CMA 304 Final Project: April 2009

The Romantic Comedy & Their Clichés

In the film industry, there are many different genres and sub-genres, including that of the romantic comedy. Romantic comedies are a specific type of movie sub-genre, which is primary geared towards women. This sub-genre tries to make their audiences fall in love with the film as the main characters fall in love onscreen. However, over the years of different romantic comedy (romcom) releases, certain clichés can be seen to repeat themselves repetitively in film after film. Romantic comedies tend to follow the same sort of formula and re-use many aspects of previous romcom films. Critics are more inclined to pan romcoms rather than rave about them due to the overuse of clichés and the extreme dramatization of romance. However, the films continue to draw audiences and make a profit. Through identifying the common clichés found in the sub-genre and in well-known romcom films “While You Were Sleeping,” “She’s All That,” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” it will be found that romantic comedy films tend to be successful despite the overuse of clichés and bad critic reviews.

According to NationMaster, the definition of romantic comedy is as followed: “Romantic comedy films, colloquially known as romcom, are movies with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered around romantic ideals such as a true love able to surmount most obstacles.” They are the type of movie that combines light storylines and humor to make a “feel good” kind of viewing experience. Romantic comedies tend to have two main characters, usually a man and a woman, who meet each other and then part ways due to a fight or some other obstacle before coming together again at the end of the film (NationMaster). The two main characters sometimes come together initially before something separates them “or the two protagonists are hesitant to become romantically involved because they believe that they do not like each other, because one of them already has a partner, or because of social pressures” (NationMaster). In most romantic comedies, there is always some sort of obstacle that the on-screen couple most overcome before eventually being together in the end. In addition to this basic sort of formula, there are also many clichés that the movies tend to use over and over again.

For romcom films, there tends to be many similarities that are recycled over and over again. Many tend to have the two main characters completely different from each other in aspects such as social class, personality or ethnicity. It creates somewhat of a 10sion builder, allowing the audience to consider just how these two opposites will come together. The first meeting between the two must be an at10tion grabber, something that sets the meeting of these two people apart from others. Romantic comedies tend to have the meeting as something that not only grabs the at10tion of the two main characters, but the audience as well. It is portrayed as a meeting that is out of the sphere of normalcy and thus must be paid at10tion to. Thirdly, there tends to be some sort of “romantic date” where the attraction felt between the two characters is shown. They may not be in love yet, but the film hints that there is something more than just friendship for the two of them. In addition, romcoms tend to include unique friends and perverted relatives to add more comedic relief to the overall film as well as giving advice to the main character. A pet, usually a dog or a cat, is added to boost the “cute” effect of the film as well as giving a character a trusty companion to confide in. A party scene is another well used cliché, acting as a way to have the girl get dressed up in beautiful attire and awe her male counterpart, making him feel as if he’s out of his league. This sort of cliché once again is done in order to set the girl out from any other girls that male lead has encountered before. The female lead takes on “more than human” attributes. Romantic comedies also usually have the “break-up” part of the film that separates the two would-be lovers to add more drama and a “how will they get back together” aspect to the movie. After all, an ending isn’t a good one if there is no conflict needed to be resolved before the film closes. Finally, romantic comedies almost always end with the two main characters, despite all of the obstacles and contrived clichés they must overcome, together and in love (“Movie Notes”). The movie ends with the typical chase scene as the two characters come together again. It ends on a note that love is as dramatized as the obstacles set up by the film makes it to be, having the actors achieve a level of love through a dating whirlwind-romance that many people long for in real life.

