unmuted

Rina Zatarah

19-11-2025

Many people would argue that romantic comedies are the best genre to exist. They have a special place in pop culture, and in our hearts. We realize the different emotions that we feel from one single movie/series, the swooning, the laughing, and even the crying that happens in 2 hours is astonishing. There are classics like When Harry Met Sally with the meet cutes, to the recent rom coms like Anyone But You with the enemies to lovers trope. These movies shape how we think romantic love is, and convince us that this is how we will meet our soulmate and experience love in the real world.

When I was a teenager, I used to watch rom coms and believe that this is what real love is supposed to look like, it seemed effortless and magical. The grand gestures we see in the movies with the guy singing to the girl, them kissing in the rain, and the tragic misunderstandings that happen in between. Even though the storyline and endings are predictable, we still feel this attachmet and enjoyment towards rom coms.

“One major criticism of the genre is that it doesn’t portray realistic love stories.” (Sadie Bodzin for The Little Hawk Blog)

In the real world, relationships require a lot of effort and honest communication for them to last. Major life challenges and disagreements don’t just disappear after a heartfelt confession or meaningful gesture. They are fun to watch but that won’t solve the problems in a relationship. People get disappointed when they realize the reality of being in a relationship is harder than what is shown on our screens.

Romantic comedy expectations don’t only target people who are together, but people in general who are trying to find love. You always see the stereotypical popular “bad boy” who never loved anyone and needs a special girl to “fix them”, and it turns out that the girl is shy and quirky and the total opposite of him. These tropes sometimes make people delusional by making them believe that love is all about the dramatic and unexpected moments, but it is actually more serious than that.

However, even though most romantic comedies can be impractical, there are some that don’t always have that happy ending. La La Land and 500 Days of Summer are both examples of movies that had romantic moments and banter between characters, but also portrayed the messiness and heartbreak that can come from loving someone. This reminds viewers that relationships aren’t only about being in love, you must also have respect, trust, and even similar values to be together “forever”.

Our own expectations and how we see ourselves can be influenced by rom coms. We forget that real relationships are more slow  than that undeniable chemistry and compatibility we see as we are watching rom coms. Recent movies like Crazy Rich Asians or To All the Boys I Loved Before are starting to change this by featuring more diverse characters and realistic communication between the love interests.

At the end of the day, romantic comedies are so popular in this modern day and age because we feel comfort in the fact that this is how everyone should meet the love of their life and live happily ever after together. But in actuality, people don’t just fall in love at first sight, or give up their whole lives for you. When people start understanding the distinction between reality and fantasy, that is when you can enjoy romantic comedies without having irrational ideas and expectations.