It is a truth universally acknowledged that romance is one of the most popular genres in media. There are plenty of portrayals of romance, from the stage to the screen, from comedies to dramas. It is also a truth universally acknowledged that art imitates life and that life imitates art. Media has the power to affect culture as much as culture has the ability to affect how it is portrayed. This is how we get the rise and fall in various niches of the genre, such as the vampire romance craze in the 2010s and the current romantasy surge sneaking its way through everyone’s "For You" pages. This week, we’re diving into Creatinuum EP36: "When Hearts Collide: Romance as Portrayed in Pop Culture."
After the popularity of romcoms in the 1980s-1990s thanks to names such as Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts, this genre of films began to decrease in popularity in the 2000s. However, this doesn’t mean that that era of film didn’t see its fair share of popular titles. The likes of Jennifer Lopez, Katherine Heigl, and Kate Hudson led the charge in the 2000s, with movies such as Maid in Manhattan, 27 Dresses, and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, to name a few.
In the 2010s, the romcom was overlooked in favor of blockbuster superhero and action movies, with Marvel, Avatar, and DC leading the charge. Popular film franchises such as Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Hunger Games also turned film-going into a major event. Soon enough, smaller, lower-budget movies got pushed to the wayside in favor of “bigger” films.
The genre found fame once again in the era of streaming. Sites such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime made so many movies from across the years and genres available to its subscribers. Eventually, they started producing their own. The 2018 film Set It Up, which starred Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch, hearkened back to the classic '90s-era romcom and is viewed as one of the best offerings of the genre in more recent years.
The renewed interest in the genre came not from abandoning the use of classic tropes that it popularized but from prioritizing characters over formula. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, one of the most popular romance films of the recent era, took as much time delving in the inner life of its protagonist, Lara Jean, as it did her budding romance with school heartthrob Peter Kavinsky. Films in this era also started to tell broader stories, including queer romances, young adult romances, and romances involving people from different cultural backgrounds.
Today contemporary and young adult romance seems to be making a comeback, with films and shows like Heartstopper, Red, White, and Royal Blue, Bridgerton, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. As the culture continues to change, so too does the media. One need only be open to possibility in order to enjoy the stories one comes across.
Listen in full to Creatinuum Episode 18: "Not My First Language": ESL in the Publishing Industry, available on Simplecast, Spotify, Apple, and other platforms.
Comentarios