Many of the clichés of the genre are found in some of the most well known movies within the romcom film world. The 1995 film “While You Were Sleeping,” which stars Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher, is a movie about a lonely young woman named Lucy who works as a ticker seller at a train station and has a crush on a man, Peter, who buys a train ticket everyday. Peter ends up getting mugged and falls onto the train tracks before Lucy rescues him and takes him to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her fantasizing to herself that she was “going to marry him.” The nurse misinterprets and tells Peter’s family that Lucy is his fiancée, and Lucy is too caught up in their panic over their unconscious son to tell the truth. When Peter wakes up and does not remember Lucy, the family attributes it to amnesia and Peter finds himself engaged. In the meanwhile, Peter’s brother Jack is suspicious of Lucy and they eventually fall in love. This film embodies many of the clichés found in most romantic films. Lucy ends up confiding in a quirky family friend as well as having a “romantic date” with Jack as they slip and slide on the ice. However, Jack and Lucy did not get along initially since Jack suspected something wrong with Lucy’s story. As the feelings between the two develop, they cannot be together because the obstacle of Jack believing that Lucy is his brother’s fiancée while Lucy is stuck in a lie she never meant to tell. The big “break-up” scene occurs when Lucy objects to marriage to Peter at the altar and the family is left stunned. When all seems grim, Jack appears with the family while Lucy is at work and proposes marriage to her in the typical romcom epic fashion. The cliché of a highly dramatized and romantic ending is seen within “Sleeping,” one that seems to erase all the wrong doings of the past and allow for love to bloom.

In 1999, another romantic comedy film, “She’s All That” was released. This film has the two protagonists in a high school setting, where the boy is the typical popular jock and the girl is the artsy dork. After Zach’s girlfriend dumps him, he makes a bet with his friends that he can turn any girl into the next prom queen and Laney is picked. The whole movie is basically one large cliché. Initially, the two characters are not into each other at all. Zach sees Laney as a way to recover his pride and Laney sees Zach as part of the popular crowd that makes fun of her. They have the “romantic date” where Laney and Zach spend time together on the beach and get to know each other a little better. There is the classic “party” scene where Laney is transformed from dork to beauty. As she descends down the stairs, Zach can only stare. Finally, Laney finds out that she is only a bet to Zach and they have the classic “break-up” scene before the film ends with Zach apologizing to Laney and having them get together at the end. All the “twists” of the film follow the typical romantic comedy formula. They meet under unusual circumstances, fight before becoming friends, before falling in love, having the truth come out and break up before somehow making it back to each other at the end.

The last romantic comedy examined is the 2003 film, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” This is another movie based on the premise of a bet, starring Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson, a journalist who writes a “How to…” column. She plans to date a guy for ten days and do everything that women do wrong in order to drive him away and record it for her column. Matthew McConaughey stars as Ben Berry, a advertiser who makes a bet with his boss that he could make any woman fall in love with him in 10 days so he could be charge of a new diamond company advertisement. Andie is picked as the girl for Ben to woe over as Andie does everything she can to drive Ben away. The film is packed with the pitfalls of romcom cliché, where once again the two characters are put together in an unusual way. They don’t get alonge, for Andie does everything she can to put-off Ben. The typical “romantic date” and “quirky friends” is sprinkled throughout the film as well as the “awe” scene where Andie dresses up for Ben’s work dinner. As seen before, the bet is revealed and the two separate, hurt and angry. In the end, Andie goes to leave for another city in order to write material other than “How to…” columns and Ben chases after her in a dramatic chase scene before the reunite again. The “chase scene” is as staple of romantic comedy society. The thrill of knowing that someone loves you so much that they will do anything to get you back is a desire of many people. However, this dramatized ending is very unrealistic, for love in real life is not how it is in movies.

All three of the films have many elements that are similar with not only each other, but similar to the entire genre itself. Critics continue to pan the more recent additions to the romcom genre. They complain about the “dispiriting, uninspired sameness of romantic comedy” (Scott). While “While You Were Sleeping” was given good reviews, this is probably due to the fact that it was made earlier than the other two. Clichés that are seen within the film are only due to the fact that more recent films have taken what made “Sleeping” a great romcom film and merely recycled it without adding anything to it. Some critics believe that only older romantic comedies were any good and the “glory days” have past for the genre. “But now our romantic comedies are predictable, bland and try to make us feel good than depicting love as an exhilarating feeling and an adventure” (Gaddala). Films like “She’s All That” and “10 Days” are incredibly predictable because the same formats and plot devices have been seen already in films from years ago. They are “bland” because the audience has already seen the gimmicks of the film previously as the romcom genre rarely introduces new twists within the films. The films suffer from “the hardest part of writing romcom is coming up with a plausible obstacle—something to keep your lovers apart for 90 minutes before you bring them together in the final 15” (Levy) which cause the movies to drag and be bogged down with the cliché. The films focus so much on creating obstacles for the main characters to overcome that sometimes they barely get to know each other at all.

