Small Strokes Big Oaks

Objectively, I hate movies that fall under the romantic comedy heading. Modern romantic comedies are usually completely degrading to women, and almost always follow the exact same plot line: Boy meets girl. Girl and boy resist falling for each other for one reason or another. Girl meets another guy. Boy gets upset. (Or boy meets another girl; girl gets upset.) They fight and don’t talk for a while. Then, someone realizes they loved the other all along. Subsequently, they rush to each other’s arms and kiss and live happily ever after.

I think this has probably been the accepted format for romantic comedies for, well, ever. I can even think of some Shakespearean classics that follow the same story line.

Most often, the women in these movies end up looking either desperate for love or horribly confused. The men don’t fare much better; they are usually either portrayed as players or idiots. Definitely not representative of equal partnerships or great beginnings to relationships.

But I keep watching them. Over and over, I fire up my Netflix and go straight for the list of rom-coms. I watch and complain throughout the entire movie, but my outward whining does little to mask the “awwwwwww!” feeling I get when the music swells and the couple finally realizes they were meant to be together.

There is something comforting, I think, about the romantic comedy genre. It’s nice to be able to tune out for an hour and a half and know pretty much what is going to happen. Sometimes, that’s just what you need at the end of a long day. This is probably the same reason people so enjoy those awful, half-hour sitcoms on TV during primetime; we’ve worked really hard all day, and we want to watch something uplifting and mildly amusing with a narrative arc we don’t need to think too much about.

There’s also something to be said about the happily ever after. Romantic comedies have really ruined the way we look at relationships, to be sure. This genre would have us believe that, after the first kiss, they live happily ever after. Anyone who has ever been in any kind of relationship knows that just isn’t true. People fight, couples break up, and sometimes they really don’t get back together. However, sometimes it’s nice to feel like, in a world where it seems things rarely end like the fairy tales, sometimes things do work out. It gives you hope for humanity, in a way.

Even knowing that romantic comedies portray the genders in the ultimate of bad lights and ruin our view of realistic relationships, it’s sometimes just nice to watch two people end up happy.

And, hey, if they’re happy, who cares about equal partnerships? Even when talking about equity in relationships, aren’t we really talking about a way to find happiness with another person?

Image courtesy of he(art)geek.