My Least Favourite Romantic Comedy Trope

I’ll give you a hint… It’s not secret billionaire.

This piece is a difficult one to start. Usually, when I write something, I have a very clear argument, I’ve already made my mind up on what I’m going to say, and I can just sort of let it all flow.

But with this piece, I’m not entirely sure what the substance of my argument is about to be.

The easiest place to start would be with some context.

In mid-June, I went to Ibiza for my cousin’s wedding, I did all the things at man in his late 20s does in Ibiza: being in bed by 10, drinking iced tea, lots of intercessory prayer and reading my Bible, spending zero time in a Hip Hop/RnB/Bashment club called Soul City, standard lad sh*t. One thing I also did in Ibiza was burn through three romance novels: Alechia Dow’s sci-fi adventure, The Kindred; The Dating Playbook which is the second of Farrah Rochon’s Boyfriend Project trilogy; and finally Bolu Babalola’s Honey & Spice.

If you’ve read these books, you’ll notice that all three have at least one Black romantic lead, with The Kindred because that particular galactic empire defines race differently to us but in Earth terms, one is Black, and the other is said to be closest to Pakistani, it’s a whole thing. But that’s kind of my thing, I like to read romance novels with at least one Black protagonist (not super interested in Black/white swirl stories though).

What separates The Dating Playbook and Honey & Spice from The Kindred, however, is what today’s article will be about. Why? Because the first two books are based around probably my least favourite trope in romantic fiction.

If you’re not familiar with romantic tropes here are some quick examples, feel free to skip if I’m patronizing you:

Enemies to Lovers — Two people who initially don’t get along slowly fall in love despite (or even because of) the antagonism. E.g. You’ve Got Mail or Gigi (although my guy was initially beefing while another dude was there singing “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”).

Secret Billionaire — A (usually working class) protagonist falls in love with someone who happens to be a billionaire, the billionaire falls for them because they show them the joys of the simple life as opposed to the fakeries of high society. E.g. So many K-Dramas.

Love Triangle — Probably the most common, everyone’s in love with everyone, and there’s conflict. E.g. Get Over It or The Twilight Saga before one point of the triangle fell in love with another point’s infant daughter, creating a healthy love square as someone in the background sang Thank Heaven For Little Girls, I assume.

Forced Proximity — Two people are forced to stay together by circumstances (getting locked in a room together, having to embark on a road trip, or even a healthy kidnapping) and fall in love as they learn more about each other. E.g. The Bodyguard, The Proposal.

Forbidden Love — Your classic Romeo & Juliet types, complete with disapproving friends and families, an irresistible urge to be together even though it’s wrong, and Harold Perrineau dancing to Young Hearts Run Free in drag (ah the movies we grew up with).

Friends to Lovers — Long-time friends realize they’ve been perfect for each other all along. E.g. When Harry Met Sally, Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball, or Yesterday but without the emotional terrorism (it’s another whole thing).

Meet-Cute — Strangers meet thanks to some cute coincidence and become closer. E.g. 22 Jump Street.

Soulmates — Two people who are always destined to be together but either don’t know it or have to navigate multiple obstacles in their way. E.g. Sleepless in Seattle or The Princess Bride.

Opposites Attract — Two people with opposing characteristics find that they complement each other wonderfully but have to understand their different worlds and come together. E.g. She’s All That, Poetic Justice, High School Musical, High School Musical 2, High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

These are just some of the tropes on offer in this vast genre, but if you’re more well-versed in rom-coms, you’ll notice a glaring omission from that list. That omission is, indeed, my least favourite romantic trope:

The Fake Relationship.

For those of you who don’t know, the fake dating trope comes about when some contrivance (romantic fiction is full of those) forces two people to pretend to date. It could be anything from a pushy relative, to having to avoid an awkward situation, to pretending that you’re married to secure citizenship, something will happen, and the only response that our leads can think of is “We must pretend that we’re f*ckin”.

As they pretend to be in a relationship, they discover that (shock) they’re actually beginning to fall in love with each other until something happens that forces them to come clean, they split up, they’re sad and then they get back together for real.

I should caveat all of this by saying that there are examples of this trope in books and movies that I love such as the GOATed How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (although this features a twist to the trope as our two leads are deceiving each other instead of everyone else). If the trope is done well, the fake partnership feels important to the plot, and I’m genuinely invested in whether or not the couple is found out, consider me a happy rom-com nerd. However, the problem with this trope is that these things can so easily not happen, and can lead to the whole thing feeling slightly underwhelming for a number of reasons.

An Afterthought

Of all the tropes that I’ve enjoyed, the fake relationship is usually the one that’s felt the most superfluous to the plot. Writing a fake relationship can be somewhat of a double-edged sword because while the trope thrives when the lines between real and fake are blurred, leading to moments of intense, intimate tension that serve to weaken the separation between our protagonists, there are times when the writer can get so wrapped up in the chemistry of the two leads that they sometimes forget to keep that line as prominent as it should be. Our leads will act like an ordinary couple for extended periods even when no one is watching and the most tension you’ll get will come from one character arbitrarily reminding themselves and us that it’s all fake. And… like… guys… just get together already, it’s not that deep.

