There are more romantic comedy movies out there than you think. In today's post I'm going to explore the issue that many movies out there may be promoted by Hollywood as one kind of movie, when all reality they are romantic comedies at heart.
What I'm getting at is the issue of genre pairing. And as pertains to the world of all things romantic comedy, this is one one genre is fused with the romantic comedy. Lately when Hollywood has chosen to do this I'm finding that they chose to promote the movie they've come up, not as a romantic comedy, but rather as the genre they've decided to fuse in. Confused yet? This issue really isn't that confusing, as I hope to explain. Rather, it's just a matter of marketing: Hollywood markets romantic comedies as something else to avoid alienating people who have a bias against romantic comedies.
Face it, romantic comedies have a stigma -- especially amongst the ranks of men. Get excited and go tell a bunch of guys, "Hey let's go see this romantic comedy, it's getting good reviews. Sounds like it might be fun." And you're like to get smirk of disappointment, or an outright brush-off.
So how does Hollywood work around many people's biases. Simple: market the romantic comedy as being something else.
My favorite romantic comedy of all-time, "13 Going on 30" (2004) was marketed as a comedy -- "for the kid in us all." Which is true in a sense, Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) does start out as a teenage girl, and her character is supposed to be the 30-year-old version of herself with the mentality of her 13-year-old self. But "13 Going on 30" is a romantic comedy. It's central plot is one of Jenna getting a peak into her future so she will choose not to alienate the guy who really loves her, the great love of her life, Matt Flemhaff (Mark Ruffalo).
Why package "13 Going on 30" as being a comedy instead of the rom-com that it clearly is? Because more people will come out to see a comedy that something branded from the get-go as a romantic comedy. Hollywood knows that, so they emphasise the mass appeal elements of a given movie, and gloss over its core. And they do this purposely.
Yeah, but couldn't "13 Going on 30" also be labeled a coming-of-age movie, or maybe even a fantasy? Yeah sure. I mean it does have coming-of-age and fantasy elements in it. And if you lobby for such a branding maybe that's the movie you choose to see when you watched "13 Going on 30". I do the same thing, Holmes. Why, because because a movie made well can co-exist on different plains. It'll be rich enough that it can be enjoyed on more than one level. Kinda like a good tiramisu, where you can savor different levels of the delicacy: the light whip cream middles, the foundational cake, the rich chocolate, or even the accenting berries.
So how would I classify the movie "13 Going on 30" using my own pairing paradigm? I classify "13 Going on 30" as being a Destiny Rom-com as I alluded to in an earlier post while classifying the movie "Sleepless in Seattle." Destiny applies in the theme of "13 Going on 30" not its external look of a girl who flash-forwards in her life as a warning of sorts. Now "Sleepless in Seattle" and "13 Going on 30" take uniquely different approaches and usage of the theme of romantic destiny, but it's definitely there in both cases. Anne is destined to be with Sam in "Sleepless in Seattle," and Jenna Rink is destined to be romantically joined to her best friend, Matt, in "13 Going on 30."
Point: a romantic theme can be so strong that it's the thing the rom-com can be classified as being paired with.
Take for instance the other sub-genre under the romantic comedy umbrella that I coined, the Ego Rom-com, in an ego ro-com the beliefs and strivings of a potential couple are so strong that they are thing which is coupled with the inner romantic comedy story: "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," "Hitch," and "The Ugly Truth" are all what I would classify as being Ego rom-coms. Again, ego is a dominant theme and all three of these movies it's a clash of egos that dominate in a romantic comedy structure.
Now, I've dealt with the hard stuff up front. It gets easier from here on out. Take for instance the recent release of the movie, "Ted" (2012: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis). And what's one of the focal attractions of this movie? Why it's the relationship of John Bennett to his teddy bear, whose come to life, named Ted. So on one level this clearly a buddy, coming-of-age movie. Yet when you watch the movie you find that John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg's character) is clearly in love with Mila Kunis' character, and a love story is playing out.
"Ted" also has a distinctive raunchy side to it. And in another movie poster you see Mark Walhberg and his teddy bear at the urinal taking a whiz. Lots of gross-me-out humor is implored in "Ted." So in one hand it's a lot like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005: Judd Apatow, Steve Carrell), but I would say that "Ted" is more of a romantic comedy than "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." The plot structure in "Ted" is much more like a classic romantic comedy than the "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." I would say "Ted" is a raunchy comedy paired with a romantic comedy, whereas "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is simply a raunchy buddy comedy with a romantic comedy secondary plot line. Why? Because the Andy/Trish secondary plot line starts late in the movie and carries it to it's finish, but at the beginning this a buddy flick where Andy's so-called "friends" jump in to help Andy get laid and get a stigma off him. And that stigma is what carries the film, not the Andy/Trish storyline. Get it?
Classifying some rom-com can be tricky, and there is a lot of room for debate. Again it's what the movie says to YOU.
Some rom-com pairing are fairly obvious, "Romancing the Stone": an action/adventure paired with a romantic comedy or say "Enchanted": mythical fantasy paired with a romantic comedy.
The whole idea of rom-com pairing involves fusing another genre inside a romantic comedy construct. The rom-com element is then devalued in marketing, and other aspects of the film are accented to draw in a wider audience.
I've seen the affects that this kind of pairing has on people too. Typically their reaction after seeing a rom-com paired movie is, "Hey it was kind of funny, and they was thing between the guy and the girl in there too." The rom-com stigma didn't keep them away, and didn't end-up offending them either. Rather, they saw the movie they wanted to see and weren't disappointed.
So hopefully now I've given you something to think about. Billy Mernit introduced me to this way of thinking. He calls it a "cross-genre hybrid" in his Writing the Romantic Comedy book. I just didn't think that was snazzy enough name, AND there were a few other points I wanted to make about this topic, hence this post.
Do realize that Billy Mernit has been studying this beloved genre WAY longer than I have. Thus his opinions are much more concise, well thoughout, and formulated than mine. AND Billy is currently doing a series on the romantic comedy as pertains to today, so go check out his site for yourself. Hopefully though I've given you something to think about with this post. I do try.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
P.S. Didn't get as much work done on the latest spec. script I'm still working on this past week. Really need to amp it up. Right now I'm kinda lost in the vastness of it all. I know I've got A LOT of rewriting to do. Currently in the 80+ page mark, early my outline where ACT II should just be beginning. Ouch! That's not good. But then again 1st drafts are often times called exploratory drafts, and I'm definitely venturing all over the place right now. Part of the problem has been work: I put in a lot of hard, stenuous hours at work. The other is just a matter of self-discipline. Regardless. Need to amp it up. Really can't wait to have this script done and sent off to my guy in Hollywood to see what thinks about it.
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