This week brought the genre romantic comedy, also known as the ‘rom-com’. We watched the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle directed by Nora Ephron. I hadn’t seen this film before and although it definitely had many tropes of the romantic comedy genre I also found it quite different to others I had seen before. The whole concept of the film was waiting for the two central characters of Sam and Annie to finally meet each other, which they don’t do until the very end of the film. In most of the rom-coms I’ve watched, the characters who are the focus of romance are usually introduced to each other in the early moments of the film.  The film also proposed a certain problem which was addressed within the film that Annie was engaged to married, whilst lusting after a man  she had never met and only heard on the radio. However, in saying that romantic comedies are known for there unrealistic circumstances and impossible coincidences. Romantic Comedies work by allowing audiences to get an insight to characters thoughts and feelings that the characters within the narrative are unaware of. Whilst we see that Annie feels she will never meet Sam audiences know that Jonah, Sam’s son has received her letter and is coming up with a scheme for them  to meet up.

My favourite romantic comedy would have to be 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), which also overlaps with the genre of teen film, but it’s an absolute classic and who doesn’t love Heath Ledger.

(10 Things I Hate about You)