Almost a rom-com

[nineveh_uk]

You know it's raining really hard when (a) you feel obliged to offer half your umbrella to the increasingly soggly-looking person in front of you in the bus queue* and (b) they accept. Unfortunately the person in the queue was an amiable young woman rather than a foppishly attractive young man, so we did not end up having humorous misadventures over the next 1 3/4 hours before living happily ever after, but you can't have everything. We did, however, talk about the weather and public transport.

*Bear in mind that this particular bus queue usually demands a minimum of 1m between queue-ers.

Comments

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Sounds good!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

My umbrella was brown, and did not go with my coat, though it was dark. Does this count?

Hmm. Thinking about it, she had forgotten her umbrella, whilst I had mine. So perhaps I was meant to be the comic friend, and if only I had been down the queue a bit, a foppishly attractive young man might have appeared for her?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I hadn't envisioned it being a book at all, but a film. But then, I read even fewer rom-coms than I watch.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I shall introduce her to the young lady who sits opposite me at work; she comes across as a loveable ditz.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I am doomed.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

DEfinitely a film. Hence the 1 3/4 hours.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Death is surely a blessed relief if it means escape from the Schlegels?

[tree_and_leaf]

It never ceases to amaze me how much drier Cambridge is than Oxford. Less rom com potential, though.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Cambridge is the hottest and driest place I have ever lived. Which was entertaining, given the persistent efforts of the locals to talk up the harshness of the weather.

[tree_and_leaf]

I know, they go on as if it was Siberia. And it's so much nicer than Oxford!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

a foppishly attractive young man

Sounds like a lucky escape, if you ask me.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

But he would be being played by Hugh Grant...

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Run away! Run away!

(The only time I ever liked Hugh Grant was when he was playing The Shit in Bridget Jones).

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Are there any typical rom-coms with lesbian couples? :)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I could not think of any - the closest I got was "Kissing Jessican Stein". There ought to be, but given that I haven't watched a new rom com in some years because Hollywood is on a rather repulsive gender trend in that direction and a lesbian couple would get in the way of the comically violent misogyny, I wouldn't hold my breath for one.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Kissing Jessica Stein end with the heroine in a safely heterosexual relationship, though? Which was a rather disappointing conclusion, IIRC.

And you're spot on about the trend towards "comically violent misogyny". I rewatched Nottting Hill and 10 Things I Hate about You during my Christmas holidays, and while none of these films is either particularly intellectual nor particularly feminist, they seemed to care about their characters and treated them kindly, and with understanding. Kat Stratford the "Shrew", for example, is definitely shown in a positive light as someone to root for. And then I think of more recent stuff like The Naked Truth or The Bounty Hunter and throw up a little in my mouth.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

She does, but (and it was ten years ago, I see in shock) Jessica and Helen's relationship is positively portrayed (as is Helen's bisexuality), and Jessica learns about her own sexuality and her life in the course of the film, and everyone ends up behaving well and being happy and women are allowed to be friends with one another, so I think that all counts as a plus.

I love 10 Things - it a world away from the rancid stuff like The Switch that comes under that name these days. Not only is Kat positive, but Bianca is ultimately shown to be far more than a silly bitch, and the film actually explores social roles and how Bianca has been forced into that of silly bitch (and Kat as that of simply bitch) and how this works (rather than just saying "Oh it's high school cliques).