FWD from Week 4 discussion

I was excited when I saw our course syllabus and saw the
required text, "Romantic Comedy". I knew it would be a good
opportunity to analyze one of my most unfamiliar, foreign,
and unappreciated genres as a young film student (and probably
most other males). McDonald is pretty accurate when he mentions
that most romcoms are geared and tailored for a consumer female
based audience, which is probably why it is still one of the
most successful and overused of the "blockbuster" box office
profit. Lets face it, most of movie watchers are still within
the ages of 16 to mid 20's area and it's already a given that
more than half of them are probably female, plus the fact that
most dates and/or social groupings are usually attended at
"chick flicks" and not action, horror or other male oriented films.
The genre has become a bit repetitive and cliche, but I think
that's why we are addicted to them. They're simple for 90-120
minutes, predictable, nostalgic and usually end in happy endings
following the "guy meets girl" scenario. So what does that say about
movie watchers as a whole? Since most romcoms usually exaggerate
the most fictional, ideal love scenarios and portray iconic celebrities
with flawless features, are we transforming the idea of love into an
unattainable source of fantasy? Or are we just escaping the harsh
realism of the melodramas, insecurities and affairs of real
relationships? I think it's fascinating when we try and contrast the
romcom with other genres. It's really the only genre that can perfectly
blend the theme of love with comedy and/or satire. Action films may
have a subplot about a guy who meets a girl, then they jump off a
cliff and escape a Nazi camp or exploding volcano. Or a horror film
may involve the survival of a male and female, and along the way of
fending off zombies they miraculously gain an attraction for each
other. Just like McDonald said, almost all genres will contain some
form of relationship or love conflict. It's innate within our emotions
and it sells tickets to both sexes. Only in the romcom, though will
love be the central theme and use laughter and optimistic or
pessimistic comedy as a reinforcement. I guess it's a way of laughing
at what seems to be our biggest insecurity and fear as humans; the
consciousness of being alone and without love.