#rom coms

I was rewatching some of my favorite romantic comedies the other night when I realized that each movie had a common denominator. Every single heroine in the stories had a fabulous job and a fabulous life in the big city. They each had jobs in communications and journalism. It made me wonder why communications was such a desirable job to have for young women in the early 2000’s and if women still see this as the ultimate goal in the job industry today.

Many of the young woman seem to have their dream jobs and dream lives and make enough to live a fabulous life in New York City.

One of my personal favorite depictions of this trope is Andie Anderson and her coworkers in ‘How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days’. Portrayed by Kate Hudson, Andie is a notorious fashion and beauty journalist who shares tips on how to have a successful love life for young women.

I personally love journalism and would consider having a high paying journalist job in fashion as being the dream. However, I don’t understand why so many romantic comedies portrayed women with these jobs. These movies are meant to be “fluffy” and easy to watch, so every characteristic of the main characters must be perfect and the best of the best. Many women I know don’t strive to have a job in communications. A lot of women are doctors, nurses, engineers, and CEO’s of companies. All of these jobs have always been better paying and more prestigious than fashion journalism. Journalism is also a relatively difficult job to find a job that is high paying enough to live a fabulous lifestyle in New York City. It makes me wonder if there are roots to sexism in these movies and if they viewed journalism as simply a “women’s job” and strayed from giving these characters variation in the jobs they portrayed.

We also see this trope in television series as well. In ‘Friends’ Rachel worked for a magazine, Monica was a cook, and Phoebe was a musician and masseuse. These are all considered feminine jobs that payed for their nice apartment and constant going out with friends.

This trope also allowed for another common theme that is rooted in sexism. Giving up your career for a man or for “love”. This is seen in ‘Friends’ when Rachel decides to not go to Paris for Ross who didn’t treat her well throughout the show. We see it time after time again. Charlotte York gives up her prestigious job as a museum curator for marriage, Mary from ‘The Wedding Planner’ is ready to ditch her career for a man she fell in love with, and every Hallmark movie every.

When women choose love over their careers, the audience is meant to believe that the heroine character has made the right decision and she is going to live a wonderful life because she chose the man over her career. I consider this manipulative and sexist. Why must women be expected to leave their hard work and livelihood behind for a men who rarely treat as they should be. Now I won’t judge if you were truly in love and knew wholeheartedly that that choice would benefit you more than your job. However, I think it’s unfair to expect this of every woman in every situation. Sometimes the career is worth more than a man and that’s okay.

We also see the trop of the man running after the woman in the airport to “get the girl” after an argument or huge realization that he loves her. What I find interesting is that these men never, and I mean never, have to give up their careers in order to further the romantic plot. I don’t think I've ever seen that in a rom-com in my lifetime. Society expects men to take on the role of protector and provider in every situation. While I don’t think men should give up their careers, women shouldn't either. We don’t all need protectors to function in this world. It promotes the narrative that women must be docile and homely.

Romantic comedies have progressed over the years and have taken on some more original and creative ideas. For example the 2010’s were obsessed with the trope of two sick people falling on love with each other in ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and ‘Five Feet Apart’. Being more creative and viewing women as intellectuals that can work hard and be in love makes for the perfect romcom. I appreciate when film writers let us see deeper into the lives of the characters that they create rather than letting societal pressures influence the storyline completely.

Penelope 2006

GUYS I know I have a lot of pending stories already but instead of doing rom com series rn, I want to do one shot rom coms. (In certain cases it can be two parts as well).

NOW, If you want, I'd be taking requests (SEND THEM IN THE ASK BOX OR I'LL LOSE THEM)

Please be considerate with the request because MAXIMUM I will do two parts

REQUEST FORMAT:

Any OC's if in mind:

OC details (if in mind):

Faceclaims:

Significant Scene (optional):

Plot:

Smut: YES/NO

Anything you want me to avoid:

Tropes:

See, if I don't think I'll be able to do justice to your request, I'll tell you straight up, okay? So please be open minded.