audience that hey maybe they do belong together. There will still be shippers but if you can make even the hardened shippers see that the characters that you are pairing up belong together then you've done your job. I would also recommend not having your love interest character, male or female, hold on to the damsel in distress ball. Yeah there are moments when a character is in a jam but try not to make it a running gag. Also subvert it in having said love interest get out of a jam themselves once in awhile.
