Week 4 WebCT - Rom Com Chick Flicks

I'll admit it: I love a good chick flick. Yes, the plot line is as predictable as ever, yes,
my girl friends and I all know who will end up with who within the first 5 minutes of the
film, yet each film has its own subtle differences that bring something new to the table
to make it interesting and worth watching. And there is just something fun about
watching the whole boy-meets-girl plotline play itself out.

However, I also hate chick flicks. I hate them because once my friends and I leave
the theater, pretty soon we're all talking about how we wish we had boyfriends, or how
we wish our relationships were better, or how much thinner we wish we were, etc. While
we may have been laughing all along the way while we were watching the movie, we
suddenly come out of it in a depressed state.

I think our book (Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre) correctly put it when
the author quoted Kate on page 14: "that whole love thing is just a grown-up version
of Santa Claus, just a myth we've been fed since childhood." Only with this myth, no
one seems willing to wake us up to the reality of the world because our consumer
culture depends too heavily upon it. As the book's author puts it (also on page 14),
society doesn't want us to wake up from this fantasy because "the self-dissatisfaction
such films breed can create a vulnerable space which advertisers have been only too
quick to target." A girl coming away from a romcom feeling sorry for herself because
she hasn't met "the one" is exactly what these companies want - someone vulnerable
enough and so wrapped in self-pity that she'll join a gym, buy more beauty products,
and spend more on clothing and perfume in some vain hope that one of those items
will bring her closer to true love.

Disgusting, isn't it?

However I do think the genre is beginning to remake itself. I've started to see a few
more films pop up where the girl and the guy do not end up together in the long run,
("All About Steve" for example, or "500 Days of Summer") but I think it is going to
take a revolution of sorts before anyone starts seeing films that portray the troubles
with relationships alongside the good stuff (because let's face it, there is some good
stuff). While it is fun to live in the fantasy for a few hours, we need a balance
between the reality and the fantasy if we want to foster healthy relationships.