In Defense Of Romantic Comedies

[redbrunja]

Are Romantic Comedies Dead is a great article by NPR's Linda Holmes (who I greatly enjoy on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast) about Rom-Coms. I think she makes some excellent, excellent points, especially how some of the best romantic-comedy in recent years, is not in movies billed as straight-up Rom-Coms.

I think she also has some wonderfully cutting things to say about actresses are treated by the media and the fans.

Comments

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting article. I'm not really into romantic comedies, but yeah, that's a really smart point she makes about all the recent movies that are not billed as rom-coms but as quirky comedies with romance or whatever. Those are fun, and I wouldn't have thought to include those in the running.

People are so mean to actresses for no reason. I saw an article about "hate-watching" the other day and it opened with this rant about Anne Hathaway and how fake-self-deprecating she supposedly was. I was like, please shut up, newspaper man.

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

My favourite comment below that article is this one:

Well, yes, but, those refer to a specific, rather deplorable genre. There are smart, fantastic books that deal with women and their issues without resorting to the facile banality of Bridget Jones' Diary and that ilk. What's wrong with the "chick flick" pejorative is that it assumes all women appreciate this garbage.

I think people are accustomed to ridiculing anything that is specifically aimed at woman, whereas if you criticise anything written for men you'll get many angry fans telling you you're "wrong." For example, I don't think Twilight would be bashed as much if its target audience wasn't aimed at teenage girls. That's not to say that Twilight isn't worthy of criticism, but how often do you see shows aimed at men get called out for sexism or being poorly written?

I think she makes some excellent, excellent points, especially how some of the best romantic-comedy in recent years, is not in movies billed as straight-up Rom-Coms.

*nods* I think Bridesmaids can fit under that category? I think the best 'Rom-Coms' tends to be about women's friendships rather than straight up romance.

I think she also has some wonderfully cutting things to say about actresses are treated by the media and the fans.

I think there are genuinely good reasons to dislike someone in the media, for example, when someone says really rude or offensive things and doesn't make the effort to put things right when someone has pointed out their bad behaviour to them. That particularly ticks me off when people in the media do that.

However, some people just hate on actresses because they don't like the look of them and compare her to their favourite actress to justify their own preference. I don't like Jennifer Lawrence but you will never, never see me compare her to Anne Hathaway because I don't want to participate in a culture that constantly compares women to tear them down, especially since Anne Hathaway would probably be disappointed if I did so, unless it was to call the media and their fans out on their sexist attitudes, rather than shaming the actresses themselves (apparently KStew is gross if she gives the middle finger, but JL is adorable while doing it? What is wrong with you internet/media).

Ugh, sorry I left a huge rant on your otherwise lovely post.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I loved and linked to this article too. Big fan of Linda's from way back in the MightyBigTV days. heh. She wrote some great movie reviews on her own blog ages ago too.

So many interesting points raised and often I bristle when people criticize that a romance novel or movie is inferior for only focusing on....romance! But I like how she puts it and what she has to say about the romance in the background of other things often being more interesting than straight-up romances (in both print and screen) here: The ones that take nothing seriously except dating, those are the How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days ones, and The Wedding Planner ones. And they rarely work, and they've rarely ever worked, because love in life is usually mixed up with all kinds of other nasty stuff, and anybody who can put everything else on hold to think about banter for an entire movie's worth of life experiences doesn't come off as very interesting.

That idea of the facile-ness or faux-ness of the characters is often the problem for me with romances. Not enough depth and nasty parts.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking to the article. I really love a lot of her examples with Katherine Hepburn (a great choice for examples since she was labelled Box Office Poison and had her contract bought out and everything), but it is true that a lot of them are silly plots. As today's are too. And some aren't hits (Bringing up Baby was a huge flop and Desk Set only moderately successful). I think the charm is what is often lacking today in the writing.

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

I loved that article (though I didn't realize it was written by Linda Holmes - I hated her as a mod at TWoP but she's a good writer). I've been thinking a lot about how we talk about romance lately, especially because I've been reading a lot more of it. It's a real shame that romance gets treated as a genre unworthy of attention, reflection, and appreciation. My favourite line in that article is the one about stories about kissing being just as profound and wonderful as stories about someone getting shot.

[lokifan]

YAY!

I love to see romance defended - because I love it, and I hate the way it's derided as shallow stuff for stupid women - and the article's v clever.