History Main / OldFashionedRowboatDate

* ''Manga/ItazuraNaKiss'': Kotoko manages to get Naoki taking her on a date like this, but notice that they're the only couple around. And then [[{{Troll}} Naoki]] casually mentions that's because of an urban legend about couples falling apart after having a date in that lake. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It hilariously backfires since Kotoko starts panicking and they both fall into the water]].

These days, "old-fashioned" means precisely that. This isn't quite a DeadHorseTrope, but spoofs of it far outnumber straight uses these days, usually with at least one of the participants falling into the water if the boat doesn't sink. Also, the "Tunnel of Love" rides in amusement parks were sort of a play on this trope, using the dark to allow couples to have intimate contact with nobody actually seeing anything. Another popular variation is a date in a [[UsefulNotes/{{Venice}} Venetian]] gondola (with the bonus that you can pay someone else to do the actual rowing).

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Yusuke's social link has him and Joker going on this a number of times. It's not actually romantic (there is no GayOption in the game at all), but a number of other people on boats who ''are'' doing the traditional thing assume they are dating.

These days, "old-fashioned" means precisely that. This isn't quite a DeadHorseTrope, but spoofs of it far outnumber straight uses these days, usually with at least one of the participants falling into the water if the boat doesn't sink. Also, the "Tunnel of Love" rides in amusement parks was sort of a play on this trope, using the dark to allow couples to have intimate contact with nobody actually seeing anything. Another popular variation is a date in a [[UsefulNotes/{{Venice}} Venetian]] gondola (with the bonus that you can pay someone else to do the actual rowing).

* Early in ''Manga/KinagureOrangeRoad'', Kasuga is in a rowboat, and runs into Ayukawa, setting this up, but this is {{subverted|trope}} when he dives into the lake to rescue a kid from drowning.

* ''Manga/ItazuraNaKiss'': Kotoko manages to get Naoki taking her on a date like this, but notice that they're the only couple around. And then [[{{Troll}} Naoki]] casually mentions that's because of an urban legend about couples falling apart after having a date in that lake. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny It hilariously backfires since Kotoko starts panicking and they both fall into the water]].

The typical image is the lady sitting under her ParasolOfPrettiness in a SimpleYetOpulent dress[[note]]since this usually wouldn't be an occasion to wear an outright PimpedOutDress[[/note]], while the gentleman sits on the other side, wooing her in various ways. Bonus points if he's using a ukulele.

The typical image is the lady sitting under her ParasolOfPrettiness in a SimpleYetOpulent dress[[note]]since this usually wouldn't be an occasion to wear an outright PimpedOutDress[[/note]], while the gentleman sits on the other side, wooing her in various ways.

* Invoked in ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' as part of the song "Kiss the Girl".
* A date in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' didn't start out this way, but ended up being so. Flynn took Rapunzel on a boat to see the lanterns she had always wanted to see, and their talk in this moment turned it into a date. Also in the song "I've Got a Dream" the Big Nose Thug references this trope.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Fourth Doctor and Romana are shown punting on the Cam in "The Five Doctors" (using footage shot for the unfinished serial "Shada"). Tom Baker and Lalla Ward did eventually marry in RealLife.

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ukyō and male!Ranma go on a date involving row boats. Ryōga and Akane are also on a date, and fighting ensues.

* In ''Manga/{{Octave}}'', Yukino and Setsuko go on one. Since they're both girls, they [[RockPaperScissors janken]] to decide who rows.

* ''Manga/GlassMask'' has put Maya in this situation twice, firstly with Yuu (a straightforward example) and later with Hayami (she was partly coerced into the boat, but it plays out like a romantic scene).
* ''Manga/ItazuraNaKiss'': Kotoko manages to get Naoki taking her on a date like this, but notice that they're the only couple around. And then [[{{Troll}} Naoki]] casually mentions that's because of an urban legend about couples falling apart after having a date in that lake. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny It hilariously backfires since Kotoko starts panicking and they both fall into the water]].
* ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'': Marnie teaches Anna to rowboat and often bonds together with the rowboat.

* Seen during the love montage in ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' when WALL•E takes the inactive EVE on a boat through some trash-filled water.

%%* Spoofed in the film ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', due to the twists already happening in the plot, like DisguisedInDrag. - ZCE, when does it happen?
* Briefly seen in the "That's How You Know" montage in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' (the page image, above), complete with the parasol and a mariachi band on a couple of other boats.

* In ''Film/KindHeartsAndCoronets'', Ascoyne D'Ascoyne takes his mistress punting, although his intentions are anything but chaste. When he moors his boat to have his way with her, Louis unties it; causing Ascoyne and his mistress to be swept to their deaths over the weir.

