Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Romantic Comedy Paradox

I have never really been a huge fan of romantic comedies, and after our brief discussion today it got me thinking as to why I have always strayed away from them. Megan’s post about clichés reminded me that almost every classic romantic comedy seems to have a similar plot. For example, two people who hardly know each other meet in some unique way. They fall in love and everything seems to be going great until something happens and these two people distance themselves from one another. At the end of the film, the couple runs into each other again (most of the time by coincidence) and they become close again.

I think this is why romantic comedies have never really caught my interest: the ending is usually pretty predictable. However, there are always going to be a few books or movies that stray from the cliché, which is why those stories tend to become fairly unknown (and don’t make as much money).

I agree with what Casey mentioned about familiarity leading to comfort. It seems like a lot of people like romantic comedies because they are predictable. We tend to stray away from things that are different but at the same time we look down on things that are the same. I guess what I’m getting at is that romantic comedies reinforce this paradox. A rom-com that follows the classic plot will make more money and have more success overall, but it most likely will not get as much appreciation as a unique one.

Also, I apologize if this post was all over the place (and if I offended anyone).

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree especially about the familiarity leading to comfort part. People can look to romantic comedies and know exactly what they are going to get and that makes them feel safe.

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  2. I agree, I think that rom-coms can be very predictable. I like how you connected the familiarity of the story to the success and popularity of the story. I hadn't thought of that before but I think it is very true.

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