By Disha Chakraborty and Dhruv Maheshwari
Lovesick or Sick of Love? That's the question most Netflix watchers have asked themselves as the streaming service drops romantic comedies before Valentine’s Day. On one hand, many feel these movies are heartwarming and cozy. On the other hand, some might be tired or even jealous of the constant, overused tropes in Netflix’s rom-coms.
Source by Ms. Mary Kay Mannle
Netflix offers a multitude of teen romantic comedies.
One of Netflix’s biggest clichés would be a “small town girl girl” having a romance with royalty. Constant tropes are noted as: American woman with big heart, problems with money, prince visits American city/town for marital reasons, the prince and woman meet up by chance and fall in love after the woman thinks that the prince is too posh and rude. This trope has been used in four very prominent Netflix Originals, “The Princess Switch,” “The Royal Treatment,” “A Christmas Prince,” “The Knight Before Christmas,” and “Christmas with a Prince.” This trope would be usually deemed as unrealistic, but some real life love stories beg to differ. Take Meghan Markle, a commoner, fell in love and eventually married Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Or Japan’s Princess Mako marrying a commoner, Kei Komuro, out of forbidden love. Their stories inspire everyday people to fantasize about themselves in this situation, making these movies so popular.
“I like how the knight and girl were literally from two different worlds, like Romeo and Juliet,” eighth grader Jayden Prasad said.
The other side of romantic comedies on Netflix can be summarized in this simple trope: a girl falls in love with a boy who is essentially unobtainable. Some notable examples of this come from films like “Kissing Booth” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” Both of these films were made into trilogies despite their repetitive and predictable storylines.
“The concept of most of the rom coms on Netflix seem repetitive but the repetition can serve as a comfort to some people or they could just joke around about how horrible it is to get a good laugh. I feel like with the huge platform that Netflix has they could definitely do better,” senior Ingrid Chu said.
Although people find them somewhat unrealistic, such as scenes repeated over and over, many thrive on the excitement of love, even if it is second hand.
“…I get excited and always find myself rooting for characters and their love lives,” 7th grader Ayesha Uddin said.
Even though these typical romantic movies reuse the same plot, fans always want more. Is it the cheesy nature of these films? Or are people craving love in the form of a lighthearted comedy? No matter how people are feeling this Valentine’s Day, these movies always have a place in many viewers' hearts.
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