Elements of a Meet-Cute: How Does a Love Story Start? by Maya Tuviera
We all have our own “ideal” scenarios of how we will come to meet our future partners. Whether yours is bumping into YA literature’s quintessential “bad boy” in a high school hallway, falling madly in love with a mysterious European on a plane ride and going on a wild goose chase to find them afterward, or meeting a girl with a messy bun and blocky glasses in a coffee shop and finding out that she is secretly a superstar, we’ve all grown up watching and waiting for the perfect moment to meet that perfect somebody.
I personally would attribute most of my hopeless-romantic tendencies to the era I grew up in. Eleven-year-old me would have seriously considered myself a Wattpad author, and an avid enthusiast of what I would now consider some of the most cliche plots imaginable. I had an odd — even for a pre-teen girl — fascination with “bad boys”, undercover celebrities who would risk any sense of normalcy for me, and falling in love with a boy in a county fair who would win me the giant teddy bears on his first tries. If I had known of the term then, I would have said that I was always on the hunt for the revered meet-cute.
So what exactly is a meet-cute? I’m sure all of you reading this are familiar with the concept, but you may not be aware of the fact that there is an actual term for it. Simply put, a meet-cute is when the circumstances of two people’s first encounter would be a delightful story to tell when they become romantic partners. Meet-cutes are the stuff Wattpad writers worship on bent knees, but you can also find more unique (and likely more realistic) renditions of meet-cutes in other veins of literature as well.
The timeless tale of Romeo and Juliet, for example, is a meet-cute. Two attractive, young people catch each others’ eyes from across a room. They spend one magical night together, wherein they fall in love and are convinced that they’ve met their other halves. Later on, they find out that they are from rival clans, but both are willing to give up all that they know for the other. Juliet even asks Romeo — after she laments in her monologue that if he swears to love her, she will leave the Capulets for him — if he is Romeo, a Montague, and Romeo replies with “Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.”
Another example of a more realistic meet-cute is that of David and Natalie from Love Actually. David, the latest Prime Minister, arrives at his new residence and meets his future househelp, one of them being Natalie, who begins swearing copiously upon her first encounter with the attractive Prime Minister. Luckily, he has a good sense of humor, and he quickly develops feelings for her, which promptly presents a problem, seeing as employee-employer relationships were likely not stipulated in Natalie’s contract.
Can you envision a charming scenario such as these happening to yourself? Does it give you butterflies and make you smile when you think of them happening with a certain person, perhaps? Then it’s a meet-cute. And every great love story, whether it is on your Wattpad home screen or on a dusty bookshelf in the back of a World-War-II-era bookstore, begins with an excellent meet-cute. Sometimes, they are sweet, sometimes, they are surprising, but always, it seems as if fate has more than just a hand in the situation.
Elements of a Meet-Cute
Let’s break down the elusive meet-cute. After extensive research (namely; watching 90s rom-coms and re-visiting some of my favorite romantic web series or Wattpad stories, and googling “what is meet cute”), I have deduced that the perfect meet-cute contains five key elements: they must be unique, they must provide a foundation for later conflict, they should contain some sort of dramatic irony, they should involve the complete collision of the characters’ two worlds, and of course, there must be immediate chemistry between the two characters that remains steadfast. I know it sounds complicated, and it is, but hear me out, for all of these factors will one day be part of your perfect meet-cute.
1. Uniqueness
Firstly, we have the uniqueness factor. Bad boys and secret superstars are great, but such vanilla plots are nearing their expiration dates, and we’re on the hunt for unique stories that hit a little closer to home. Additionally, a unique story will make for a more interesting romance. Let’s use the classic Romeo and Juliet once again to visualize all of these elements. The story of Romeo and Juliet was so unique because it birthed the “star-crossed lovers” trope, meaning that it was the first story of its kind wherein two lovers could not be together due to extreme external forces that were desperate to keep them apart.
2. Conflict Foundation
That leads me to the second key aspect: conflict foundation. Romeo and Juliet met at a party thrown by the Capulet clan, the enemies of Romeo’s family, the Montagues. Their love seemed to have been doomed from the start, because if they had known that their families were nemeses, the exchange would never have happened. As they fall in love, a future wherein Romeo and Juliet attempt to overcome the extreme adversities of being together unfolds.
3. Dramatic Irony
The third element of a good meet-cute is dramatic irony. (To be clear, this element only applies to meet-cutes in media, like film or books. Dramatic irony is necessary for the audience being told about the meet-cute.) In the classical tale, the audience knows that Romeo and Juliet come from warring clans, even when the two do not know it yet. This makes for extreme frustration for the audience. We want the two characters to be happy,, but there is always something that keeps them from being able to do so, and that something is often what keeps us glued to our seats. And in their most golden of moments, such as ballroom dancing amidst fluttering gowns and glittering masquerades, it is so exasperating to know that everything is about to go wrong.
