Boy meets girl; girl gets boy into pickle; boy gets pickle into girl.
Since love stories tend to not have a lot of Kung-Fu, car chases, or explosions (with some exceptions; see Kung Fu Hustle for one example), it adds an element of tension and drama that makes their inevitable reunion that much more satisfying. Oh look, she almost got on a plane and moved to Alaska without realizing that he was her true love all along!
*The Breakup
*Sad and Alone: Cue shots of the protangonist doing alone things, seeing other happy couples and feeling sad, looking at their phone or photos of the other person, etc. Douse liberally with sad music
*The Reveal: Parent/friend/wise old person resolves the misunderstanding/reveals how much the other REALLY liked the protangonist/tells the protangonist “No, it was really MY dildo”
*The Desperate Race: The protangonist MUST catch the other person before they get on the plane/get married to someone else/have sex change surgery,etc. Failure means they are lost forever. Always aided by parent/friend/wise old person from the previous step, although it’s very important that The Approach be the protangonist alone. This allows a minor side of Heroic Sacrifice by the parent/friend/wise old person “I can’t make it…Don’t worry about me, you go get her/him/it/them”. Of course the Heroic Sacrifice is optional, but when it is used, the parent/friend/wise old person is always okay by the end credits.
*The Approach: Shots of the protangonist crashing the wedding/boarding the plane/seeing his/her/its car at a rest stop. There’s usually one final barrier such as the about-to-be-jilted ex, airport security, etc, which can be resolved with either The Heroic Sacrifice, or the rest of the passengers/cops/audience recognizing that True Love is at hand and all pitching in to help.
*The Reunion: Together at last! Flowers and rainbows and puppies! They’ll be happy for the REST OF THEIR LIVES because they have TRUE LOVE.
*End Credits.
I’d prefer you leave my name off the credits please, and pay me in cash.
I think there’s some wish fulfillment for men in there as well. Most of us would like to believe that if we did screw things up with the woman we love, that we would have a chance to fix it.
I take it you’re also the type who occasionally spends a year dead for tax reasons?
(This thread made me think of the exact same thing).
Well, in general people prefer stories in which the characters has flaws and overcomes them. That’s what character development is all about. Characters who don’t need self-improvement are boring.
And just because something is in a movie and people like the movie or find aspects of it appealing, that does not mean people want to live like the people in the movie.
Sometimes, but not universally. People like stories in which the characters overcome obstacles, but those obstacles don’t always have to be internal to the characters.
Well… I think it’s more that flaws are just a part of dealing with other people. A story without some kind of flaw would be pretty boring and not very plausible.
But in terms of the wish fulfillment department… notice how few romantic comedies involve the woman realizing that she was acting like a total bitch, then changing her ways and making amends.
If it didn’t happen that way, the “we’re miserable apart montage” wouldn’t make sense.
I’m taken, so that’s out.