I have since been rethinking this theory of mine and find it to be completely true in most cases. I would like to add three more films to the list that prove my point farther. So this post contains spoilers for Casablanca, The English Patient , Shakespeare in Love, The Last of the Mohicans and Pearl Harbor.
*SPOILERS*
Casablanca - Ilsa leaves.
The English Patient - Katharine dies.
Shakespeare in Love - Viola is forced to leave with her new husband and Will is already married to another woman.
While studying this theory, I have found one common element within all 8 of these mentioned films: The hero and heroine have sex during the movie.
Now, I know in Casablanca, they didn't technically have sex within the movie, but it is mentioned so I think it counts. I wonder why this is. In our society now, it is perfectly acceptable for a man and woman to have sex before they get married and I wonder why it seems that Hollywood is sending us the message, "Don't have sex or your relationship is doomed."
Take 2001's Pearl Harbor for example. Evelyn begins a romantic relationship with Rafe. They are about to have sex before he goes off to war, but he stops them. While he's away, he's "killed" which leaves Evelyn free to sleep with his friend Danny, thus leaving her pregnant. In the end of the movie, Danny is the one who ends up dying and Evelyn ends up with Rafe (who with held from having sex).
On the other hand, I recently watched 1992's The Last of the Mohicans, which isn't technically a romance, but it has a strong romantic subplot. In the end, we are lead to believe that Hawkeye and Cora live happily ever after. Which proves my theory to be correct because they did not have sex within the movie. The same goes for Far and Away.
I'm not necessarily saying that if a couple doesn't have sex, they will for sure end up together. (Although I can't think of any examples right now, I'm sure there must be one.) But my theory seems to be correct. I'm planning on using it in the upcoming romantic epic, Tristan and Isolde. I honestly don't know the story, but I'm assuming (from the previews) that they'll have sex and won't end up together.
It seems funny to me that the romances that are remembered are the doomed ones. No one would remember Romeo and Juliet if they had lived happily ever after. Everyone would think, "Oh, what a nice little story", a common sentiment upon watching a modern day romantic comedy.
Anyway, if anyone can think of film on a grand romantic scale (no Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, or Sandra Bullock fluff!) that disproves my theory, please let me know.
"You break his heart, I'll break your face."
-Watts, Some Kind of Wonderful
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Cheryl_Blevins
19 years ago
I can only think of some from the 50/60s, most notably
An Affair to Remember (again, an implied sexual liaison)
Philadelphia Story (though they had been previously married, presumably consumated...)
Whether the backdrop is historical or contemporary, there are tragic love stories and happy-ending love stories. When Romeo and Juliet was written, it was contemporary. Most of these stories are simply revamps of that classic Romeo & Juliet theme - the tragic love. But people remember Cinderella as much as they remember Romeo & Juliet (as is shown by the many revamps of the Cinderella-story). Those are for the happy-ending purists. And its not just Hollywood that likes to promote the image of the virginal/pure female - that image has been trapped in Western Civilization for thousands of years. Hollywood just has a hard time breaking tradition (mainstream, anyway). I enjoyed reading your post and had to give your theory a lot of thought. Regards.
P.S. two that definitely belong on your tragic ending list are:
City of Angels and Somersby (sort of fluffy, were it not for the actors)
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gata86
19 years ago
Don't forget The Great Gatsby! In TGG Daisy and Jay sleep together and most definitely do not end up together.
I have to say I don’t remember the “implied sexual liaison” in An Affair to Remember, and I’ve watched that movie many times.
Anyway, I don’t think happy endings HAVE to be tacky or corny. For instance, Much Ado about Nothing, Star Wars, and Enchanted April (my favorite) have appropriate satisfying ending, which also happen to be happy.
It is true that people tend to portray sad endings in a more realistic way and happy endings in a more cheesy way (don’t ask me why); but it doesn’t HAVE to be that way. Happiness is not cheesy in of itself; and real life stories do occasionally end happily.
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island1932
19 years ago
The classic ""WUTHERING HEIGHTS"" never implied of a sexual liaison. Did it?
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hakeem-8
19 years ago
"In the end, we are lead to believe that Hawkeye and Cora live happily ever after."
Hmmm... it's definitely been to long since I saw Last of the Mohicans, but still... if there was such an ending... well, damn... they must have screwed up the Hawkeye of the book really bad...
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Etherdave
11 years ago
The ending to this film was anything but happy. The close of 1893 brought the Panic of 1893-94, an economic recession that brought destitution and death to many of the settlers of the Oklahoma Territories. Shannon and Joseph would be hard-pressed to have survived that first winter, to say nothing of the elderly Christies. If they dried and smoked the horse, they might just have made it.
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furienna
10 years ago
I only just realized that this post is eight years old, so I hope you're still out there... I had to think a long time to think of a romantic epic, where the couple have sex and still end up happily ever after. I only have two suggestions.
1: "Robin Hood" from 1991 (not the Kevin Costner version, but the not as well-known other version from the very same year, where a young Uma Thurman plays Maid Marion). Robin and Marion have sex before marriage, but they can get married in the end.
2: "Troy" from 2004. This is an even more complex story, as Helen is already married and she still has sex with Paris. But as her husband dies, she becomes free to escape the burning city with her lover.
Intelligence and purity.
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