Listen, I know this might get a lot hate. I truly want to know for the people that hate mafia story’s so much why? Like, y’all just watch one episode of Chain Reaction and think every mafia story is bad. I wish people gave Deep Attraction a chance that’s like the best story on Episode.
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I personally love reading them for the drama that involves around their mafia and how the author makes it as well as in like develop the story to be good, but I think people hate them because they’re mostly taking about the romance/drama section on episode. It’s hard to find a story in those sections that isn’t related to mafia
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I like the drama around it but I don’t like the sexualizing and romance around it.
Drama for example:
The MC’s lover or family was killed by the mafias.
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Hey! I could go on a long rant about this but I’ll keep it short: It’s not about how well the story is written or how good the plot is. It’s about the harm that it does to Italians and the inherit promotion of toxic, dangerous, and extremely harmful behavior. I grew up in New York and would always visit family in New Jersey. In the neighborhood where my grandparents lived, at least 3 people were killed at the hands of the mafia. It’s a dark world. It should not be sexualized or made into fiction stories. Plus, many of the stories on there push stereotypes onto different ethnicities (which is problematic in itself). The episode app is for young impressionable teens… these stories may be ~hot and steamy~, but they do much more harm than they do good. If you’re interested, I can PM you some resources that give more insight into my view point 
But… yea. That’s basically how a lot of us feel about Mafia stories in short.
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I dislike Mafia stories because of the typical LI’s that come with them, cause let’s face it, 99% of them are in the Romance section.
Usually the LI is so possessive over the MC, and it’s so disgusting how much that’s glorified. I’ve seen LI’s literally fight other men because they start talking to the MC. This isn’t healthy, where’s the trust? Just because you’re dating someone (or even some of them aren’t even dating, they just have an “if I can’t have you, no one can” attitude), you don’t own them. And for an app that is targeted to 13+ readers, this behaviour isn’t something that should be portrayed as normal.
My other issue with most relationships in Mafia stories is that, generally, the MC and LI have no reason to wanna be together other than lust. They have no connection whatsoever, how are we supposed to ship two people who literally have nothing in common other than sex?
I don’t have a problem with people writing Mafia stories because it’s their choice & I would never want to hate on someone for that. I just personally ruled out reading those kinds of stories ages ago for the reasons stated above.
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Yeah, I see what your saying!
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I’ve never read a mafia story; but if the genre is actually what people make it out to be (romance plot w/ gang settings), then I already know I don’t like ‘em. Even the ones w/out romance plots seem to do their fair share of sugar-coating reality. I’m a hard advocate against gun violence, gang violence, and the whole “struggle romance” narrative; though, I’m assuming most of these stories are more Godfather melodramas and less downtown Baltimore thrillers 
I would like to understand the appeal though. What separates mafia stories from the tragic bad boy ones. Is it the inheritance money?
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Oh no another thread 
Look, I don’t doubt that there are some stories that are well written in every sense (not only good plot, good writing, but also good research) but you have to admit that this genre is a sea of awfully stereotypical, copycat, toxic romance stories.
If an author gotta write a story that focuses on some aspects they do not know (mafia, gang life, Italians, Mexicans, Russians, etc.) why the hell do they just go like “ah, I read an Episode romance story about tHe iTaLiaN mAFia once therefore I know everything there is to know”. Because this is what happens 99% of the time.
Now, I don’t care if the story is another sappy romance per se. It’s not what I’d read, but still. But I get mad when they misportray mafias and misrepresent other cultures (one of which being my own). It’s frustrating to witness this much ignorance and foolishness in one place.
When you actually do extensive research about the mafia world, you’d find that the last thing you think about is making a romance story out of it. Because if you were to write a romance out of strong research on the mafia, it’s either between psychopaths or it’s gonna be tragic. And frankly, none are my type of story. There’s just no way that I’d ever be able to enjoy a mafia romance.
Then, if it turns into a drama/action/thriller/mystery/horror I’d give it a chance, so long as there is a good basis of research.
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I personally dislike Mafia stories because they promote toxic and abusive relationships and that isn’t okay! I have no problem with mafia stories like wicked sins or love underground because the LI isn’t toxic but stories like The empire the Love interest Verbally abuses her and he’s s controlling…many people say “Oh it’s just a story” but it’s really weird that some of the readers like that stuff or are attracted to the LI. Also I hate how in some mafia stories the female are all like 4 foot and the males are like 7 foot it’s just weird to me. 
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Ok here we go again 
I don’t hate mafia stories.