* Two couples have a date on a row-boat in ''Literature/BridgetJones' Diary'' at the same time. They know each other but are not really on friendly terms. Mark and Natasha are dignified and discuss their case as they are both lawyers. Bridget and Daniel have more fun. She recites Creator/JohnKeats' poem "To the Autumn" (Daniel specifically ''forbade'' Keats), and he tries to outshout her with a dirty limerick. He then parodies the iconic "I-am-King-of-the-World" scene from ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', and unsurprisingly falls into water. He doesn't want to be the only one wet and tries to swing the boat with Bridget as well. Prim and proper Natasha is horrified ("How childish!"), but Mark looks as if he envied them.

* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' opens with a couple in the middle of one...then pans over to James Bond and Sylvia Trench making out near Bond's car.
* ''Film/ThePaintedVeil'' when the main couple eventually resolve their UnresolvedSexualTension they share a romantic moment returning to their village by boat like this.

* Literature/LordPeterWimsey and Harriet Vane go punting in ''Gaudy Night'', and the scene is retained in the 1987 BBC television production. Such boating excursions are traditional at Oxford, where the story is set. The modern twists on this are their practical discussion of Harriet's poison pen prankster investigation and the "spot of celibacy" Harriet is maintaining, despite Wimsey's numerous proposals of matrimony.

* In ''Literature/DaisyMiller'', Daisy tries to get Winterbourne to take her on one of these.
* One time in ''Literature/AdrianMole'', Pandora describes visiting a high-class guy of about her age, and how he took her out on his rowboat and recited poetry to her.

* An episode of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', that is a WholePlotReference to ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', a guy sees Salmoneous in drag, and pictures doing this date with him.
* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', J.D. has an ImagineSpot where he's on such a date with Elliot, and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqbOX6Gk18k even throwing her lover in a lake]].
* In ''Series/ToTheManorBorn'', [=DeVere=] invites Audrey for what she thinks is a date, ending with the two of them together in a punt. When she discovers he's actually using her as an extra in a grocery advertisement he's filming, she takes her revenge by setting the punt adrift in the river, with him on board.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. Trip Tucker should have known better when an alien woman takes him into a virtual reality simulation involving the two of them in a rowboat -- it leads to a MisterSeahorse situation.

* ''Series/{{As Time Goes By}}''. Jean tries in vain not to laugh as Lionel proves so inept an oarsman they end up having to be towed back to shore by another boat.
* ''Series/{{Cranford}}'': Mary Smith's embarrassing, overwhelming and match-making step-mother tries to invoke this trope and forces Mary to have a boat date with Dr. Harrison at Lady Ludlow's garden party. Mary doesn't want to get married and knows that Dr. Harrison likes Sophy Hutton. However, as Mary is his favoured surgical assistant, they're on very friendly terms and have a pleasant conversation about Sophy and Cranford.

* In ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', set in the 1920's, very young Lady Rose and a black jazz musician Jack Ross have a row-boat date in London. Her family doesn't know about their relationship.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', when Amy and Kif go on a date in a row-''kite'', which bobs majestically through the air, somehow suspended by their meager paddling.
* Wheeler does this with Linka when they're investigating in UsefulNotes/{{Venice}} in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode "Love Spanked," Rocko goes on [[TerribleIntervieweesMontage a series of dates]] after finding out that his crush Melba has a boyfriend. One of his dates is an elephant girl, and they go on a date like this. Rocko has some trouble rowing, and then the elephant girl [[TheGlomp glomps]] him, causing the boat to sink.

* Spoofed in the film ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', due to the twists already happening in the plot, like DisguisedInDrag.

* ''ArchieComics'': Archie and Betty go on one in a story set in TheGayNineties.

A lady and her suitor are having a romantic date on a rowboat. This was a popular dating image for the 19th and early 20th century upper classes, as it provided a chance for couples to be alone together, but still in plain sight to avoid accusations of anything sexual happening.

Now "old fashioned" in the title means it. This isn't quite a DeadHorseTrope, but spoofs of it far outnumber straight uses these days, usually with at least one of the participants falling into the water if the boat doesn't sink. Also, the "Tunnel of Love" rides in amusement parks was sort of a play on this trope, using the dark to allow couples to have intimate contact with nobody actually seeing anything. Another popular variation is a date in a [[UsefulNotes/{{Venice}} Venetian]] gondola (with the bonus that you can pay someone else to do the actual rowing).

* Briefly seen in the "That's How You Know" montage in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', complete with the parasol and a mariachi band on a couple of other boats.

* The tunnel of love version appears in the sci-fi novel ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground'' -- you can bail about beforehand, but the tunnel is so long that having sex is pretty much all you can do other than sit in the dark and be bored to death. The protagonist's LoveInterest gets her to go into the tunnel with him by promised to reveal a wish he'd made earlier (which of course was his wish to make love to his beautiful superior officer).