The hero saves the day, the guy gets the girl, and everyone lives happily ever after.
The creation of motion pictures served as a way to tell stories and convey emotions outside of everyday life while entertaining audiences worldwide, according to an article from PBS. This form of entertainment allowed people to escape reality and drift off into places that were once only dreams.
While movie genres were limited to silent films at first, now there are all sorts of movies—action, comedy, horror, and romance, to name a few. The point is that the world has changed and so have the sources of entertainment, yet one thing remains the same: audiences love a good story.
According to a podcast from NPR, love stories are some of the oldest tales, so romance being a popular movie genre is no surprise. Shakespeare is often credited as originating romantic comedies with his plays like “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Twelfth Night,” which inspired modern-day romantic comedies like “Anyone But You” and “She’s the Man.”
The popularity of romantic comedies, commonly called rom-coms, has skyrocketed over the past years, and escapism is one of the most telling reasons.
When life feels too heavy, movies offer a solution. Romantic comedies fill the need, offering the perfect balance between funny and quotable lines and enough emotion to tug at your heartstrings. They give hope and remind audiences why love is one of the most important human emotions.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, romantic comedies thrived, producing classics like “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” and “50 First Dates.”
However, after the 2010s, the popularity of romantic comedies began to decline.
The decline of romantic comedies can be traced to the increase in the popularity of action and comedy movies. According to an article from Reuters, studios made their way out of mid-budget movies like romantic comedies since consumers were enticed by spectacle, which made studios prioritize higher budgets with spectacular big-screen visuals.
After the 2010s, studios began to release fewer romantic comedies per year. Yet, streaming services began to pick up the dying genre.
Netflix has become a place for rom-com lovers to go since the streaming service produced countless films like “Set It Up,” “Wedding Season,” “Players,” and even more during the holiday season.
“I think the audience is really responding to that sincerity and earnestness, that emotional directness that isn’t trying to be too clever. Also, people feel like they discover the movies on Netflix, and there’s a feeling of ownership, a degree of passion and investment,” said former Netflix executive Ian Bricke in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The feelings of sincerity and earnestness the audience gets are not a coincidence, and it all ties back to the escapism of movies like romantic comedies. When people want to get away from the day-to-day, streaming services offer a quick and easy way to escape for an hour or two.
