Growing up, I was always in awe of the lives lived by lead girls in early 2000’s rom-com movies. The colorful, floral midi dresses, their perfectly decorated New York City apartments and their meet-cutes. But one correlation I noticed between me and these leads, was that they all worked in the field of communications and journalism.
I’m currently a journalism major and there would be no better dream for me than to be a writer for a magazine in New York City. Rom-com movies/shows with characters in the media field include, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Thirteen Going on Thirty,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Sex and The City.” But I’ve always wondered why are they journalists and how is working as a journalist so romantic?
Well, first off, it may stem from the idea of writers writing about writers. I mean, I understand that a writer’s life is often glamourized in pop culture, for a life of traveling the world and sitting in cafes for hours typing on your computer and easily putting the words to paper. But, in reality writers tend to be very underpaid which we know from the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike that shut down production in Hollywood for months.
So, my theory is writers vicariously like to live through the journalists characters they create for their movies. I mean, I don’t blame them. It’s definitely a fun way to romanticize the under-appreciated life of a writer
Another thing is the unique plot you can build off of. In “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” we literally get to follow the main character, Andie Anderson, as she embarks on her mission to make the incredibly handsome Benjamin Barry absolutely hate her, but ends up failing in the end. Imagine being able to tell your future kids one day that you were originally using their father to write about a social experiment. And once again this proves the point of romanticization of the journalist job.
I also believe that the icon, Carrie Bradshaw is one of the reasons to blame for this plot line. Throughout six seasons of “Sex and the City,” we watch Bradshaw live an unattainable lifestyle as she struts the scrappy streets of New York City, wearing six inch Manolo heels and having a girls night literally every night. Bradshaw had no pressure of deadlines or stress of her editor asking for her article.
So as we’ve explored the many reasons as to why journalists are one of the main protagonists for rom-coms, there is still one thought missing, which is how unrealistic it is to see women working in these positions. Even in the year 2026, only 27% of the top editors across 240 brands are women, and 40% of journalists and reporters work as women. We can look at this as just another unrealistic movie storyline or let this serve as a source of inspiration for aspiring woman journalists.
Without this lineage of rom-com journalists we may not have as many women marking their places in journalism. I can definitely say that Andie Anderson’s determination to work in hard-news journalism, Carrie Bradshaw’s thought provoking late night writing sessions and the fashion worn in the “The Devil Wears Prada,” definitely had a part in the career path I’ve chosen today. So I say thank you to our rom-com journalists and their over romanticized lives for helping in creating our women journalists of today!