I was thinking today - scary - about love and all of that stuff, and, as per usual, my mind drifted to movies. All of the movies you've ever seen about love are just the same, even though you probably don't think they are.
What? you say.
It's the truth. The honest-to-god truth.
Just because Reality Bites didn't end the way you wanted it too or a small twist exists in one of your favorite romantic comedies doesn't make it "different".
It was sort of an epiphany, and I had to blog about it. The type of love that's disseminated in those movies makes no sense whatsoever. It's the kind of retarded, we-make-sense-because-we're-so-different malarkey that is just the same as hey, we-make-sense-because-we're-so-similar malarkey. This true love stuff has got to go. It places too much pressure on the individuals involved in real life.
True love only happens in the movies because those things are only an hour and a half long. Hell, I can love just about anybody for two hours. It's not worth a $40 million extravaganza.
And the most embarrassingly dishonest piece of propaganda in those things is that love conquers all. Whatever your affliction, disposition, state-of-mind, background, race, creed, or sex, all you need is the modern idea of love and everything will work out.
It's not just in romantic comedies either. That idea is all over the place. "You had me at hello" anyone? Even Fight Club borders on stepping into that territory at the end, if but in a brief display of affection.
Isn't it strange?
And let's just get something straight: real love is not what is shown in those movies. Real love is what happens after the movie is over. Because most of the people don't make it out of situations like that unscathed. Look at Speed 2. No Keanu anywhere.
Aug 15, 2006
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So true, Love it! We need real love stories- the freaky, funky, neurotic kind. Ya know....War of the Roses! Now there's a love story!!!
ReplyDeleteI am personally a fan of romantic comedies and I believe if you are going to say they are all the same and totally predictable you should acknowledge that the same thing can be said for almost any other genre too. For example horror flicks are all the same. Everything is happy at the begining then the main characters come upon something that isn't quite right or hear an old legend, and next thing you know they are all running for their lives from some crazy lunatic and only one or two survive. They all end with a sign that although the villian was beaten he will inevitably come back for an estimated 8 sequals. So I think it is unfair for you to pick on romantic comedies just because you dislike them.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the palette. I'm just trying to make the blog look better. Guess I screwed that up. Let me know if it looks any better now.
ReplyDeleteAnd, mr/mrs Anonymous, I'm not picking on romantic comedies per se. I'm picking on the culture that those movies support. You never hear people walking around, going, "Gee, I hope my beheading in a rusty old shack goes as well as it did in Saw. Didn't the killer really give it her?" No expectations arise out of those movies (unless you read Max Brooks and hope for some sort of zombie uprising).
But I bet movies like the ones I mentioned played a heavy part in several break-ups over the years. I don't believe that movies influence people, but they make for good references in arguments that lead to break-ups. All because life isn't flowers and sunshine like in the movies.
And I like some romantic comedies. I just can't think of one right now.
I think I'm going to have to weigh in with Tyler on this one, although he, as usual, may take things to close to the line of hyperbole. I think romantic comedies, while not my most favorite of genres, are generally enjoyable and many have an understated cleverness to them. However, they do show us a version of life that is not natural. It is fantastical in the sense that romantic comedies propose that having a haha romance that is deep and lasting is attainable. The sad fact is that it is not. Now I'm not bashing fantasy, I'm all for the imagination, but in most all works of fiction (horror movies included) there is a distinct line that seperates fact from the fantasy. The problem with RC's is that this definative line there is so blurry it might as well be undistinguishable. This fuzzy line is what easily gives so many young couples' a false idea about real relationgships and what has the potential to let so many people down.
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