Romantic comedies have captured audiences’ attention across the globe for over a century. The film genre is characterized by its lovable characters and cliché tropes. Over the years, the genre has developed from screwball comedies to the golden age of rom-coms and radical romances, creating different ideal love stories for each generation.
Love at First Sight 1920s-1940s
The allure of comedic relief among passionate romantic tales led to films like the 1924 silent film “Girl Shy,” which many lovers of the genre consider to be the first rom-com movie, despite the term rom-com not yet being coined. . Following the movie’s successful release, many films released in the early 1900s were inspired by radio soap operas that appealed to a female audience, modeling the idyllic life of a housewife. Although during the silent era these movies often had simple plots, the introduction of sound to films allowed for an entirely new approach to female-centered entertainment. Though these movies were supposedly female-centered, women leads were given little agency in their roles.
“At first, women are less empowered, as time goes on, the female characters have more agency, or seem stronger and less dependent, or even less physically weak,” English teacher Maggie Welsh said.
In 1935, the iconic romance movie “It Happened One Night” became the first film to sweep all five major Oscar awards. It was later credited as the first screwball film, a sub-genre of rom-coms that became a leading factor in the popularity of the rom-com genre in the 1940s. Screwball comedies were centered around older and married couples, often featuring the growth of their relationship and often made fun of love rather than glorifying it.
Though love stories from this genre generally included married couples, it led to the birth of a rom-com trope, the meet-cute, when the two leading characters have a memorable first meeting. Many consider the first meet-cute in television to be in “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife” in 1938: a man and woman enter a department store, one seeking a pajama top, and the other a bottom. This well-loved screwball continues to be referenced for its meet-cute in many other pieces of media, such as “The Holiday.”
“‘The Holiday’ is sometimes considered more of a Christmas movie than a rom-com,” living skills and special education teacher Megan Miller said. “In my opinion, it outlines what a rom-com is. It gives the definition of a meet-cute and I just love that.”
A Dating Phase 1950s-1970s
Though screwball comedies were humorous and gave a unique spotlight to female characters, their plots were generally cliché for their time. This caused the genre to lose popularity in [time frame] as sex comedies gained popularity. Sex comedies, a term originating from the early 20th century, popularized one of today’s most cliche tropes: enemies to lovers. Often, rivalry between a man and a woman in the film leads to mounting tension, eventually resulting in love. During the 1950s-1970s, film censorship was eased and sex comedies became more common. It was during this era of films that the term “rom-com” was first coined.
Soon after, radical comedies featuring progressive themes gained traction, focusing on topics of individuality and self-acceptance instead of true love. One example of a rom-com featuring these radical themes for the time is “Annie Hall,” released in 1977. The directors pivoted the movie from a murder mystery to a romantic comedy, while maintaining its focus on the main character’s personal growth rather than romantic relationships, a unique angle at the time. This era of rom-coms explored the idea that love isn’t always the answer, finding alternatives to the classic, romantic “happily ever after”.
“In ‘Annie Hall,’ there’s the Pygmalion trope of the disheveled woman that gets made into the ideal and then eventually rejects the one who’s recreated her,” Welsh said.
Happily Married 1980s-2000s
Commonly known as the golden age of rom-coms, the era of rom-coms released between the 1980s and 2010s, sometimes known as neo-traditional rom-coms, hit peak box-office ratings and popularity.
“I think they played a lot with color and costumes too back then. The stories were more innocent and more carefree compared to now,” sophomore Akshara Israni said.
This era was characterized by blockbuster hits and cult classics such as “When Harry Met Sally” in 1989 and “10 Things I Hate About You” in 1999. These movies utilized many tropes such as memory loss, makeover scenes, and second chances.
The golden age of rom-coms often emphasized themes of self-love and acceptance. In the 1999 box office hit “10 Things I Hate About You,” female lead Kat Stratford isn’t forced to change her personality or her outspoken nature in order to fall in love — she’s allowed to lay down her guard and remain her own person at the end of the story. Despite its stereotypical story, fans such as junior Kirthi Saravanan love this movie for the comfort that it brings.
“It’s really cheesy and very predictable,” Saravanan said, “there isn’t really a plot but the journey that the characters take is fun to watch.”
During this time period, rom-coms became mainstream media that not only did well at the box office but were respected as a genre by critics
An Unhappy Relationship: 2010s-Present
By the 2010s, box office ratings of the genre plummeted from the year 2010 and onwards. According to a study from Madeline Goldberg at Bridgewater State University, although the guaranteed happily-ever-after was the reason why so many hopeless romantics loved the genre, it was also why mainstream audiences were showing up in fewer numbers to see the films in theaters. According to Reuters, the only rom-com to make the top 20 grossing films since 2010 was “Crazy Rich Asians.”
The film“Crazy Rich Asians” is one of many rom-coms to follow the increasingly common diverse casting of leads and love interests in the genre. While some still criticize a lack of diversity within the romantic comedy genre, modern rom-coms often display different cultures and more progressive storylines.
“But no longer is it necessarily a straight white woman falling in love with a straight white man,” San Jose State University professor of film studies Alison McKee said. “All bets are off because the culture has changed.”
Rather than painting an idealistic image of a compatible couple, the modern era of rom-coms highlights the ups and downs of many modern relationships.
“Modern rom-coms, their protagonists and the issues they deal with are still romantic and still comedies,” McKee said. “But who are their protagonists? What did they look like? What are the kinds of issues in terms of family or families of choice? Those change, because a genre becomes irrelevant if it can’t speak to a population.”
Though the genre has changed over time to encompass the different joys and struggles of love, enjoyers of rom-coms find comfort and hope in the lighthearted predictability of rom-coms and the knowledge that in these films, love will always prevail.
“Rom-coms provide optimism and hope,” McKee said. “I don’t think it’s a big mystery. They’re not documentaries and they’re somewhat escapist. We turn to movies and different forms of entertainment for escape.”
