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Why do the vast majority of romantic comedies depict people who are wealthy? (aussie.zone)

submitted 4 months ago by Instigate@aussie.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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My wife has been on a rom-com binge over the last year or so and something I’ve noticed when I’m vaguely paying attention or walking past is that almost every single rom-com features people who are, at the very least, middle to upper-middle class. These characters all live in gigantic houses/apartments, have beautifully sparkling brand-new cars, take month-long vacations to their beachfront properties… it’s just so unrealistic and out of line with the life that the vast majority of us lead.

I understand some concepts - large rooms are easier to film in, rich people own nice things that set a beautiful scene, it’s not interesting to discuss financial issues all the time etc. but this seems (from my anecdotal perspective) to almost be a rule of the genre.

Some more food for thought:

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a867107/rom-coms-diversity-wealth-income/

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[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

One of the cliches in a lot of rom coms involves a woman who's too busy with a career to have ever fallen in love. To make this work, usually the woman has a high paying but long hours job like lawyer or executive or something like that. It would be the kind of job that people would like to have because of the money and the power. Having the woman be something like a janitor wouldn't work because a. it doesn't pay well and b. it isn't a job most people would dream about having and most certainly wouldn't sacrifice love for. I think that's part of the reason why a lot of rom coms depict wealthy people.