Married to the Job: Difference between revisions

* [[Captain Tsubasa]], he's so married to football that boy-and-girl relationship is the rarest element to be found around him, considering this a [[Shounen]] genre, it's not very strange. Subverted slightly when he confesses his love to [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Sanae]]. Then he goes to Brazil and married to the job again that his girlfriend has to follow him there love-stuck and almost in tear before they finally get married for real.

* Both Ryo and Asuka of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' use the "in love with dueling" line to let down attempted suitors.

 

== Comic Books ==

::There was a period, however, when Lois broke off the engagement because she couldn't handle being married to Superman, and wasn't sure Superman ''should'' be married when he had a world to protect. She said she tried thinking of it as like being married to a fire-fighter or a policeman ... but even they could take a day off. She came to terms with the situation eventually.

* [[Judge Dredd]] has no life whatsoever outside of his responsibilities and duties as a Judge. Even when other Judges may recognize a perp or victim as a celebrity personality from a vidshow, Dredd will not, nor would he care. Dredd is [[Celibate Hero|celibate]] and doesn't even celebrate his own birthday—not even when the Chief Judge and his closest associates at Justice Dept. get him a cake and gifts. The closest thing Dredd has to engaging in a leisure activity is reading the Book of Law.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Heat]]'', both the detective and the criminal are completely focused on their careers on their respective sides of the law to the almost complete exclusion to anything else. For the detective, this means he's burned through two marriages and is currently on the downward slope of a third; for the criminal, this means that he has absolutely nothing even resembling a personal life.

* Walter and Hildy are both married to their newspaper jobs in ''[[His Girl Friday]],'' though Hildy is trying to get out of it. Walter sets her up with one last story in an attempt to get her to come back to the paper.

 

== Literature ==

** Also [[Inverted Trope|inverted]] in the same book, when Sybil accidentally discovers the location of a secret room in the embassy while measuring the floors for carpets:

{{quote|'''Sam:''' I don't want to sound impatient, dear, but [[This Is No Time for Knitting|is this a carpet moment?]]

'''Sybil:''' Just stop thinking like a husband and start listening like a copper, will you? }}

* ''[[Kurt Wallander]]'': Kurt is divorced and has only an on-off relationship with his Latvian girlfriend.

* In the ''[[Temeraire]]'' series, most aviators are married to the job, if only because the bond they share with their dragons means that any spouse would play second fiddle (to say nothing of having to live near a dragon covert and seeing them less than possibly even a Navy man). There's no prohibition against it, but wise aviators won't subject anyone to it.

* Marcia Overstrand in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'' is this, having virtually no life outside of her work as the ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

 

* Liz Lemon in ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]''.

* Captain Kirk in ''[[Star Trek]]'' is often said to be "married" to the Enterprise.

{{quote|Harry Mudd: You'll find out that ship's captains are already married, girl, to their vessels.}}

{{quote|Shatner: Alas, my ship, whom I love like a woman, is damaged.}}

* In the first season of ''[[24]]'' it was mentioned that Jack and Terri Bauer's marriage was strained because Jack Bauer spent too much time at work and would often spend months at a time away from home.

** And in season 7, President Taylor put her duty to her country over her family and {{spoiler|sent her daughter to prison for ordering a hit on Jonas Hodges}}, which was a direct cause of {{spoiler|her subsequent divorce from her husband}}.

* Leo McGarry's divorce in ''[[The West Wing]]'' was a direct result of this trope, as demonstrated in the page quote, and it's implied that Toby Ziegler's marriage ended because of his duties in the White House as well. It's also suggested, however, the devotion required and long hours spent working at the White House took their toll on ''all'' the characters and their relationships to some degree, as almost all of them barring the President and the First Lady were either single or divorced.

* In ''[[Numb3rs]]'', this seems to be true for just about everyone. David Sinclair and Colby Granger seem to consider this a badge of honor, or at least an excuse why they aren't in relationships, and Nikki is insulted when they imply she isn't her married to her job.

* Hugh Abbot on ''[[The Thick of It]]'' doesn't see his family much. Considering what his only distraction is, one supposes he really doesn't do much beside work. He's not happy about it.

* [[The X-Files]] is this trope. Mulder is obsessed with his work, so much so that he can't even fathom a relationship or even many friendships outside of it. His one goal in life is to expose the Truth and find out what happened to his sister. Scully starts off with somewhat of a personal life and even goes on a date in the first season, but eventually becomes just as entangled in the work as Mulder. This ''is'' somewhat of a [[Justified Trope]], however. The [[Myth Arc]] cases aren't something that can easily be left in the office each night, and the line between work and personal life is obliterated. Especially when Mulder and Scully start getting abducted, their apartments are bugged, and are almost murdered several times in their own homes. Scully once acknowledges this self-destructive lifestyle in season six, asking Mulder if he ever just wanted to "get out of the damn car and live something approaching a normal life?" Mulder's reply? "This is a normal life." Also, work/personal life get even more entangled when {{spoiler|their son becomes the first gested human/alien hybrid, and thus all of the [[Big Bad]] villians from their work would like to kidnap him and/or kill him.}}

 

* In ''[[Rent]]'' Roger claims that Mark has deliberately married his job, and Mark...doesn't really deny it. He does offer a defense, though: [[Survivor Guilt]], stemming from being one of the few of his circle of friends without HIV/AIDS. From the song "Goodbye, Love":

{{quote|'''Roger:''' "Mark has got his work." They say Mark lives for his work, and Mark's in love with his work. Mark ''hides'' in his work.

'''Mark:''' Perhaps it's because I'm the one of us to survive. }}

* In ''[[Lady in the Dark]]'', Charley accuses Liza of being married to her desk.

 

== Video Games ==

* Knuckles from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has complained about his boring life guarding the Master Emerald, but he takes his duty extremely seriously.

* Aveline from ''[[Dragon Age II]]''—at first, anyway. After her husband Wesley dies, she throws herself into her job as guardswoman (and later Guard Captain) so fully that, when she ''does'' end up developing feelings for another man (Guardsman Donnic), she has no clue what to do. Her personal sidequest involves [[Match Maker Quest|attempting to get them together despite Aveline's lack of romantic skills]]. To say that Hawke has his/her job cut out for him/her is an understatement.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command|Buzz Lightyear's]] first and greatest love will always be to Star Command and the fight against evil.

* On ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]],'' [[An Ice Person|Ice]] expresses a crush for [[Aquaman]], only for [[Playing with Fire|Fire]] to point out that he's married. For [[Cloudcuckoolander|some reason]], Ice interprets her to mean this trope. (Though to be fair, his [[Day in The Limelight]] episode implies that that's sort of true too.)

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Marriage Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:White Collar Tropes]]