Have you ever wondered why nearly all romantic movies made nowadays are romantic comedies? It's because the notion of true romance in the film industry has become by and large — a joke.
People are too jaded, too desensitized by the no-holds-barred/bare-all approach of modern cinema. The truth of the matter is old romantic movies are so much better than their modern-day counterparts, and there's a fairly obvious reason as to why.
People nowadays are obsessed with getting the newest iPhone, they'll stand in line for hours in order to purchase the latest gaming system, and happily replace their laptops/TVs every 3-5 years without argument.
There's an old saying that asserts how a classic never goes out of style. Such is certainly the case when it comes to the books that we read, the clothes we wear, and the films that we watch.
You don't need to be an MD in order to pronounce the romance genre dead. With staggeringly few exceptions, there hasn't been a truly great romance movie in years.
Mainly, it's sex. Julie Andrews wouldn't have been caught dead humping Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music just as Ingrid Bergman wouldn't have done full-frontal in Casablanca.
The first kiss is idyllic, it's romantic — the kind of act that makes you swoon and hope against hope for the happily-ever-after.
Sex is carnal, it's animalistic, and the sheer physicality of the act itself eviscerates any hope of romantic idealism between the two characters. In short, sex breaks the spell and shatters any illusion of true love conquering all.
It all has to do with suspense. That's why we don't see the shark at all until nearly 1.5 hours into the movie, and only for 4 minutes of total screen time.
We know it's there, lurking somewhere beneath our feet. But when we're left to our own imagination, we envision it as something far greater than it could ever actually be.
We're immediately confronted with the fact that these characters are just as flawed, messy, and completely self-sabotaging as the rest of us.
Whereas modern romance movies like Knocked Up, Eyes Wide Shut, and even The Notebook begin with the physical act itself and work their way backward. It's great for shock value, but very little else.
They want to suspend their doubts, to believe in a kind of love that transcends the limitations of basic instinct. More than that, they're looking for something to hope for — for something to aspire to. This is why new romance movies can't hold a candle to their classic counterparts.