I hate stories that romanticize the mafia. I understand as a teenaged girl, for example, a muscley, sexy criminal who sees smth different in the MC & wants to make her his is v appealing. However, that is not the case. They r manipulative, brutal criminals who sell drugs that kill ppl, some mafias sex traffic young men and women & kill loads of ppl. I’m sry, how is that romantic? It’s not. Ppl romanticize the mafia & convince others that mafia leaders r ‘hot’ they’re usually old men who take advantage of vulnerability & r disgusting. I hate how the media has made their lifestyle seem romantic. If u do sum research, u’ll see what they do. That’s y ppl hate them being a Li, having a mafia story in the romance genre & the mafia leader as a Li means ur romanticizing it, no matter what the author adds to try convince u they’re not, they r. Authors who write these stories know it, they write it bc naive teens read it & episode allows it bc they make money off it. Doesn’t mean it’s romantic, it’s brutal & pls don’t b influenced to think otherwise 
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Yeah… If nothing else they are all The same, you know what happens even before you read it, The characters are all The same, type of The relationship… No originality or creativity
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I agree with everyone who’s against these mafia stories - the characterisation of these mafia members can sometimes be horrific! And because there’s this stereotype around characters in the mafia, every single time I find out that that an LI or even just a character is in the mafia, I cringe so hard. Because it’s so overused and, I’d say, a good 80% of the time they are these possessive pricks! When reading Infamous 2, SPOILER you find out that Ghost/Gabe is part of the Russian (?) mafia and I was like “oh no” but there’s nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with SPOILER Gabe being in the mafia. But because of this image that stories on Episode have built up I always cringe and feel like facepalming myself when I see mafia characters.
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Seriously, how many threads are gonna keep asking this question? These posts might as well be merged into the very first thread that asked this question. No offense.
I hate mafia stories because they romanticize being with a mafia leader. It makes it seem like that you actually have a chance to be in a relationship with a feared and dangerous person. I mean, what kind of person falls in love with a serial killer? And of innocent people too?! Definitely not me! And why does the mafia leader LI always have to be Italian? If they’re in the Italian mafia, shouldn’t the story be taking place in Italy? Why is it always New York? I mean, the worst crime I’ve ever heard of taking place is New York is the 9/11 terrorist attack—nothing beyond that. And the MC is always a vulnerable shy girl who submits to the mafia leader’s demands, which is disgusting! 
I especially hate Chain Reaction and The Empire for this sh*t! Trey and Lion (what the hell kinda name is that for a guy anyway? What was wrong with Leon?) are the worst men to ever exist in a fictional story! They’re cold-blooded and misogynistic. I’ve never liked mafia stories to begin with, but going further into it, I pretty much hate all mafia stories or any story where you fall in love with a criminal. And no, Trey only killing bad guys DOES NOT excuse his toxic behavior.
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Can’t hate them all if you had never read them all. 
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Yes, I was just thinking this I don’t really like how they romanticize it because it some serious stuff.
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Nope. But u can hate the concept of romanticizing smth gruesome & then convincing teens that it’s ok.
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The reason that “Mafia” stories receive so much hate falls into a few different points:
-
They are usually misrepresentations of what a Mafia is and does. Google it sometimes, it’s much less romantic to people who live in areas where mafias kill people and extort them.
Adding to this
#2.: the female characters are always enamored with the “mafia boss” because of their looks, and overlook their crimes and seem to be simpering idiots. “Oh he killed five guys but who cares because hotness!”. I feel that female characters shouldn’t be so superficial and obsessed with how rich a guy is to the point of ignoring the physical/emotional abuse (which to older people here- isn’t subtly written.) -
They are way over-written. Go to almost any of the mafia stories here and the plots are basically carbon copies of each other with different names. I chalk this up to authors needing to feel like their story is successful and so they essentially copy the stories with millions of reads and hope that they will get the same. I think the commonplace themes and plots are uninteresting to people because you can’t go 1 swipe on a story list without seeing 3 Mafia stories.
Now, I think if you want to write a mafia story, go for it. What you write and read is on you. BUT, if you were to write one, I suggest doing the necessary research and portraying it correctly. Maybe the MC can help the guy get out of the life, maybe she could be romancing him because she’s an undercover cop who brings down the whole operation without falling for the leader-- but instead falling for their “handler”.
Just make it unique and that will change the perspective and create something interesting.
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You make a good point!
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Thanks.
Eh, who cares? I think I’ve read enough to know that there will never be a good mafia story that doesn’t include romance, whether the MC is a part of it herself or not. I don’t think I’ll ever give a mafia story a chance, and you can’t change my mind.
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