Going Against the Fad of Romance Films
Nearly every romantic film portrays either a woman changing her entire personality to “get” a boyfriend or the male lead changing his entire personality to be more appealing to his dream girl. Why do American’s like this type of movie, and why are they the most popular type of romantic films? Typically, this type of scenario doesn’t happen in real life (to the extreme that films portray), so it is surprising that so many movies are based off this setting. Some very popular movies that go with this fad are A Walk to Remember, The Last Song, Maid in Manhattan, Legally Blonde, and Pretty Woman. It is very simple to think of films that follow the trend, and finding films that separate themselves is much more difficult. Films like Up in the Air, Midnight in Paris, Love and Basketball, Dear John, and When Harry Met Sally portray a different type of love story — something unique. Why is it that these types of films are so much less common?
Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air goes against the common theme of one of the lead characters changing their personality because of the other. Ryan Bingham’s job is to fly across the world to fire people. He lives on the road (or in the sky). His main goal in life is to reach 10 million miles; therefore, he has no interest in having a family or a marriage. He even gives motivational speeches on staying away from commitment Throughout the course of the movie, he meets a woman named Alex, and they have a fling. They are basically the same person — both are major frequent fliers and have no interest in anything but being on the road (or so Ryan thought). As the film progresses, he begins to realize life has more meaning. Alex didn’t instill this thought in him, but it was through self reflection. He began to realize life had a point. Their romance seemed so real to the audience — the kind of romance the audience roots for. Ryan finally came to the conclusion that he wanted more in life than to fly around the world firing people — he was ready to settle down. When he went to Alex’s house to tell her, he found that she has a family. She had been pretending to be the same person as him. Most movies would come to this conclusion in a much different manner. It would go something like Alex making Ryan realize that she can make him happy, not Ryan realizing it by himself.
A Walk to Remember is much different — it features Landon Carter as a “bad boy” in pretty much every sense of the term. He partakes in illegal activity such as underage drinking, trespassing, and other tomfoolery that a teenage boy would find “cool”. He meets Jamie Sullivan, the preacher’s daughter, and instantly thinks she is the strangest person he has ever known. They begin forming a bond, but he is embarrassed to tell anyone about it. As the movie goes on, Jamie’s kind soul rubs off on Landon, and he becomes the best version of himself to win Jamie’s and her father’s approval. Jamie makes Landon realize his purpose in life.
Now, you may be asking how this type of film did in the box office compared to a typical romantic movie (A Walk to Remember). Up in the Air’s opening weekend grossed $1,181,450 and increased the next three weekends. The second weekend produced a 103% increase from the first weekend. A Walk to Remember grossed $12, 177,488 the first weekend, and decreased 27.4% the following weekend. Overall, A Walk to Remember made more money, but Up in the Air had better turnout the following weekends. The total domestic gross for A Walk to Remember is $41,281,092 and the total domestic gross for Up in the Air is $83,823,381. This proves that a film that is based off self improvement can still succeed just as well (even better) than a film portraying someone completely changing their personality and outlook on life to be with someone.
Midnight in Paris is another film that separates itself from the typical romance film. Gil and Inez are engaged and visiting Paris. Gil is a Hollywood screenwriter who is working on his first novel, but Inez’s family doesn’t support his desire to be a novelist. Gil gets lost in the streets of Paris one evening, and he realizes that he has transported through time into the 1920’s (a great time to help with his novel). He meets amazing writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. He continues to go to the past every night for the next few days. He meets Adriana, Pablo Picasso’s mistress, and they have an immediate attraction. Inez gets very frustrated with her fiancé’s obsession with travelling around Paris. Little does she know that he’s actually falling in love with a woman from the past. He must decide between love in the past, or go back to the reality of the present. He goes back to real life and discovers that Inez had been also having an affair. A very different take on romance, Midnight in Paris still captivates its audience without having the character’s lose themselves, like in Maid in Manhattan: a popular romantic film.
Maid in Manhattan features a maid at a prestigious hotel in Manhattan who lies about who she is to date a wealthy congressman. She totally changed everything about herself in order to be seen by a man. This film is an incredibly different love story than Midnight in Paris, and the box office shows what the audience truly likes to see. Midnight in Paris’ opening weekend grossed only $599,003, but had a 222% increase the following weekend and a 327% increase the third weekend. Maid in Manhattan grossed $18,711,407 it’s opening weekend, but had a 42.8% decrease the following weekend — considerably higher than Midnight in Paris. The total domestic gross of the two films isn’t very close either. Midnight in Paris grossed $56,817,045 and Maid in Manhattan grossed nearly double at $94,011,225.
