Watched the Netflix film Holidate recently.
最近看了网飞的《假日约会》。
The rom-com has a simple premise: the main character, Sloane, played by the wonderful Emma Roberts, is desperate to have a date on the holidays so her family does not constantly worry about her romantic life, and picks up a holidate at the mall by the name of Jackson, who just so happens to be looking for the same thing. Then the platonic relationship slowly becomes more, and the two main characters ride off into the sunset after an embarrassingly cliche public declaration of love, made slightly less predictable as it was Sloane running after Jackson, as opposed to the other way around.
这个rom-com片子故事线很简单：由出色的艾玛·罗伯茨饰演的主角Sloane非常想在假期有对象，这样她的家人就不会经常担心她的浪漫生活，并在购物中心找到了一个叫Jackson的人，他恰好在寻找同样的东西。然后柏拉图式的关系慢慢变得更加丰富，两个主角在一次令人尴尬的公开爱意宣言之后骑马进入日落，仅仅因为Sloane追Jackson而变得更加不可预测。
The story was typical, the acting was average, and the aesthetic was mediocre. But the point of interest for me about this film is the finale. Even Sloane’s flirtatious and raunchy Aunt Susan finds true love, ironically while she was at the hospital waiting for another man, and, more ludicrously, Sloane’s mother, who was portrayed as nothing more than a nagging mom, found true love.
故事一般，演技一般，美感一般。但我对这部电影的兴趣点是结局。即使是Sloane的性感和淫荡的Susan阿姨都找到了真爱。最讽刺的是，她的爱情是当她在医院等待另一个男人时来的。更可笑的是，Sloane的母亲，一个仅仅被描绘成一个唠叨的妈妈，都找到了真爱。
So what was the point of the movie? The major draw of the film could have been its discussion of the pressure put on single people during the holidays, and though this may be too much to ask of a rom-com by Netflix, the film makes almost no discussion of the actual reason the main characters are thrown together, and instead just seems to dejectedly accept that being harassed to get a romantic partner is just how it’s going to be.
所以这部电影的重点是什么？这部电影的主要吸引力是它看似要讨论假期期间单身人士所承受的压力，尽管这可能对网飞的 rom-com 要求有点高，但这部电影几乎没有讨论为啥主角们被迫在一起。它只是沮丧地接受了如果没有伴侣就会受到骚扰的事实。
How does a film that is based on the premise of two people hating how they are forced into finding partners end with everyone finding true love and living happily ever after, even those who didn’t seem to be looking for it in the first place?
一部以两个人讨厌他们被迫寻找伴侣的方式为前提的电影是如何以每个人都找到真爱并从此幸福地生活在一起，即使是那些最初似乎没有寻找爱情的人，结束的？
To me, this film is a perfect caricature of how the rom-com genre has regressed over the past decade. Rom-coms haven’t always been superficial and predictable, completely intent on disregarding deeper messages. There was a time when rom-coms like Bridesmaids shone through, with raw and meaningful discussion on love and friendship and the struggles of being single at the “wrong age,” making it a beloved classic. The rom-coms of today have set the bar lower and lower for themselves, focusing less and less on the discourse of deeper topics they could provoke. There are only so many ways two people can fall in love, and the film industry should, at this point, realize that it may be time to start bringing actual, meaningful discussions into films, instead of just playing new variations of the same storyline over and over. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was wonderful the first time. Once was enough.
对我来说，这部电影是对 rom-com 类型在过去十年中如何倒退的完美象征。 Rom-coms 并不应该是肤浅和可预测的，完全忽略更深层次的信息。曾经有一段时间，像《伴娘》这样的浪漫喜剧大放异彩，对爱情和友谊以及在“错误年龄”单身的挣扎进行了原始而有意义的讨论，使其成为受人喜爱的经典之作。今天的 rom-coms 为自己设定了越来越低的标准，越来越少地关注明明可能引发的更深层次的话题。两个人坠入爱河的方式只有这么多，电影业在这一点上应该意识到。是时候开始将实际、有意义的讨论带入电影了，而不仅仅是播放同一故事情节的新变化和结束。第一次《蒂芙尼的早餐》很棒，但是一次就够了。
Anyway,
Happy Monday!!
周一快乐！！
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