Is It By Force?

One of the most grating things about this trope is that sometimes the fake relationship itself feels completely unnecessary. There are some cases where our leads are genuinely forced into their fake relationship (Sandra Bullock in The Proposal risks being deported for example) or where their motivations make complete sense (our two leads in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days must trick each other to selfishly further their careers); however, there are also times when a character suggests that the two should fake date and my only response is… why tho?

Honey & Spice is a good example of this, if you asked me why Malakai and Kiki pretend to date, I wouldn’t be able to provide an answer, and my confusion is accentuated by the fact that even without the trope, the book had a pretty great story brewing for the two of them. Kiki is a relationship guru and overachiever who thinks she’s got all men figured out until she meets Malakai, a shockingly less-than-trash man who can keep up with her intellectually, resists all of her attempts to dismiss him as a player, and even provides an academic challenge for her. The two are tasked with helping each other with their respective projects and honestly, this premise is already so strong that the fake relationship just feels tacked on. The entire story could have been about the fun complications of Kiki trying to run the show with the one person who could genuinely challenge the invulnerability of her on-air persona, and I would’ve loved that sh*t.

This is my larger problem with the trope, oftentimes it feels like a bit of a crutch that takes a genuinely interesting premise and waters it down into something that feels formulaic, something that feels like there’s a lot of missed potential there.

Lack of Stakes

What happens when you enter a fake relationship to fool people, but seemingly no one really cares?

Nothing.

Nothing happens.

And it’s pretty boring.

I would argue from my personal viewing tastes that the key to a good fake relationship is tension. Not just tension between our two leads as they try to protect themselves from falling for the other, but also external tension, having someone to really poke and prod at their fake relationship and test its boundaries fully.

One of the things that can make a fake relationship so tense is when our leads are often so close to being found out, this tension serves as a driving force for a lot of the action. Our characters must make their relationship super convincing to fool a suspicious spectator, but as the simulation grows more intense, things can become too real.

This is where a lot of comedy can be derived from the ridiculous things the pair have to do to fool someone and a lot of emotion can come from when a character must desperately profess their fake love for the other (there are much more suitable examples of this, but I’m choosing to go with the episode of Smallville where Clark and Lois are forced into pretending to be married and Lois must take a lie detector test where she admits her feelings for Clark).

These stakes can come from a particularly nosy person desperate to prove that the relationship is a lie, or it can be a situation wherein they must prove their fake love to others, but the point is that some romcoms simply don’t do this. There’s no real pressure on the two of them to keep up pretenses, no one is really checking for them, which makes me question why they’re even bothering to do it in the first place.

The Resolution

The climax of a rom-com is usually my least favourite part. This is usually the part where our protagonists are forced apart, they’re sad for a bit, and then they get back together (I wrote previously about how Rye Lane — a movie you should watch — makes pretty good use of this section).

In a fake dating movie, this is usually the part where the two leads must admit to everyone that their relationship is a farce, they break up believing that they’ve deluded themselves into putting too much into a love that isn’t real until they realize it was true love and get back together.

My issue with this particular section is that this tends to be the most formulaic part of the film. Often the only variation is the order, sometimes the couple breaks up, either because it’s become too real for them or their reason for faking it is now resolved, and then they come clean to everyone before reconciling; other times the couple is found out and this forces them to break up. This is especially bad when the two characters have little reason to pretend which is why the “We don’t have to pretend anymore, let’s go our separate ways” part of a fake dating movie feels particularly forced.

With all that being said, it would be wrong to say that I even dislike the fake dating trope; it’s still very possible for me to enjoy a project that utilizes it. Perhaps my problem is that of all of the tropes, this one is the most reliant on external factors to move the plot and the relationship along.

For me, a love story is at its best when our two leads grow to love each other organically, the inciting incident can be full of contrivances, but when the two are forced together, the conflict goes from external to internal very quickly, and much of what brings the two closer comes from their characters, convictions, how they desire to be loved, what they need from each other etc. I find that the fake dating trope at its absolute worst can use external factors as a crutch; their first kiss comes because they have to act for someone else, their first date because they have to keep up appearances; the confession of love comes because they’re about to be found out. While these are all things that stop the trope from becoming entirely meaningless, they’re still not as organic or interesting to me as other tropes and are often the quickest to become lazy.

I like rom-coms because I’m fascinated by love, I like seeing what causes two separate individuals to lose all semblance of rationality and slowly become devoted to each other, and I really enjoy seeing the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I guess the ultimate issue is that, when we add a trope that relies so heavily on a checklist approach to things, then it can feel like we’re just trying to cram something in where there’s little room for it, and in the process, a potentially great story is diminished.

*This was an article I actually wrote in early 2023, I randomly found it in my drafts and thought it was interesting so decided to post it