Kit10Phish Explains It All: RomCom Racial Representation [5]

There was a lot of information packed into this post:

https://kit10phish.wordpress.com/?s=Problematic+RomCom&submit=Search

So I'm going to do a series to split it up into smaller chunks.

It’s worth asking: What culture norms and social cues are people picking up while watching movies? Especially if they're under 25 years old and their brains are still developing.

It's JUST a Movie-Everybody Knows it's Fiction

Romantic comedies feature regular people in regular circumstances. They appeal to the idea of everyday life without having to stretch for engaging, realistic stories to tell. The interwoven tales of living in the mundane are touched by the power of Hollywood magic, where meet-cutes find themselves transforming into public declarations of love for all to know. The commonplace approach to romantic comedies grounds it in reality. The dramatics of Hollywood elevate the simplest of situations into a protagonist finding their lifelong partner. The achievement of finding that "happily ever after" may resonate with some, though may come across as unrealistic to others. The balance between the desire for a happy ending and the challenges to finding it results in the popularity of the romantic comedy.

No doubt that society and movies encourage women to want a heartthrob love interest that seems too good to be true.

On The Surface...

There's usually different races somewhere in the movie, and if there's not a gay best friend, certainly there's a gay wedding planner or interior designer somewhere in the movie!

Many viewers see romcoms as empowering. Women headline on the big screen! Between Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Garner, and Anne Hathaway, a powerful slate of role models heralded female ambition, independence, and of course, a killer wardrobe.

Men are portrayed as handsome and super-sweet.

Falling into deep, true love is depicted.

But Dig Deeper

And yet, a closer look at these rom-com storylines reveals a deeper truth.

One Psychology Today article explains: Over time, we consciously and unconsciously internalize these cultural norms, evaluating ourselves and others in comparison to them. Compare to our own body images, for instance, the effects of mass media are particularly deleterious. Usually without conscious awareness, we grow up trying to emulate whatever culture deems to be most valuable because we all want to be desired, loved, and wanted.

Given this, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to assume watching 150 hours of romantic comedies may somehow reset some internal switch about the power disparity between, well, everyone except cis, straight white males. And maybe even our own self-esteem, expectations as women, career ambitions, or perception of what a relationship should look like.

Erasure, Representation, Stereotypical Depiction:

But there's a Black character in that movie...

Saturday, April 26, 2025

RomCom Racial Representation [5]

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