ROMANTIC COMEDIES
A Movie Guide for Your Every Mood
When my publisher Ken Lee of Michael Wiese Productions first approached me to do a book on Romantic Comedies I reminded him that I was the mythology, military, metaphysics writer. But Ingram Distribution had approached MWP about having one of their authors do the book, and they thought I’d be the best person. Okay….
The genesis of it was an article in Vanity Fair about a study that showed when couples watched Romantic Comedies and talked about them together they had a better stay-together rate than couples who only went to couples therapy. So – proof once again that media can affect us, and in this case, in positive ways.
We decided to make it a movie guidebook to Rom-Coms for lots of different situations, problems, or questions people have about romance.
Though not considering myself a huge fan of Rom-Coms at that time, I did have my favorites: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Love Actually, In and Out, Down with Love, and such.
Coming at the categories as situations quickly gave me twenty-five different chapters, from Am I Good Enough to be Loved, to Young Love, to Should You Reconnect With Your Ex, to Crazy Love, to Finding Love Where You Least Expect It, and so on.
Then it was time to start selecting the right four movies for each of the 25 different situations people come up against when searching for romantic love and fulfillment.
Lots of Romantic Comedies address more than one situation; in fact, the best often have two or more. So what got included and why?
It was fun to confab with my friends, including the guys and individuals all along the spectrum, about which movies meant something special to them. Or sometimes, just the ones they found most entertaining. Before long there was an embarrassment of riches for the choosing.
Part of the criteria for inclusion was they had to be entertaining, relatively popular, teach us something important about love and romance, and in some way be memorable. After all, you don’t put every film within a genre into a guide book, so they had to stand out among the hundreds of Rom-Coms made over the years.
What did a movie have to have to make the cut?
One or more of the following qualities: Idealism, Joy, Passion, Dignity. There’s nothing wrong with just being entertaining, and sometimes we just want a simple no-brainer with laughs and a happy ending. But since the prime directive was to address sometimes problematic situations lovers and potential lovers face, it was essential that these films hold to higher Ideals.
After all, one of the main tenets of the best Romantic Comedies is that they are about Chivalric Love – the kind of love that makes us want to be better people, to become in reality how the other person sees us.
In a world too often shredded by strife and discord, with people operating from fear and separatism, it is even more important that we focus on the ideals that bring us together, that bring peace, that instill us to better behavior, and to better our world.
Print or Kindle?
The publishers did such excellent design work, I would suggest adding the print copy to your library. The cover is bright and Rom-Com-y, but inside are images from the various films, often featuring the sad, the hopeful, the heartbroken, the comedic, and the joyous parts of the stories.
Most of us can find ourselves and those we love in the Lover Types, and our experiences in the Love Lessons. These films remind us of how exhilarating love can be, even amongst the trepidations and turmoils that often accompany it.
Mostly, it’s a guide to films that remind us in fun ways that Love is worth it.
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BIO:
Pamela Jaye Smith loves both romance and adventure in myths and movies. This book is her tribute to love and the movies that show us how to find, hold, and relish it in our romantic relationships.
Pamela is a mythologist, author, international consultant-speaker, and award-winning writer-producer-director with thirty+ years in the media industry, in Hollywood and around the world.
Credits include Fox, Disney, Paramount, Microsoft, Universal, RAI-TV Rome, Romance Writers of America, UCLA, USC Film School, American Film Institute, Women in Film, Natl. Film Institute of Denmark, LA and Marseille WebFests, and many film festivals and story conferences. Others are American Assoc. of University Women, Junior ROTC, GM, Boeing, Hyundai, Hughes Space & Comm., the FBI, and the U.S. Army.
Ms. Smith has served on think tanks for the Entertainment Industries Council – The Art of Making a Difference, the U.S. Army’s Advanced Warfighting Working Group giving presentations on the Warrior Archetype, and Boeing’s Workforce Development. She is on the Board of Advisors for the LAWebFest, the Center for Conscious Creativity, and the Orpheus Project.
She is the founder of MYTHWORKS, co-founder of Alpha Babe Academy and Mythic Challenges: Create Stories that Change the World.
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