Romantic Comedies are notorious for being cheesy pick-me-ups with positive endings, and with Valentine’s Day approaching it is both the best and worst time of year for rom-com fans. They have an excuse to watch their favorite genre but often must overcome adversity from critics.
Often, people see romantic comedies as nothing more than cheesy visual fluff. They start with the same meet-cute between the two opposite leads and spend another hour going back and forth.
The pair eventually confess their love- often with the addition of a quippy best friend or two who probably pushed the two together in the first place. They are easily recognizable for their tropes and predictability, so, understandably, not everyone finds them particularly to their taste.
“It’s harder to tell a new and interesting story around such common tropes [[…]] it’s very predictable,” said OH film course (English 4 Critical Interpretation of Literature Forms & Composition) teacher Tracy Contino.
A different critique of the genre is often that there are no new stories to tell, which has proven to be a challenge for the genre to recover from in recent years. It is not that they find the stories to be bad, just that after a while it is difficult to enjoy the same thing again and again.
“I think they need to be done very well for somebody like me to like them because I’ve seen so many of them and they all kinda follow the same formula,” said fellow OH film teacher Amy Severinski. “There just needs to be a new twist on the story.”
But this strategy has been working for decades. In fact, the genre had some of its most popular films as early as the 1930s. Romance is an idea people have been wanting to see portrayed in entertainment for a long time, and just because they need some alterations does not make them disgraced to film in general.
“I like the lightheartedness of them and how they’re easy to watch over and over without getting tired,” said junior Gracie Nachtigall.
Not every movie needs to be a thought-provoking film to change an outlook on life. Some films are meant to be fun mood-boosters, and if the film is meant to be enjoyed, why should it be an issue for people who like those types of movies?
“I think so many people hate on them but I find them to be feel-good movies,” said Nachtigall.
Shakespeare himself even wrote rom-coms. Movies like She’s the Man and 10 Things I Hate About You, or even the recent release of Anyone but You are all adaptations of the Shakespeare works Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, and Much Ado About Nothing respectively. Yet they are treated as of lesser quality because they were created for a different audience than the vast majority of films today.
Romantic Comedies have been helping people through both bad and good times for generations. What some consider tired, others consider comforting, and what some find boring, others can find joy.
So, when faced with the romantic comedy dilemma, it is important to remember that personal taste does not equate to universal taste, and sometimes all people want is an easy love-filled watch to brighten their days.
I am a senior at OH and so excited to be a Managing and Opinions Section Editor this year! I love working on 42Fifty, but I am also very involved in band and numerous honor societies here. Looking forward to doing great work this year!
My name is Sasha Pankuch and I am a junior here at OHS. This is my first year with 42Fifty too. I am very involved here at OHS; I am on the board of Student Council, I play the saxophone in the Panther Marching Band, and am a member of multiple honors societies!
Such a nice topic and well written. And i love your picture It’s so pretty.