Romantic comedies are one of those films that will just put us in ease and delights. With all the laidback slow-paced sequences, pop music and the happy ending, we ought to be immersed in a dreamlike world of romantic drug. As I was doing my readings, I came across Mortimer’s (2010) descriptive text of typical rom-com characteristics and its use of conventions. There are these particular comedic tastes generated by the gag and performance that are carried out with silly witty characters and exaggeration of elements. We would also see a subversion of the adult world for a more childish approach. Mortimer (2010) identifies the conventions used among the rom-com film:

• Displacement
• Disruption
• Gag performances
• Suspense and surprise
• Viewer’s predictability
• Incongruity

In Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle (1993), we can see a displacement of character when Annie and her fiancé both visits her family during christmas. Her fiancé, being allergic to almost everything is put in a position of embarrassment as he loudly sneezes during the family dinner. Therefore, the basics of displacement is about the sense of things being out of place just like this example of social displacement as a source of humour. We can also see disruption within rom-com narrative as conflict or influences occurs between the two main leads in When Harry Met Sally (1989). In typical rom-com films though, the audiences have already predicted that whoever is mentioned or shown within the film poster would end up together and it is the exploration of their journey that takes upon various surprises and suspenses. As Mortimer had stated, rom-com is about “the celebration of love and relationships, lifting the central characters out of tedium and loneliness of their normality” (2010).

Mortimer, C 2010, Romantic comedy, “Chapter 4: The comedy of romance“, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 69-83.