MOVIES
RETHINKING THE R O M A N T I C C O M E DY Let’s keep pushing what the romantic comedy can look like By Jaime Woo
JULY / AUGUST 2022
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
The allure of romantic comedies lies, in part, with the unimpeachable quality of love between the protagonists. Whether or not they are together at the end of the film is trivial, for the audience is left satisfied as long as they have fought hard for it. Their job is to have valiantly defended the idea of love that is seemingly predestined but also must be earned. Often, to do so is to fight the societal pressures of the day, whether they be the obstacles around the conventions of class, gender,
30
IN MAGAZINE
race or sexuality. In too many romantic comedies, the obstacle is that one of the protagonists is already in a relationship, and is expected to stay just because. While the act of shedding convention has its merits as a chance to learn about oneself, the filmmakers often stack the deck so heavily for the leading stars, and make the existing partner such a pill, that it hardly seems a sacrifice to let them go. Audiences appear comforted with the safety of being affirmed that who we end up with – that true love – is ordained in some way, compelled by some otherworldly power. If we just
