Oblivious to Love/Theatre

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Examples of Oblivious to Love in Theatre include:

• Anne in A Little Night Music is not only oblivious to her awkward stepson's feelings for her, but also to her own feelings about him, which she only realizes at the end.
• In Les Misérables, depending on the actor, Marius can sometimes come off as quite a bit thick in the head about this with Eponine.
• In The Sound of Music, Maria has absolutely no clue the Captain is in love with her until the Baroness (for her own ends, of course) points it out. This is possibly because Maria has spent too much time in a convent. A moral crisis immediately ensues, which the Reverend Mother very nicely clears up.
• Cyrano De Bergerac:
  • Cyrano uses Selective Obliviousness to refuse to comprehend that he can be loved even with his enormous nose. At Act I Scene V, Le Bret has to remind him of the Smitten Teenage Girl Cyrano meet some moments ago. At Act IV Scene IX, Christian stubbornly tries to convince him that Roxane loves his “soul” – Cyrano – instead of his face. Cyrano will not believe it. Justified because Cyrano has serious Mommy Issues and his upbringing makes him more confortable being the Love Martyr.

Le Bret: Your courage and your wit! — The little maid
Who offered you refreshment even now,
Her eyes did not abhor you—you saw well!
Cyrano (impressed): True!

• • Through Act II to Act V, Roxane uses Selective Obliviousness to refuse to comprehend that Cyrano, his Unlucky Childhood Friend who always do everything she asks him and whom has been to his side every Saturday without fault for the last fifteen years could want to be more than be Just Friends. Justified again because she is the Insane Avatar of a Romance Novel Heroine, who longs to be the Mad Bride of a guy who was fair and witty.
• In Seussical, Horton is unaware of Gertrude's crush on him, even when she sings a song about it straight at him (he's too busy talking to Whos). This arguably changes after she reveals her Determinator tendencies in "All For You".

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