On Fanlore, users with accounts can edit pages including user pages, can create pages, and more. Any information you publish on a page or an edit summary will be accessible by the public and to Fanlore personnel. Because Fanlore is a wiki, information published on Fanlore will be publicly available forever, even if edited later. Be mindful when sharing personal information, including your religious or political views, health, racial background, country of origin, sexual identity and/or personal relationships. To learn more, check out our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Select "dismiss" to agree to these terms.
The Cartwright Syndrome
Synonyms: | The Cartwright Curse, The Bonanza Syndrome |
See also: | Women In Refrigerators, Mysterious Wife Plague, Samantha Carter |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Cartwright Curse, or The Bonanza Syndrome, is when a fan creates a female love interest for a male character, only to have her die by the end of the story, a trope that also happens in canon.
The term refers to the classic Western series, Bonanza, in which all of the leading male characters lost a wife/lover and no female survived more than a few episodes.
Gender-inverted examples are rare, but exist, usually called "black widow" syndrome. Samantha Carter from the Stargate franchise is one such notable example.
Examples of Use
- "There's a name for that killing-off-of-the-romantic interest. We refer to it around here as the Bonanza Syndrome. (Think back—none of the Cartwrights could keep a wife over two days before she faded out from a rare disease that only attacks female love interests and elm trees/burned alive in the torched barn/got stomped by a jealous horse.) And let's not forget that dear, undaunted, loveable (if terminal), beloved female must die with her makeup in perfect order. Heaven forbid she keel over gracefully with her eye liner smudged!" [1]
- "Why did the Klingon woman [probably referring to Worf's mate K'ehleyr from "Star Trek: The Next Generation"] have to die? Are we getting infected with the Bonanza Syndrome (love a Cartright and die)?" [2]
Notable sufferers of the curse
- Joe Asakura aka Joe the Condor in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
- Margaery Tyrell in A Song of Ice and Fire
- Jessica Wakefield in the Sweet Valley High series
- Samantha Carter in Stargate
- Otacon in the Metal Gear series
- The Doctor in Doctor Who
- Apollo on Battlestar Galactica
References
- ^ from Between Friends #12 (July 1985)
- ^ from Comlink #46