Amaiya Espinoza, & Dr. Rachel Olsthoorn
Romantic comedy films (rom coms) can be defined as light, comic movies that focus on the development of a romantic relationship. While these movies began being made in the 1930’s, their perceived demise in the 1970’s has left viewers wondering if these movies are still being produced. However, the genre still lives and rom coms are the film industry (and now streaming platform) staples, depicting “ideal” love. The relationships that are portrayed impact our real-life expectations within both platonic and romantic partnerships and are often seen as a rite of passage within modern society. Utilizing IMDb, Vanity Fair, and Good Housekeeping’s top 30 romantic comedies and anonymous survey responses, this project evaluates the impacts of the genre and how cultural perceptions related to platonic and romantic relationships are altered by these idealized stories. Preliminary results indicate that the socio-cultural implications are mostly on a personal level that may be purposefully hidden to stay within cultural and societal norms of a relationships boundaries. Additionally, the concept of a true rom com is not clear. Elements of additional genre(s) and the socio-cultural changes altering the film industries production and subsequent audience viewing at a titles time of release in theater and availability and access on streaming platforms, alters the personal definition/choice of rom com titles through time. The significance of having a cultural understanding of how these films are being viewed allows for cross discipline discussion to better understand this not forgotten genres impact on American Popular Culture and the way people rely heavily on technology to understand and view a perfect relationship.