Can we take a minute and question why? Why Mafia?

I have been looking for some good stories for quite some time. More specifically, I am a sucker for a good romance story, as most readers are. So, as one does I will scroll through the romance and drama section before looking at the other genres. Low and behold over half of these stories are mafia related.
Personally, I cannot stand mafia stories because they other promote toxic relationships, or they are all the same story (just with different characters).

I’ve spoken to several people on the forums/IG, and I’ve even noticed other topics discussing them, but it seems as though most everyone I speak to disposes mafia stories. So my question is why do you think these stories are promoted so much on the episode app?
I hate thinking about this, because as I stated before they promote so much toxic traits in a love interest or best friend (whatever), and none of them really highlight the problem with this behavior. I mean this app has kids that are in their early teens, and when they read this it has the ability to dilute the seriousness of what’s portrayed.

Think about it. If a young kid reads countless stories about a gang leader having total control over a relationship, such as when they ask the main character questions like “where are you?” demanding the main character to share absolutely everything, it puts it in the reader’s head that this is normal. But, in reality it’s not. This kind of behavior marks the beginning of a very toxic relationship. And don’t even get me started on the violence.
I mean these “mafia men” will quite literally hurt people (and yes more often then not, the author has them harm bad people), but ultimately the character has no repercussions for their actions. I mean for example, the gang leader can k!ll someone and simply walk away without getting arrested because they have “power,” or whatever. But, if this is repeated over and over where is the boundary? Your portraying that their are no repercussions for harming someone, let alone not even showing the emotional toll that follows de*th . I mean if I ever write some kind of argument or something, there are always repercussions (either actual worldly repercussions or emotional ones). And the only de*th I would find appropriate would be one in which there is a funeral or some kind of grieving…

Maybe this is all me ranting to get it out of my system, and maybe it’s just me being over dramatic, but I am so sick of this. For once, I just want to scroll through the romance section to find good relationship stories that aren’t toxic. But alas, I don’t think that will happen.
What are your thoughts on the topic?

I want to be clear that this is not a space for arguments at all! So if someone says something you disagree with, state so in a respectful manner!

Also, if you do want to recommend and (non-mafia) stories that you really like I have a thread for that:
What Are Your Favorite Episode Stories?

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The mafia is a real life, honestly scary and not super attractive thing. Most men that take part of it are mediocre middle aged men with half their teeth out. And killing isn’t something that should be considered attractive. I see alot of stories that definitely look like the LI should be the villian.

Now, there is a difference between crime and Mafia. Writing about a thief or even a member of a gang is so very different then writing about a Mafia member. And the amount of misinformation that falls under this topic doesn’t stop and never will if they never stop writing false depictions of what the mafia is.

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And even when there are nice romance stories that aren’t related to “Mafia” in any way… they’re kicked out of trending and buried deep because all of the Mafia stories are hogging the romance section.

There should be a completely different category for Mafia stories alone.

That way REAL ROMANCE stories can have their category back!

Mafia shouldn’t even be romanticised! It’s sick.

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Yes! You just summed up my entire rant better than I did! :sweat_smile:

For sure! It definitely is and real thing and it’s ok to teach, but like Rayna said perfectly it’s not ok to romanticize it.

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I think one of my biggest things is that sorties like that are allowed to trend and be promoted (heck Episode has one as their featured stories), with no trigger warnings, and yet you have stories like Saving Violet that have trigger warnings that teach about the dangers of tr*ff!cking - that are at the same level of violence and such - that are taken down.

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The reason I said it was a real life thing is because when things are real, it’s not nearly as easy to romanticize. The author will twist things to make it seem as if you know, the LI isn’t as horrible because it isn’t real life. The MC doesn’t have natural reactions to m*rder, instead they often say “oh this is hot I love a guy in charge” like no- those people aren’t as attractive as you think they are.

That goes for any LI that’s a “bad person”, not just Mafia stories. They really can get away with anything as long as they’re sorry-

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Yes! If Mafia was a separate genre in Episode, romance would take back its meaning and stories like from Bri or @amepisode and such could thrive more than they already do!

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There are seriously enough stories to fill up that genre :sob: I hate seeing them everywhere.

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very good question. i think the people who advocate for stories as these shield themselves behind one sentence:

“it isn’t real life, it’s just a story.”

and while yes, it isn’t real life, it isn’t always just a story. it can have real ramifications, especially mental ones, on impressionable audiences. they’ll continuously preach that since it’s a story, it doesn’t matter what it contains or promotes. while that is the absolute polar opposite of the truth. this, to many, makes it seem okay to do things like these without any consequences whatsoever.

mafia stories get views, so people keep writing them. however, i truly think most of the authors of mafia stories are very uninformed of what the actual mafia is. which leads me to my first point: the more people promoting mafia stories, the more people will jump onto that bandwagon.

no. it absolutely isn’t. me and many others 100% agree with what you’re saying. it is a problem that shouldn’t be ignored. the problem of mafia stories can never truly die out, as people will always be advocating for it, but it can get smaller if we speak up about it.

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YES :clap::clap::clap:

If you look past the killer (:skull:) that the LI is, why tf are we promoting obsessive and possessive behavior? Little boys and girls reading episode are learning what not to look for. I blame episode and Wattpad for the amount of people who have the wrong Idea about the mafia. It’s not something to be glamourised.

Perfectly said.

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I meant more along the lines of Romance stories that are buried past #50 and therefore aren’t seen much, due to Mafia stories hogging all of the highest positions.

Bri and Amanda’s stories aren’t really ”buried” [if you get what I mean] since those stories are already very high up in trending.

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I get what you’re saying. I’m saying that sometimes a mafia story knocks down Bri and Amepisode’s stories by a couple ranks just because Mafia is somehow always higher than them.

But that happens to everyone.

A week or so ago I saw a story with 9K-ish reads, trending at #8 in romance. I don’t know how they managed that so quickly, but good for them. [I think it was due to a double update.] However the next day multiple Mafia stories had piled ahead of the story in question… completely pushing the story well out of trending!
When the author could’ve really done with the extra exposure. Having the limelight for a few days would’ve helped her out immensely. This is why Episode really needs a Mafia section, and I think they should make it mandatory that all Mafia stories must be listed in that category to avoid cluttering the Romance and Drama categories.

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You’re right… my point still kinda stands. But anyway, you’re right.

Seriously, Episode, give Mafia a genre of its own so it won’t clutter the romance section and give more impressionable people the wrong idea. :pray:t4:

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No for real, I don’t think people acknowledge that there is kids out there and also why does Episode support that kind of thing- because I’m worried why :cowboy_hat_face:

And to be honest, is people not educating themselves about that… like it’s weird thinking they came up with that lol

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Maybe we can start a petition to get a mafia shelf. I am so sick and tired of finding them on the romance/drama shelf.
Heck I’ve even found them in the comedy genre! :triumph:

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I think those are parodies :thinking:

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We’d then need to forward the petition to the Episode Team, I mean… maybe they’d consider it, if enough people were in agreement?! :thinking:

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I’d definitely sign it and send it to Episode!

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Well, the mafia have their place in history, but mostly portrayed in a positive life. Why should someone idolize a mobster? Is it because of the love interests, the money, the laps of luxury? If you read the stories of real life mobsters, you’d know that their lives were absolutely horrible. Some meeting a graphic (no pun intended) end. Why idolize the of people who aren’t good people to begin with, like henry hill or al capone? If anything, they’re people you should stay away from, like the sopranos for example. Why do you think the families of them want nothing to do with it anymore? It’s a miserable life.

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