How Romcoms Have Shaped Who I Am Today

A reflection on what the romcom is, films within the genre and how it has shaped the young woman I am today

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. Before I get started with today’s blog post, I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to every single reader and subscriber of The Journalism Diaries as we have hit another momentous milestone of 200 subscribers across the blog! I love you all so so much and I wanted to say thank you to those who take the time out of their day to read and engage with any of my blog posts.

For this post, I wanted to go out of my comfort zone, pursuing an opinion piece and speaking about a film genre which means a lot to me personally; the romcom. If you know me, you know that I live and breathe the genre of romcoms spanning from Hollywood to Bollywood. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the romcom is defined as ‘a film with a light, comedic tone and a plot centring on a romance (in a sentimental or idealized way).’ The soppy plot, loveable characters and additional extras make it hard not to fall in love with the genre itself and I’ll be delving into why it means so much to me.

I wrote about this in my student newspaper Redbrick a while back but romcoms hugely inspired the career path that I aspire to take today. The piece was titled ‘The Aestheticisation of Journalism: From Andy Sachs to Jenna Rink’ and I spoke about how the headstrong female protagonists of these films have led me to pursue journalism today. The films I touched upon in that article included the absolute classic The Devil Wears Prada as well as my personal favourite 13 Going On 30. I’ll be touching more upon these films in my piece as well as another couple of favourites I have.

I’ll have to start with the benchmark of the romcom, and most likely every young woman’s favourite film as a teen, The Devil Wears Prada. The film follows Anne Hathaway as Andy, an aspiring journalist who wants to make an impact in the Big Apple, so she decides to apply to work as a personal assistant to the sharp and witty Miranda Priestly, editor in chief of one of the city’s top magazine, but the job comes with a huge price. Andy tries her best to fit in but simply doesn’t understand the nooks and crannies of the NYC fashion scene until she receives help from one of her colleagues Nigel (Stanley Tucci) and finally gets in Miranda’s good books.

I find Andy’s character to be so relatable as she simply wants to pursue her passions and goals in the dreamlike city of New York but is shown the hard hitting reality of work life when she starts working for Miranda. As well as this, we cannot forget the realities of the workplace when Emily (Emily Blunt) first bullies Andy for not fitting into the fashion scene of the office on her first day. As the film goes on, we then see Andy’s confidence flourish as she finally learns the tricks and trade of being Miranda’s personal assistant and getting in her good books. I’ll never forget the iconic scene where Andy walks into the office and Emily is lost for words at her ‘glow up’ and confidence as Miranda’s new personal assistant, finally being the best in the office.

Watching 13 Going On 30 on my laptop one evening

Another die hard favourite of mine has to be 13 Going On 30. The film follows Jennifer Garner as Jenna, who makes a wish on her 13th birthday to be ‘thirty, flirty and thriving’ and wakes up as her 30 year old self the next day. Jenna has it all, the penthouse apartment and dream job at one of New York’s top magazines and she cannot believe it. One thing I adore about these female protagonists is their childlike wonder and innocence towards their goals and dreams, something which I have mirrored in my own life. I really love how, in this film especially, Jenna pursued her ‘inner child’ unapologetically and didn’t care about the consequences of doing so.

Another trope I love throughout the romcom genre, which is especially shown throughout 13 Going On 30 and Confessions of a Shopaholic, is the grumpy and sunshine duo. The female protagonists tend to be bubbly bursts of sunshine whilst the male protagonists alongside them are nonchalant and carefree. I have a ‘love hate’ relationship with these duos as they tend to be represented really well or not perfectly all, but the romcom genre does this so effortlessly I can’t help but daydream it happens to myself one day!

My comfort films spread in my journal

I’ve spoken enough about Hollywood so now I’ll move on to another favourite subgenre of mine; Bollywood romcoms. They are honestly the best and some can even be depicted as classics, such as Yeh Jeewani Hai Deewani, Jab We Met, Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, Mohabbatein and Student of the Year which are only a handful of my favourites. I’ll delve into my two favourites out of these which are Yeh Jeewani Hai Deewani and Mohabbatein.

Yeh Jeewani Hai Deewani (meaning ‘Youth Is Crazy’) is an iconic modern classic which follows friend group Naina, Aditi, Avi and Kabir on a hiking trip to Manali and their reunion a couple of years later at Aditi’s wedding where Naina and Kabir (otherwise known as Bunny) come face to face with one another amidst Naina’s one sided love for him. The film depicts a tumultuous bout of emotions, from joy to sadness, fear to pursuing your lifelong dreams but most of all love and belonging. I feel as if this film is the benchmark of the Bollywood romcom as it has everything you would want, with a dash of more (such as the catchy songs and beautiful settings and costumes throughout!)

I heavily resonate with Naina in YJHD as on the Manali trip at the beginning of the film, she was the nerdy, shy girl who kept to herself but viewers can see as the film goes on, she flourishes into her confident self and finally has her cliché ‘glasses off’ moment in the other half of the film. I hate to add a self insert here but I honestly feel as if I relived this ‘Kaun Chasmish?’ moment during my family wedding antics this summer as I finally had my glow up. Naina grew into her natural beauty and confidence which can be seen in the song numbers throughout the film, namely ‘Balam Pichkari’, ‘Badtameez Dil’ and ‘Dilliwali Girlfriend’ and she is nothing short of an inspiring female protagonist for other Desi girls like myself.

As well as this, unrequited love is a huge theme which is highlighted throughout these Bollywood romcoms and what Mohabbatein shows so beautifully. Mohabbatein (meaning ‘Romantic Love’) charts the story of Shah Rukh Khan as Raj whose love story has been left unfinished due to the passing of his love Megha (Aishwarya Rai) and aims to fulfil this through the love stories of his music students Karan (Jimmy Shergill), Sameer (Jugal Hansraj) and Vikram (Uday Chopra). The film joyously depicts the highs and lows of innocent, teenage love as Raj aims to bring the students together despite the strict rules of Gurukul school under its principal Narayan (Amitabh Bachchan). One song which shows this perfectly is ‘Chalte Chalte’ in which the boys sneak out of school to impress the girls and woo them to the best of their ability.

Overall, romcoms have been my best genre discovery across film and I’m so grateful it has shaped the young woman that I am today. I hope you all enjoyed this different piece from my others and let me know if you’d like to see more like this!

Lots of love and hugs,

Halima <3