2. Rom Com’s also known as Romantic Comedies started from the late
1590’s and Shakespeare was the first writer to create romantic
comedies. These plays include; A Midsummers Nights
Dream, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing. Romantic
Comedies focus on the lives of misunderstood young lovers and
this usually avoids using serious satire.
It was not till the medieval period that romance was taken
seriously.
3. Juno (2007) is one
example of a romantic
comedy. This film is
about a young teenage
girl who makes the
mistake of getting
herself pregnant at
16, she is not the girl you
would expect to get
pregnant at a young age.
This film stars Ellen Page
and Michael Cera. This is
a modern take on
romantic comedies.
4. Another example of a romantic comedy is
When Harry met Sally which was out in
1989, this film is an older take on rom coms
and it has a different satire to Juno. This film
is about a young man and woman who have
not seen each other for 12 years and they
suddenly encounter in New York City.
5. The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that
two people, usually a man and a
woman, meet and then part ways due to an
argument or other contrived obstacles.
Initially, these two people do not become
romantically involved, because they believe
that they do not like each other, because one
of them already has a partner, or social
pressures. However, the screenwriters leave
obvious clues that suggest that the
characters are in fact attracted to each
other, or that they would be a good love
match.
While the two people are separated, one or
both individuals then realize that they are
"perfect" for each other, or that they are in
love with the other person. Then, after one
of the two makes some spectacular effort
to find the other person and declare their
love, (this is sometimes called the grand
gesture), or due to an astonishing
coincidental encounter, the two meet again.
Then, perhaps with some comic friction or
awkwardness, they declare their love for
each other and the film ends happily.
There are many variations on this basic
plotline. Sometimes, instead of the two
lead characters ending up in each other's
arms, another love match will be made
between one of the principal characters
and a secondary character (e.g., My Best
Friend's Wedding). Alternatively, the film
may be a rumination on the impossibility
of love, as in Woody Allen's film Annie
Hall. The basic format of a romantic
comedy film can be found in much earlier
sources, such as Shakespeare plays like
Much Ado About Nothing and A
Midsummer Night's Dream. A movie in
which a romantic intercourse could
happen, but does not, is referred to as
Platonic Comedy.
6. One of the conventions of romantic
comedy films is the contrived
encounter of two potential romantic
partners in unusual or comic
circumstances, which film critics such
as Roger Ebert or the Associated Press'
Christy Lemire have called a "meetcute" situation. During a "meetcute", scriptwriters often create a
humorous sense of awkwardness
between the two potential partners by
depicting an initial clash of
personalities or beliefs, an
embarrassing situation, or by
introducing a comical
misunderstanding or mistaken identity
situation. Sometimes the term is used
without a hyphen (a "meet cute"), or
as a verb, as in "to meet cute."
In films, the attraction between the lead
characters must be established quickly.
The subject matter of romantic comedies
are the obstacles that the potential pair
must face before they can
acknowledge, fulfill, or consummate their
love, and the audience must care about
the relationship enough to finish the
movie. The meet-cute, by virtue of its
unusual situation, helps to fix the
potential relationship in the viewers'
minds, and the spark of the meeting is the
impetus by which initial vicissitudes of the
developing relationship are overcome.
