The Rom Com Reality

Korrin B.

March 27, 2010 - 5:50 PM

My family is prone to philosophical discussion, repetitive humor, and general absurdity. Through these characteristics quite often springs what I believe are some of the most profound nuggets of wisdom that this world could ever ask for. Somewhere amidst the absurdity lies a striking truth. Sometimes the humor that leads to the revelations comes at the expense of your's truly. As a 21-year-old woman, my life apparently holds a beautiful mix of hilarity, angst, and textbook experience to lend itself as the perfect case study for some of my family's greatest revelations. This spring break, we solidified one of these findings - the Rom Com reality.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, Rom Com is the hipster way of referring to a film in the genre of Romantic Comedy. So, what does a Romantic Comedy have to do with my life? Well, after a detailed analysis of the data, absolutely everything.

Rom Coms run between roughly an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and forty-five minutes. They are short, quickly hitting on several life themes experienced by all and hence, tugging on the heartstrings of viewers throughout the world. The star of the Rom Com usually falls within the 26 to 30 age range, as the years before that can be briefly summarized through quick flashbacks and asides. However, when you happen to be living a Rom Com, the film lasts for ten years. As my dad put it to me in a text message one day during spring break while I was home and we were exploring the foundations of this new reality, "Your Rom Com is happening in slow motion."

Here is what we mean. From the age of 20 to the age of 30, I will have many experiences. More times than not, I will probably let one of these experiences consume my mind, believing that it is the only important thing, that that it is my reality. However, soon enough, I will find myself consumed in yet another thing and the cycle goes on until the day it all comes together (at which point it starts all over again in a slightly revised way, but we'll ignore this fact for now). At the point it all comes together, there will be the great moment of "zzzt, zzzzt" - a metaphorical sound of electric current when the great realization is met. An example of this moment of "zzzt" is put very well in the Rom Com, "The Holiday." A woman and a man are both in a store looking for pajamas. The man holds up a pajama set and says to the sales associate, "I'm only looking for the bottoms." The woman holds up the same set of pajamas and looks at the sales associate and says, "I'm only looking for a top." At that moment, they turn and look into each other's eyes and then - zzzzzt! Zzzzzt's aside for a moment, what does any of this have to do with my Rom Com happening in slow motion?

Example one - relationships. I am currently in that stage of life where one dates various different guys and gets to know that whole world of relationships. I often come home to my family with the latest story of the latest date and most of the time a companion story of why it was all wrong. Occasionally I get wrapped up in something for an extended period of time and let my mind dwell on all of those things you dwell on when in a relationship. When it falls apart, I learn a few things, create some awesome art, get a few jokes out of it, and go have a great time with my friends. This will continue to happen in the previously mentioned cycle until some theoretical moment of "zzzzt" comes along. However, knowing this is the case does not always help when you are knees deep in a slow motion short-term relationship. It is easy to find yourself running your mind into knots. In a Rom Com, this phase often happens in a five or so minute montage. Steve was great, until it turned out he had some weird foot fetish. Gary was super, until she noticed his intense road rage. Tom was a winner, until she realized he was still hung up on his ex-girlfriend. The Rom Com makes it all seem so humorous, ignoring the fact that when it is slowly happening in real life, it is not always quite as pleasant. The female character continues through this montage until she finally surrenders (key word) that she'll never meet someone worthwhile and then - zzzzzt, zzzt.

Example two - career path. As my readers know by now, I spent most of last term in a laborious effort to send off applications to several competitive summer internships. As the results come in, I prepare for both devastation and intense excitement. I am in that stage of my Rom Com where I am trying to figure it all out. What do I want to do with my life? What about just after I graduate? Do I stay goal focused and build my resume or give in to the youthful pull to travel the world as a bum for a while? The answer to, "What am I going to do with my life?" in a Rom Com comes by the end of an hour and a half. In real life, the slow motion version of the Rom Com, it might come through years of questioning and trying different jobs and changing majors and breaking down and deciding to just travel and so on. In reality, it's easy to miss that moment of "zzzt" in your career path. You go through the steps, you ask the questions, and then someday I suppose you wake up and realize that you're doing just what you're supposed to be doing. The moment of when this actually manifested cannot be found through the many layers of life experiences.

Ok, so now that the whole reality that the 20-something year old's life is merely a Rom Com in slow motion has been revealed to you in this blog post, I can only assume that you are asking, "So what?" Good for you! I'm so proud of you for asking this! This is the point where I circle this entire post back to life as a student at the UO.

This spring term, I plan to completely surrender myself to the Rom Com reality. I won't let myself get too entangled in some pseudo-relationship, as I will know that it is just part of my Rom Com montage to learn what does and does not work. I will look forward to the humor in its ending and attempt to not drown myself in the scrutiny of its every detail. I surrender to the fact that this is just how that dating phase goes and it should be enjoyed. I further surrender myself to all outcomes of my internship applications. Perhaps they all turn me down. Perhaps the perfect one says yes and next thing I know I'm on a plane to D.C. Perhaps the wrong one says yes and next thing I know I'm in D.C. wishing I was in Eugene. It doesn't matter because it's all just part of my slow motion journey to the promise land!

People get so wrapped up in the drama of the moment without being able to see that it is just a moment, just a two-minute blurp in a ten-year Rom Com. I hereby surrender myself to spring term 2010. I shall embrace its every turn, every bump and know that I am just living out my Rom Com and all will be well.

And here I must give the proper citation to my family, as the ideas expressed in this post were not solely my own.