Romantic comedy (rom-com) tropes are recurring plot devices or themes that drive the plot and the romantic relationship between the main characters. These tropes characterize the genre; rom-com fans expect them and love them. But success breeds opportunity, and it may be time to tweak the formulae.
Some popular tropes include Enemies to Lovers (for example Pride and Prejudice); Meet-Cute (When Harry Met Sally); STEM Heroines (Love, Theoretically or Lessons in Chemistry); Age-Gap Romance (The Graduate); different backgrounds (My Big Fat Greek Wedding); workplace competition (You’ve Got Mail). There can even be multiple tropes in the same book or movie. You’ve Got Mail is also a Meet-Cute. When Harry Met Sally uses the Friends to Lovers trope. I’m a fan of them all.
Tropes offer many benefits to both creators and their audience. Audiences appreciate the predictable, comfort-food plots. They get emotional satisfaction from requited relationships. They connect with character archetypes, relating to common human experiences. Audiences are uplifted and derive hope and optimism from rom-com themes like love, growth, and overcoming obstacles. Fans of the genre bond over the shared cultural experience of their favorite tropes.
Creators and writers like me use tropes for a different set of reasons. Familiar plots allow focus on character development and unique twists. Constraints and boundaries encourage creativity. We engage our audience by tapping into shared cultural experiences, reliably evoking an emotional response. Tropes enable easy incorporation of playful banter. And let’s not forget marketability. Tropes make books easier to sell, and we all must eat.
Yet for all tropes do for us, they carry their own disadvantages. The comfortable, predictable endings can be too predictable. There’s even an oft-used three-letter acronym, HEA (Happily Ever After), for the trope-approved way to properly conclude a rom-com. Sometimes the story and the characters demand a more cutting finish to the story.
Another problem arises if a character doesn’t fit neatly into a trope-defined archetype. Heaven help us if the STEM heroine, so much smarter than her male colleagues, isn’t forced into demeaning servitude to their inept efforts. Have you read Lessons in Chemistry?
A third way tropes can damage a story is by stifling comedic possibilities. Yes, tropes do facilitate playful banter, but sometimes the humor is in the situation, not the banter. For example, is there any human act more ridiculous than sex? Shakespeare (the original rom-com author) knew the possibilities here, way back when. Think Dogberry and Verges in Much Ado About Nothing or Bottom’s transformation in a Midsummer Night’s Dream or Falstaff in a laundry basket or Petruchio and Katherina in Taming of the Shrew. Yet highest praise goes to rom-coms that are “steamy” and “swoon-worthy” rather than bawdy.
Which brings us to today’s marketplace for rom-coms. Tropes have made the genre popular and profitable, but whenever practices and beliefs become ingrained, there is an opportunity to poke fun at and shake up the status quo. Here are some ways to do just that:
–Populate your rom-com with multiple heroines. One of them is likely to resonate with readers, who can root for their favorite.
–Let the male main character be the center of the story, for a different perspective. Rom-coms are mostly read by women, and a woman is usually the main character. There is room for an alternative approach.
–The age gap trope typically pairs a younger male with an older female. Try reversing the age roles for a fresher, and more common, story.
–Recognize that God gave man a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to run one of them at a time. He’s going to screw up, and there’s your story (and mine).