Top 10 Things That Make No Sense in Rom Coms
#10: People Fall in Love in No Time
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In real life, falling in love takes time. You meet someone, maybe go on a few dates (or maybe just message a bunch online) and slowly you come to realize that you can imagine having them in your life in a serious way. In romantic comedies however, and romance movies in general, people seem to fall head over heels without any substance to their relationships whatsoever. Sometimes there’s love at first sight, and sometimes an obsession develops immediately, but either way we have a feeling that a lot of these pairings wouldn’t work out if they had to actually live together.
#9: Makeovers Can Change EVERYTHING
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There’s a lot of low key sexism that takes place in so many romantic comedies, and one of the common tropes is that an uncool girl falls for a cool guy and has to change the way she looks in order to appease or attract him. Sometimes, these makeovers consist of an already pretty girl taking off her glasses and putting on some tight fitting clothing, while other times they’re more dramatic. The most unrealistic thing however is when the guy didn’t see the girl as a viable romantic partner before, but all of a sudden sees the light once she’s put on some makeup and changed her wardrobe.
#8: Everyone Has an Incredible Job
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If you were to learn about the world simply by watching romantic comedies, you’d assume that the only jobs out there are: architect (for men); and magazine editor (for women). OK that’s a bit of an exaggeration, women can also own cupcake shops or bookshops, or other twee establishments. Basically, every character in a rom-com has the type of job that you dreamed of having as a kid. Where are the executive assistants and coders and food service workers? There are so many careers out there, and yet so few are represented on the big screen. They have to find love too you know!
#7: Women Only Care About Finding a Man
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In general, it seems that women in rom-coms have pretty fulfilling lives. As we mentioned, they all have their dream jobs, so they must have at least some level of career satisfaction. They also seem to have at least one quirky friend by their side to keep them company. Lots of these women are basically killing it, and yet their one and only focus is finding and keeping a man. They fall apart when it doesn’t work out, and easily forget all the other awesome things they have going for them. In reality (especially today!) these women probably wouldn’t be putting all their energy into finding romantic relationships.
#6: Simple Misunderstandings Lead to Disaster
In real life, couples are in pretty much constant communication. So if something goes wrong or something doesn’t add up, they simply talk about it. A commonly used plot device in romantic comedies however is for the two romantic leads to have some sort of grand misunderstanding which leads to them fighting or even breaking up over something that wasn’t even a real issue to begin with. Real couples might argue at first, but then they’d clear things up over text, over the phone, or face-to-face. But because no one actually talks to each other in rom-coms, these misunderstandings stay misunderstood for ages.
#5: Everyone Has Incredible Apartments
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Despite the fact that both men and women in romantic comedies typically live alone, they seem able to afford amazing (and huge!) apartments in major US cities, namely New York. We know how much magazine writers make and believe us when we say it’s not enough to afford a charming loft in Manhattan. We get it, realistic apartments aren’t beautiful and spacious and they don’t have incredible natural light so it would be a lot less fun to see events take place in them in the movies. But we can’t say this didn’t give us totally unrealistic expectations of what our lives would look like if we packed up and moved to the big city with zero savings.
#4: The Couple Initially Hate Each Other
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In the real world, if you meet someone who treats you like trash and seems like a total jerk, odds are they will always treat you like trash and they are in fact a total jerk. In rom-coms however, when you see two people meet and instantly despise one another, you can assume that they’re going to be the ones getting together in the end. This can be a pretty damaging message to push, encouraging people to accept cruel or rude behavior because it must mean the other person likes them, or that they just have “chemistry”.
#3: People Run Through The Airport
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Of course, the creators of romantic comedies try to make them as compelling and dramatic as possible, so having a declaration of love happen at the local bodega or on the characters’ living room sofa isn’t nearly as exciting as having it take place in, let’s say, an airport. Airports inherently create drama because you know everyone’s in a hurry and there’s the deadline of getting on the flight to contend with. But in reality, people usually get their acts together before their beloved is boarding their flight and don’t have to run through JFK or LAX to tell them how they feel. Not to mention, given airport security today, this could absolutely never happen.
#2: Grand Gestures Work
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Whether it’s to get the girl in the first place, or win her back after you’ve messed up, dudes in rom-coms love employing the grand romantic gesture. It usually takes place in front of a crowd and is pretty objectively embarrassing, especially if the lady in question isn’t one for being the center of attention. We’d guess that a lot of people wouldn’t actually appreciate such a flashy and public declaration of love, preferring instead to simply be told in private. Sure, some people may want the world to know about their love, but we’re guessing this doesn’t happen all that often in the real world. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Women Wear Sheets as Clothing People Kiss in the Rain Male BFFs Are Just Waiting Around For Them to Be Single Going on Vacation is a Cure-All for Breakups Their Coworkers’ Only Job Is Listening to Them Talk
#1: Men Pursue Women Who Aren’t Into Them… and It’s Charming
In the real world, if a man approaches a woman to express his interest and she politely declines, that should be the end of the story. If he continues to chase her, he’s a creep or even a stalker and should possibly have legal action taken against him. In rom-coms however, it’s seen as adorable and romantic when a guy just won’t take no for an answer, and goes to great lengths to show the object of his affection that he’s worth taking a chance on. Let’s just hope this doesn’t reinforce the behavior in real life!
