Rom-coms of the 2000s and 90s almost invariably follow the same plot formula. You expect the grand love confession before they roll the credits and you see the rain kiss coming from a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any less heart-warming to watch. As such, it should be no surprise that so many of these movies are alike in another, often not talked about way.
In pretty much every movie from the golden age of rom-coms, the lead female character works at a prominent fashion magazine, or is a writer looking for her next story, or is a personal assistant but secretly aspires to be a journalist, or—you get the point. These characters work in the highly sought-after yet elusive communications job sector (and are often inexplicably working in New York City). For many people, this is considered the “dream job.” It allows for creative freedom in a 9-5 dominated culture getting to work in a glamorous fast-paced environment. These jobs combined the career-focused values of women with the influence that publications once had in mass media.
But as we’ve fully embraced the digital era, these job are surely dying off with the fall of print media, right? Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Allure issues have all gone digital. The New York Times relies on their digital subscribers as their biggest revenue stream. Remember Seventeen Magazine? No one who is 17 today does. The way in which we consume media has changed and along with it the roles of those who create it.
It may seem that we are straying away from communications jobs as holding “it-girl” status, but the truth is the role is just morphing into something new. In a video from @didriot on Instagram, she notes that the tastemakers of today aren’t cultural institutions such as fashion magazines, but are your everyday influencers and content creators. The gradual shift in the type of jobs that are worthy of audiences aspirations and meet a certain coveted status is evident in HBO’s new show I Love LA, wherein the characters dream of getting brand deals, as opposed to its oft-compared to predecessor Girls, in which the character Hannah wants to be a writer.
So, while it may look different, the communications job trope is alive and well. Many people aim to pursue a career that is important to them, but that also adds value to their lives. Working in public relations or having your own weekly column emblazons your cool status and can pave the road for exclusive experiences. It’s easy to understand why someone would strive for that job.
But it’s also unlikely that Hollywood will entirely let go of what has worked for years. Case in point, there have been enough examples of leading ladies holding positions working for publications in the past decade (Set it Up (2018), Someone Great (2019), People We Meet on Vacation (2026)) that show the next newest rom-com probably won’t feature a heroine making a living off her Substack subscriptions. As they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.