"From classics such as The Shop Around the Corner to modern blockbusters such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the genre thrives whenever it presents the audience with the most alarming red flags it conceals from its characters, raising the stakes by seeing if sparks can still fly when an ulterior motive behind each meet-cute is hidden in plain sight."
"In the romantic comedies we've seen so far this year, this trope has not only been revived but pushed far beyond its breaking point, cementing a new romcom archetype: the unlucky-in-love sociopath. This week's new release Finding Emily is the starkest example to date, introducing psychology student Emily (Angourie Rice), whose desperation to find a good case study for her dissertation essay on the self-destructive nature of love leads to her concocting a machiavellian scheme to paint university student Owen (Spike Fearn) as an obsessive stalker."
"Owen is a kind-hearted employee of her university's student union bar, only meeting Emily after his search to find a different Emily he danced with the previous night leads him in the wrong direction. After she sees him plant posters around the campus, Rice's Emily decides to help him as fuel for coursework she should have handed in already, faking his signature on consent forms, secretly recording their every conversation, and insisting he make grand public gestures that paint him in a bad light."
"With this being a romantic comedy, certain tropes must be adhered to and feelings gradually form between the two, but the initial lie has cast such a destructive shadow over Owen's life that it doesn't feel triumphant for the audience when he realises it was more than just a friend who betrayed him."
Romantic comedies often rely on concealed red flags and ulterior motives behind meet-cutes to raise stakes and test whether sparks can still develop. Recent releases push the trope further by portraying an “unlucky-in-love sociopath” archetype. Finding Emily follows psychology student Emily, who needs a case study for a dissertation about the self-destructive nature of love. She targets university student Owen after a mistaken lead from a dance with another Emily. Emily plants evidence that Owen is an obsessive stalker, then escalates the deception by helping him while faking his signature on consent forms, secretly recording conversations, and demanding public gestures that damage his reputation. As feelings form, the betrayal’s impact prevents the audience from feeling triumphant when Owen learns the truth.
#romantic-comedy #tropes #deception-and-ulterior-motives #psychology-and-relationships #stalkingconsent-deception
Read at www.theguardian.com
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