2023 is turning out to be the year of the RomCom movie. This has come as a surprise to me. But I heard it on BBC Radio4, Woman’s Hour, and it certainly sounds about right. Their researchers know of 36 new RomComs scheduled for release this year. (The clip starts 27 minutes in, if you’re as interested as I am.)
It started me thinking about romantic stories in general. And wondering — could the same be true of books?
By the way, if you’re wondering why the image above, rather than any other, the answer is sentimental. A very similar image appeared on the cover of one of my romantic novels, years ago. At the time, I was equally surprised and pleased. There’s so clearly a story there. Such was not always the case with my covers.
So What is a RomCom?
But listening to it, I couldn’t help feeling that all three were slightly uncomfortable. Maybe I’m paranoid, but it sounded to me as if they were struggling to avoid the suggestion that RomCom itself was a naff joke and really rather embarrassing.
On the other hand, she said it was obvious why 2023 should be the year of RomCom. Between the pandemic, wars, and the cost of living crisis, people need hopeful, fun, escapist films to raise their spirits.
New Look RomCom?
It opened in the UK last month and was Mark Kermode’s film of the week. He called it a “primary-coloured romance, bursting with wit, grit and charm.” It sounds a blast. I’m off to see it as soon as I can.
Now, Rhianna Dhillon acknowledged the ’90s as a golden age of romantic comedy and she had a theory about the decade’s influence. People who, in their formative years, watched Pretty Woman or Ten Things I Hate About You, were now, she posited, putting their own stamp on the genre. Specifically, they were junking outdated habits.
Rye Lane certainly bears this out, from the reviews. This couple are not white and not rich. And they’re both coming out of dodgy relationships which sound very 21st century. They have ordinary jobs. The male half is even an accountant.
When I first started writing romantic stories, I remember very clearly the influential editor of a weekly magazine explaining to me that her readers would simply not accept my accountant hero. The reason? Women were turned off by sums. Um…
Expectations and RomCom
It starts with her own voice-over setting out her RomCom-inspired adolescent expectations of love and marriage. She identified with the heroines and confidently expected Prince Charming to pop up in her life. By the time she was a young woman RomCom had become, she says, “part of my identity.” (I can SO identify.)
But then she got married. There was a disconnect between life and the screen. She still watched RomComs avidly. But now they didn’t make her feel elated. They made her feel guilty. So here is another familiar trope – the guilty pleasure. And an accusation – romantic stories give us unrealistic expectations.
RomCom Role Modelling
She makes an exception for When Harry Met Sally.
For Sankey, however, World War 2 knocked this into a cocked hat. Thereafter RomComs, however skilfully scripted, directed and acted, returned to the bad old ways. Eventually they “spiralled out of control into something deeply suspect, twisted.” Interestingly, she makes another exception for a 1950s foray into “the immense female power of sexuality” as represented by Marilyn Monroe.
In her radio interview, however, she concentrates on RomCom’s positive appeal. She calls it “really primal… every human being looking for that connection with another human being.” That she says, is why people will repeat watch their favourites. Romantic Comedy may take place in a fantasy world – even in Shakespeare comedies there are magical forests – but it gives us something important.
Respect the Year of RomCom?
A Voice-Over, though not I think her own, points out, very justly, that the heroine is an obsessive who has fixated on a man she’s never even spoken to and spends most of the movie lying to everyone and digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole. Even the title could serve as well for a horror movie!
I admit I bounced on my seat at that point and shouted at the screen that the whole point of romantic comedy is that you can make mistakes and come back from them. It’s part of what gives us hope!
#RespectRomFic and RomCom
Last month I wrote a heartfelt blog about the Romantic Novelists”s Association Awards and the #RespectRomFic movement. I remain interested in why romantic stories get so much stick, even from those who love them.
His thesis is basically that the movie’s focus is on how it feels to be in love, rather than building a healthy relationship with a chance of success. I suspect that many of Elizabeth Sankey’s difficulties fall into the same general area.
The Aristotelian unity of time, of course, pulls in the other direction, as far as drama is concerned. The white wedding is the Big Finish the audience is waiting for. Sometimes, the crazier the better.
So maybe, just maybe, 2023 will be the year of romantic fiction in books too!
Here’s hoping. We need the love.
Sophie
Interesting. I love Romcoms and I don’t honestly care what the world thinks. There’s so much pleasure in both books and film. Currently I am addicted to K-drama Romcoms. Usually 16 episodes of enjoyment with the inevitable pay off when it all goes right at the end. No one’s going to take that away from me.
Hope it is the year of romcom fiction too!
Someone was talking to me about the K-drama RomComs yesterday, Liz. I’d never heard of them before. I think the universe is pointing…
The universe is also pointing to the RomCom revival. There was an article in today’s Observer on the same subject, though I’d say your blog is better, Sophie 😉 Thanks for the insights and the pointers.
Blushing here. But thank you for the compliment, Joanna.
Thanks for a great blog, Sophie. I’m off to hunt down Rye Lane and the to listen to the piece on Woman’s Hour. Every time I write hour it changes to house…weird… It feels as if the internet is slapping me back into my “proper” place.
The documentary Romantic Comedy is worth a watch, too, Liz. It’s very atmospheric – like one of those late night sessions with an old friend thinking aloud – and she’s used loads of clips from old movies, so there’s the added delight of the trainspotter. There should be a live link to it. Let me know if it doesn’t work and I’ll restore it this evening, when I get back from h’opera.
The link is fun, Sophie. Will definitely watch.
Fine…