The film Love and Basketball portrays two young, motivated basketball players named Monica and Quincy who love nothing more than the game of basketball. They date briefly when they meet on the basketball court as elementary school students, and rekindle in high school through the beginning of college. The timing with Monica and Quincy never seemed right because they both were chasing their dreams separately. Neither of them gave up on their dream of playing professional basketball to be with the other. They both pursued and fulfilled their dream, then decided they were ready. They didn’t change their beliefs or personality for their relationship, unlike Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
Legally Blonde features Elle Woods changing who she is to try to make her ex-boyfriend date her again. She is a fashionable, sorority girl who was dating a man named Warner Huntington III. He was going to be attending Harvard Law, and before leaving, he broke up with Elle because she isn’t the image that a Huntington “should” be with. Offended, Elle began studying like crazy in hopes of being admitted into Harvard Law as well (even though before Warner, she had no interest whatsoever.) She ended up getting admitted. Once again, a popular movie is telling people that they need to change who they are to be liked, when that should be the total opposite. Movies are extremely influential, and they should be teaching people that they are perfect just the way they are. In the case of Legally Blonde, the breakup with Warren actually ends up bettering Elle by making her more studious/motivated, but she still doesn’t feel worthy of him unless she changed who he is. Unlike in Love and Basketball, they both follow their own separate paths until they are ready to be together.
Love and Basketball’s opening weekend grossed $8,139,180 and decreased 37.3% the following weekend. The opening weekend of Legally Blonde grossed $20,377,426 and had a 45.5% decrease the following weekend. Love and Basketball’s total domestic gross is $27,459,615 whereas Legally Blonde’s is $96,520,674. In the case of these two films, the common romance movie did better than the one that shows two people following their own dreams.
Dear John is a different type of love story that leaves its audience with a love/hate feeling. John and Savannah are the focus of the film — they instantly clicked when they met. Savannah has a nurturing, caring personality and genuinely cares about everyone. The film starts how you think it will — the two will fall in love, have some sort of conflict that will keep them apart, then end up together; however, the film doesn’t follow the same pattern as the rest of the Nicholas Sparks films do, take The Last Song, for example. In the end of Dear John, Savannah ends up choosing a different guy that shocks the audience. Despite how she felt about John, Savannah chooses to do the “right” thing and marry a man who has a young son and could truly use a mother figure in his life. She didn’t change who she was to find true love, she stayed true to herself and did what she felt was right.
Compared to another Nicholas Sparks movie, The Last Song, the box office is higher for the “unique” film than the run-of-the-mill romance film. The box office for Dear John grossed $30,468,614 the opening weekend and had a 47.3% decrease the following weekend. The Last Song grossed $16,007,426 and had a 38.6% decrease the following weekend. Overall, Dear John’s total domestic gross is $80,014,842 whereas The Last Song’s total domestic gross is $62,950,384. Once again, the film that goes against the typical romance plot has a better turnout than the predictable one. Why aren’t there more movies that follow this trend if the audiences still like them? Why make generally every romance movie the exact same with minor differences?
Finally, When Harry Met Sally disperses from the original type of romantic film as well. Harry and Sally always seem to run into each other in the most random places. When they first met, Harry tells Sally his belief that women and men can not be “just friends” because sex will always get in the way. She thinks his notion is ridiculous and they part ways. Five years later, they run into each other in an airport when Sally is saying goodbye to her boyfriend. She and Harry are on the same flight and begin arguing over the same notion they did five years ago. Again, five years later they run into each other after Harry has gone through a divorce, and Sally is also single. They end up forming a friendship — the kind of friendship everyone desires. They end up sleeping together and their friendship changes. Harry’s opinion is proven true. They end up parting ways and later, Harry comes to the conclusion that he is in love with Sally. The two end up happily ever after, but not in the typical way most films do.
In most romantic films, the couple that has clear differences falls in love right away. In When Harry Met Sally, the couple separates for five years after meeting and again don’t click the second time they meet. Finally, the third time Harry and Sally come into contact, they fall into friendship, not love. There is also no obstacle keeping Harry and Sally apart like in most films (take Pretty Woman for example.) Pretty Woman’s obstacle is clearly that Edward is a wealthy businessman and Vivian is a prostitute. They have nothing in common. Despite how unlikely it may be, the two end up together.
When Harry Met Sally did incredibly well its first two weekends. The opening weekend grossed $1,094,453. It increased a staggering 708% the following weekend to reach $8,846,522. Pretty Woman grossed $11,280,591 its first weekend and increased 10.6% the following weekend. As for total domestic gross, When Harry Met Sally is $92,823,546 and Pretty Woman is $178,406,268. In this case, the film that is unique has done very well, but the typical film did much better.
A possible reason that many people love this movie is that maybe opposites do attract. It is okay for two people to fall in love despite how different they are. In fact, it’s kind of sweet. Audience’s like this, and it is proven in the box offices. Not many people rave about a romantic movie where the two have a boring love story and nothing exciting/conflicting occurs. This is the type of movie that is easy to come up with a plot for, and that the audience will surely love.
Generally, all romantic movies follow the same plot line. There are two people who shouldn’t be together, but somehow they end up together. Why do people like to see unlikely relationships happen? Does it give some sort of hope for viewers that since it happened in the movie, the popular boy might like them? There are staggeringly more movies that follow this trend, and it is rather difficult to name films that disperse from the trend. Even though they are less common, films that are not the “typical” romance story still do very well in the box offices.
