What happened to rom coms? What happened to a good romantic movie? Is romance dead? I ask myself this question a lot recently because I think we lost the art of what romantic comedies once were. I know that there are still some great romantic comedies that I always go back to such as Crazy Rich Asians, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, To All the Boys I Loved Before, Think Like A Man, He’s Just Not That Into You, etc.
Rom coms and romantic movies have changed in many ways and whenever I talk about the changes of romantic movies and rom coms with my friends, we all have some of the same ideas. Here is a list of few noticeable changes and what led to that downfall of rom coms and romantic movies.
romance!
The romantic comedies have stopped having a deep connection of actors and the plot. We as viewers used to fall in love with the characters and the romance that was meshed together so well on screen. In the movie To All The Boys I Loved Before, viewers were grasped by the connection that Lara Jean and Peter had together. The slow burn, the small acts of services, the eye contact, and feeling that was leading up to both characters admitting that love for one another.
There was a romance that was so indescribable because of the dates and communication between both characters that connected well with the audience. Movies lately that claim to be romantic comedies always forget this most important fact. In the movie Anyone But You, the romance lacked. There was not enough slow lead-up and that feeling of genuine romantic connection with the characters and the plot. We used to have passion, kissing in the rain, stargazing, and scenes that made you feel as if this was a normal love story and made you crave it.
sexual Chemistry
There has been an increase in sex scenes within movies and shows. Often movies skip the love and dating progression and make sexual chemistry the prominent thing about the movie. In rom coms that we used to watch, we fell in love with the emotional chemistry between characters and that emotional intensity was seen all throughout their advertising and pushed the audience to want to engage with the movie. This emotional chemistry was the longevity of our favorite movies. Of course, there was hinting to sex scenes and sexual chemistry, but it was not the most prominent thing about the movie.
Sex almost always feels what the movie writers are trying to reach, and they lost the art of making the emotional intensity and connection just as good as the sexual chemistry. Bridgerton is a great show (not movie) that has both. They are able to make the connection of the plot having substance, along with the characters having an emotional connection just as good as the sexual chemistry. It does not center its plot around just sex but gives the yearning and emotional depth that the audience longs for in romantic movies and comedies.
Marketing and press tours
The marketing for the movies that we have seen lately are not as fun and exciting as they used to be. I know for the movie Act Like A Lady Think Like A Man, we had so much good advertising and press tours. The book that was presented in the movie was everywhere and the press tour for that movie engulfed the audience to want to go see it. I think that press tours lack so often when it comes to romantic comedies because it’s within those interviews people see the actors and romanticize them and their on-screen characters even more.
Since there’s also such a drastic change in the way we see advertising, it almost feels difficult to see the quick clips that would be put together for a commercial and what used to gain an audience for these movies. It all has to be advertised in a different way but should always be marketed with the intent of showing the fun, depth, and romance of the movies. I think the best one we have seen of that was A Star is Born, which had all the points that engaged the audience and showed that romance and emotional chemistry between the characters. Along with their fun times and depth, the chemistry was shown through their advertising.
COmedy! light heartedness
The gold to romantic comedies is the LIGHTHEARTEDNESS and COMEDY. In romantic comedies, we love the lightness of the movie and how it feels to have a love that feels fun. Love should be fun and filled with lighthearted comedy, but does not make you cringe. We have lost the art of telling good jokes and having funny/lighthearted scenes in these movies. The scenes that make audience laugh and feel the scene. The cheesy dancing in the rain, kissing in the rain, making funny jokes that centers the plot. The scenes that are often small in a movie but are represented and shown throughout the movie in different ways and always connects to the audience. There can be comedy in movies that is not trendy and cringey, but light and still romanticized.
books
There has been a change on where we are consuming our entertainment, and books have become one of the fastest growing forms of consumption. Since people are reading more romantic books, they’re able to get those scenes of romance, comedy, depth, fun, emotional, and sexual chemistry all in one. Books are now the new way for audiences to be the director in their head. I’m an avid reader of these books and I feel that in most recent years a romance book always beats a romance movie because I’m able to, in a way, control how I see the story being played. Romance has been on the biggest rise and are not going anywhere! But they are pushing over the romantic comedies and romance movies that we sometimes long for.
Rom coms are not dead. Romantic movies in general are not dead ether because love is not dead. There is so much room and space in the future for those hopeless romantics to still experience a movie that makes you fall in love with it in all realms. Movies that are not just centered around sexual chemistry and boring punch lines, but actual romance and the fun lightness that makes viewers engulfed. But for now, many of the girlies will stick to their books that gives them it all in one and that affords them the opportunity to create their own movie in their head. There’s also hope that those good romance books are being adapted into movies which will be the restart of the rom coms and romance movies. Once we get back to a good romance story, we get back to the art of telling that story.