The Romantic Comedy is a Lie

Written by Shae Rufe

For one moment, let’s think about all the romantic comedies we’ve sat through. Maybe you’ve begrudgingly watched one with the person you liked because, hey that’s what we do when we like someone, right? But, for the most part, these movies (and we all secretly have at least one that we don’t hate), are total lies. We all know this, or do we? Most of us do…there is a formula, however, that might just explain why some of us secretly want our lives to work out like a rom-com. Person A meets person B under some quirky/awkward circumstances. Person A or B thinks they’re not good enough for the other. One of them works hard to win the affections of the other. Then they screw up and break up. Then person B does something drastic to win person A back, and boom, they’re magically over whatever happened.

Cute, right? Wrong! Let’s be honest, here, if anything in real life happened the way it did in rom-coms we’d all be filing restraining orders. We are all secretly a little awkward, and every last one of us has insecurities, so when we see relatable characters on the big screen overcoming that to be with someone, we think we can do it. That part is totally awesome, and we should all take a page from those characters and just go for it. Why not! After all, we’re all wonderful people with great personalities, right? 

Yes, we are, stop arguing. Where this all differs is in the communication department. And here is where I start yelling at TV and movie screens. People in these movies do not communicate. For whatever reason, they’re completely incapable about talking to their love interest about their feelings. Which maybe is more accurate than I am willing to admit. But, listen, guys, 90% of problems can be solved by communicating them in positive, non-aggressive ways.

And while these movies are funny and adorable, and that’s why we like them, they also have some pretty powerful messages in them. Like stalking is wrong, and filling someone’s mailbox with love letters is creepy after a bit. And nobody gives heart-warming monologues! Unless you’re Batman, or Chris Evans, showing up to someone’s work and declaring your undying love for them is probably not going to go over well. IT might result in you getting arrested. Then again, if someone showed up right now dressed as Batman and told me they loved me, I’d be a little concerned and just a smidge melty…

Even some love arcs in comics and video games are a bit weird. Except for Mario, that’s just classic…I mean, you can’t just let giant Turtles’ steal your girlfriend! It’s not cool! Link will always try and save Zelda, Sora will do his best to protect Kairi (or find Riku, I mean I feel Kingdom Hearts is just admitting those two are a couple outright), and Batman and Catwoman will always do some strange things to show they don’t hate each other. Like she’s sometimes not stealing things, and he’s sometimes always going to put her in jail. What even is with that? That’s right…I just made nerdy things seem as if they’re romantic comedies…in a way, I’m not wrong…

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