4. Collision of Two Worlds
Fourthly, an excellent meet-cute involves the complete collision of two worlds. After all, a meet-cute is by definition a first encounter. It is imperative that when the two future lovers meet, they crash-land into each other, they collide at the rate of nebulae and galaxies, and they must always have not seen it coming. Romeo came to the Capulet ball in the hopes of alluring a completely different woman, and Juliet was to be set up with another man altogether. But somehow, they found each other, and their entire lives changed in the few, single moments they shared.
5. Chemistry
Lastly, a meet-cute always contains immediate chemistry, but it is imperative that this chemistry prompts a continuing relationship, and that there is enough of it to overcome the adversity all new couples face. Romeo and Juliet’s immediate chemistry is seen when they fall madly in love in the span of one night, but it is maintained when they discover their families’ intricate relationships, but remain in love, if not more so. It is when the initial baking-soda-volcano bubbles subside and the feelings are still there that you know you have met the one for you.
What made the story of Romeo and Juliet so enthralling? It was the fact that the entire world seemed to have doomed Romeo and Juliet’s relationship from the start, but the universe was desperate for them to be together. Fate will always have a hand in the perfect meet-cute.
Now that you know the key elements of a meet-cute, what are some of your favorites? One of my all-time picks would have to be the meet-cute of Girl Online protagonist Penny and secret superstar Noah. The novel, written by YouTube sensation Zoe “Zoella” Sugg, is about an anonymous teenage blogger named Penny who goes on vacation in a New York hotel, where she stumbles upon a guitar-strumming Brooklyn resident named Noah whose voice she cannot seem to shy away from. She later discovers that he is a rockstar trying to conceal his stardom, and when it is all revealed, he writes a song about her called “Autumn Girl.” Truth be told, eleven-year-old me developed a certain interest for reserved, attractive men who could sing and strum a song or two after that rollercoaster trilogy.
If you’re sick of the typical secret celebrity and bad-boy tropes, The book “Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet” is an anthology of original short stories by some of today’s most renowned YA writers. It includes the likes of Nicola Yoon (author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star, who writes about breakups and makeups), Meredith Russo (author of If I Was Your Girl and Birthday, who writes about a transgender heroine), and other amazing writers. The book is full of diverse short stories that make you realize just how unexpected your meet-cute could be. Throughout the book, we experience stories such as that of two teens hiding from police at a high school party by Katie Cotugno, a tale of young girls stuck in an airport as told by Emery Lord, and a fresh perspective on what destiny has to offer for certain lovers from Dhonielle Clayton.
Even after writing what I would call this extensive research paper on meet-cutes, I have my own favorite that has remained my ideal meet-cute since 2014. At nine years old, I was knee-deep in the golden era of AwesomenessTV. My favorite show, by far, would have to be Royal Crush starring Meg DeAngelis (MayBaby on YouTube) and Alex Aiono. It begins with a girl named Desi going on a Mediterranean cruise with her cousin (played by Carrie Rad), and they both spark a connection with a mysterious cutie during their journey. Desi (Meg) gets (quite literally) entangled with Sebastian (Alex), and they find out that they both share an unrealistic interest in Shakespeare and each other. After a series of admitted truths and clarified misunderstandings, Carrie’s character steps aside and Desi and Sebastian finally get together.
Royal Crush (2014), Awesomeness TV
During my re-visitation of Royal Crush, I’ve realized that the show was, to put it kindly, not a very good one. The writing was unrealistic, the pace moved along too quickly, and a few lines made me cringe. However, pre-teen me was fascinated with the idea of a cruise ship meet-cute. Exploring an enormous cruise ship, golden coastlines, and the most beautiful historical sights of Europe, all whilst falling in love-at-first-sight with an attractive stranger? It takes a precise combination of excellently timed moments in order for the perfect meet-cute to occur. If Romeo did not catch Juliet’s eye at the right time, if Natalie had been taught better composure growing up, if Desi wasn’t wearing a necklace that would get caught on the button of the shirt Sebastian may not have worn, their meet-cutes would never have happened. Moral of the story is, you never know when a meet-cute could come.
So next time, I hope you pay a bit more attention to the cute barista who knows your order by heart now, and I hope you strike up the courage to ask for their number. I hope you do not hesitate to fall in love with that goofy introvert you met at summer camp, even though they turn out to live hundreds of miles away. I hope you take your shot at the dark, brooding varsity captain that you’ve always had your eye on. And who knows? They could always be an undercover superstar, a secretive intellectual, or better yet — your meet-cute match!
