Mutual Obsession Is Cute, One-sided Obsession Is Creepy?

    If two people are massively obsessed with each other, then it's portrayed as cute, romantic, etc, regardless of whether or not one of the two parties involved would be considered a stalker otherwise. Romeo and Juliet were both creepily obsessed with each other, to the extent that both of them killed themselves at the prospect of not being with the other. I read a series of Egyptian love-poems written from very much the same perspective this week, and both of the characters came across as incredibly needy and whiny little bitches who'd never consummate their relationship, much less grow up enough to not be so god-damn needy. If either one of them wasn't interested in the other, they'd be considered a stalker. Contrasting this to a character like The Phantom of the Opera, he's a stereotypical stalker, but if the object of his affections was as creepily interested in him as he was in them, then I'll bet the story would be viewed entirely differently.