AIBU or will Rom Coms in future have to/be obliged to, be reinvented?

[JoanWilderbeast]

Technically, but not necessarily popularly, with the female as the pursuer? It's just something that has occurred to me to wonder ducks

Why?

I'm not saying it's a bad thing - though it could easily lend itself to Pitiful Desperate Woman trope, especially in the hands of male writers - but why have you started thinking this?

(It's possible - if you squint - to look at Miranda in that way; and while I've not watched Fleabag everything I've heard about Sexy Priest suggests it too.)

Thank you for your sensible reply to my ramblings merryhouse and apologies for the late response. It was just something that occurred to me when I heard Holding out for a Hero, Bonnie Tyler, on the radio. I found myself thinking, light-heartedly, calm down dear, and then thought that would never have occurred to me to think before, lol. PS. Am 58 so my points of reference to the battle of the sexes are a bit warped.

No rom com will be possible in the future unless the parties are trans/non binary/queer etc.

Romcoms are shit anyway and send lots of really unhealthy messages

ducks?

Meet-cutes via zoom is too depressing a concept this close to Christmas...

@SoupDragon I meant it as an action,

@DrDetriment

No rom com will be possible in the future unless the parties are trans/non binary/queer etc.

A tad dramatic there. Be nice to have some more/any at all, though.

The only rom com worth watching is When Hary Met Sally which is one of my most favourite films of all time, that and Some Like it Hot.

I never get tired of either of those films.

@DrDetriment

No rom com will be possible in the future unless the parties are trans/non binary/queer etc.

I think you're exaggerating a fair amount there, but yes, i think it will become an expectation (in like 15+ years) that media better reflects the diversity of society. And thank fuck for that. If I'd seen more people of my orientation on TV, i might have felt a little less like an abomination at 15.

@JoanWilderbeast

@SoupDragon I meant it as an action,

Ohhhhhh... I see 😂

@JohnMcClane I wonder what reinventing it as When Sally met Harry would entail ;)

Good question! Athough I hate remakes and you cannot improve perfection. The casting and chemistry are part of what makes it such a great film for me.

It starts off as a battle of the sexes type of film while they're both young and brash but as their friendship develops and life knocks the edges off them they seem more equal and I just love that character development.

Maybe its film writers these days, they just seem so formulaic. Nora Ephron was a great writer who allowed her characters to be 'real' not perfect or obvious. Sleepless in Seattle was a great film too and I guess that was more the woman pursuing the man than the other way around.

Off the top of my head, While you were sleeping, The Proposal, 27 dresses and Bridesmaids all have women doing the pursuit, and I'm sure there's lots more. So I don't think much reinvention is required.

No need to reinvent the whole genre but it would be nice to see a few different stories being told. It is happening already.

Thanks for response JohnMcClane and everyone else. Perhaps the likes of Norah Ephron and I would add John Hughes would struggle to get funding for their nuanced, ie. to my mind, warts and all, versions nowadays?