Topics that are handled in Rom-Coms

Many genres of film deal with different topics and have certain issues that help the audience tell what type of film they are watching. For example, a horror movie may deal with cults, murder, psychic possession or mental disorders, and an action movie may deal with super heroes, gangs, mythical creatures/characters or time travel. But I want to talk about Romantic comedies, or 'Rom-coms.' These films are usually overlooked as 'idealistic love' and are unrealistic to majority of people. But I believe there are more movies in the past 5 or 6 years that are starting to break down these barriers, and show realistic love, but make it still enjoyable for the audience.

Rom-coms usually follow two characters, a girl and a boy, who are either childhood friends, or meet and it is love at first sight. The film then follows the two characters as they constantly meet each other randomly, or finally come to the realisation that they love each other. Now most Rom-coms are quite simple in their plots, and just follow a simple Freytag's pyramid structure. But some films, like 'The fault in our stars' add a life threatening illness to both of the characters, to make the pressure of fining each other must more pressing, and the relief when they get together much more worth it. there are two movies that are classed as Rom-coms that I would like to talk about: 'Love, Simon,' which is a 'Rom-com' that doesn't follow traditional codes and conventions of a Rom-com, and 'Love, actually' which follows the traditional Rom-com formula. I thought these two films are brilliant to compare, not just because of their similar titles, but they are quite similar films, yet have just as many Contrasts.



The plot of 'Love, Actually' has nine different stories, some of them intertwined, all of them involving two people who have secret feelings for one another, but not all nine couples end up getting together, for various reasons. However, one of the most famous stories follows Mark, who is in love with Juliet, but to hide his feelings, he ignores her most of the time, leading Juliet, and her new husband Peter, to think that Mark despises Juliet, when in fact he is head over heels for her. When she sees a video of Mark confessing his love for Juliet, Mark takes this opportunity to tell Juliet how he really feels, in a scene that has been parodied many times. But despite Juliet being married, as Mark walks off, she runs after him and kisses him. This is they type of unrealistic love that makes people not really like Rom-coms, as this would usually never happen, because majority of those that are married are happily married and wouldn't cheat, even out of pity.

 

'Love, Simon' is a different type of story though. It follows Simon Spier, who is a closeted gay teenager, as he falls in love with someone online called Blue, but neither of them know who each other is. The film sees Simon try and guess who his secret pen pal is, whilst also trying to keep Blue, and his sexuality a secret. During the climax of the film, Simon is outed to the school, and so he has to deal with that, as well as Blue leaving him in fear of his secret being exposed as well. But by the end of the movie, Simon is able to convince Blue to reveal himself as Bram, one of Simon's friends. This film follows similar codes and conventions of a Rom-com, with two people falling in love, and finally getting together in the final few minutes of the film, but there are two key differences between 'Love, Simon' and majority of Rom-coms. For one, the film is between a male couple, which has never been done in the mainstream media before, and part way through the film, the couple end their relationship, as their relationship started early on in the film. Usually, the first two acts of the film build up to the two people getting together, but 'Love, Simon' has the couple get together at the beginning, so they have the opportunity to break up in the middle of the film.