However, despite critics panning many romantic comedy films, the audience continues to go to the theater and purchasing tickets to these light-hearted movies. Despite poor reviews and worn-out formulas, people still are lured in by romantic comedies. Why? It’s mainly due to many people enjoying the “feel good” kind of movie.

When reality is too tough to deal with, people use movies like romcom to escape into a happier place for a little while. Many people who tend to be the typical “hopeless romantic” adore all sorts of love stories. “When I feel like the romance button is on hold, or think, "that's it, there's no one for me," I slide in the DVD of While You Were Sleeping, and just chill out and think, someday, somewhere, I'll have that too. I'm not saying that I'm looking for a comatose man to fantasize about, and then fall in love with his brother, but love works in very strange and complicated ways. So, the way I look at it- never doubt where your truest love might show up, it could even happen tomorrow” (MacLean). A woman on WikiAnswers.com gives her honest opinion to why she, among others, love the clichés of the genre: “Sometimes, if we don't have real romance in our own lives, a romantic movie will help us escape into a happy-ever-after world that we've always imagined.” People watch romantic comedies as something that boosts their hopes that they too will find love one day, no matter how extraordinary the circumstances. Thanks to the repetitiveness of similar clichés, people can almost always count on the ‘happy ending’ even before the movie truly begins. So why do people spend money on a movie that they already know the ending to? It again routes back to that “feel good” feeling, “since movies are meant primarily to entertain, everyone likes to leave the movie theater with a happy feeling that the guy got the girl and they found something really special” (WikiAnswers).

As seen in the Youtube video provided below, romantic comedies and their clichés can potentially be harmful to their audiences. Films portray romance as something that is always be an epic love tale. Love is shown as something that requires lot of drama and tension before a “perfect ending” can be achieved. Clichés also harm their viewers by giving their audience the wrong idea that a “Mr. Perfect” exists out there, instead of a normal man with normal human flaws. As much as every girl wants her Prince Charming, it is unrealistic to believe that he will stand up to the perfection that romantic comedies create. Not a single person is perfect, thus it does more harm than good by giving false expectations through romantic comedy movies. Too many romcoms give the view an unrealistic idea of romance and the dating scene.

Despite the negative reviews of critics, the crowd keeps coming back to see their beloved, yet typical, romantic comedy. In the case of “Sleeping,” it managed to score mostly positive reviews, holding an 85% positive rating at RotteTomatoes.com. “While You Were Sleeping” also managed to place first on the weekend of its release, earning $9,288,915 before eventually accumulating $81,057,016. However, newer romantic comedies, like “She’s All That” scored a 37% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.com, but yet went on to be a teen-classic movie and a #1 hit its first box office weekend before going on to gross $63,366,989 (BoxOfficeMojo). While “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” got mostly negative reviews and a 42% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.com, it managed to gross $23,774,850 during the first week of its release as well as being #1 in the box office. In total, it earned a whopping $177,371,441 worldwide (BoxOfficeMojo). As shown through the movie earnings, many romantic comedies continue to be a success, despite critics and predictability.

Romantic Comedies are a type of film that thrives on the same-pattern formulas and clichés. Despite the constant recycling of old material, people tend to flock to them. Though critics despair of the worn-out romcoms, they succeed financially due to people wants to watch a movie that makes them feel good and allows them to escape into a different world for a little while. Even with their many flaws, romantic comedies will continue to be around as long as people need a film to tug at their hearts and make them laugh.