Show, Don't Tell or Rach bitches about romatic comedies, again.

[rm]

I watched about half of My Big Fat Greek Wedding last night. And it was charming, well-acted, funny, more enjoyable than I suspected, and ultimately weak and formulaic enough that I had to turn it off.

Granted, I am _not_ a fan of the romantic comedy genre, and can count the ones I have any sincere enthusiasm for on one hand. That said:

1. Despite being a ridiculously verbal person, I'm sort of over impassioned speeches, especially in romantic comedies where the woman must be convinced that she's beautiful and worthy. Which is to say, I didn't need the leading-man-grabs-the-girls-face-and-tells-her-very-intensely-that-she's-beautiful-and-exciting-and-wonderful-moment. I don't need another film where a woman can only be convinced of her worth by someone else. And I don't believe words are enough. Action action action. I've been the recipient of enough speeches in my life, and I've given a few too -- but how do we live? how do we show? how do we reocgnize truth in other people? Well, it's not like that kids. (Sidenote: Strictly Ballroom rocks my world because there is never once a speech at Fran urging her to have confidence. Everything she gets, even when she's at her shyest, ugliest and most awkward she demands for herself. That's one hell of an equation).

2. The characters have sex. Now we all understand they're in love. HELLO, SIMPLISTIC. This is a big pet peve of mine mostly because of how I write -- if the sex doesn't inform the plot or the characters and do so in a way that NOTHING ELSE COULD, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. I want to know your characters, not watch them hit their marks perfunctorily. I want sex to be sexy, I want kisses to be sexy, I want hand holding to be sexy -- and if it's not about anything other than "this is where we boink", IT'S NOT SEXY.

3. Formulas work. Formulas work because we recognize our idealized selves in them. Formulas work when they are executed with life, energy and a bit of a quirk. And chunky heroine and obnoxious Greek people clearly wasn't enough of a quirk for me.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh, heh, I actually thought that sex scene was incredibly moving and interesting (although the stuff surrounding it was quite a bit silly), but I know everything in that film was major YMMV.

[fifthconundrum.livejournal.com]

It's funny, but coming from a black Pentecostal background, I found the stuff surrounding the sex scene much more valuable. Interesting!

[rm.livejournal.com]

That is _really_ interesting. For me the only thing the surrounding material evoked for me was a rave, which is the sort of thing I find notoriously silly, so it was a real fight to get into that part of the film for me (and I think it eventually worked as it all became sort of hypnotic).