Take Your Trope And Shove It

There's a commercial on Youtube for the newest in an unending series of straight white people falling in love. "Endless Love", I believe.

Now, we're all familiar with the basic recipe for a chick flick. Take one ridiculously cute boy, one pretty girl(while a woman who swears she doesn't need a man is preferred, she can be a "geek", so long as she gets a makeover at some point). Add one dash of unlucky love life. Stir in zest of best friend, then add just a pinch of easily resolved conflict(Martha recommends family issues or a nice "I-love-you-but-im-soooo-popular-that-we-have-to-hide-it"). Top with a sprinkle  of cheesy ending and garnish with an epic kiss.

There's nothing wrong with seeing two people fall in love. That's what movies are for. What is wrong is the lack of diversity and originality. Since the 80's, we've been exposed to the same movie over and over and over. The names change, the scenes change, but when you wipe that away we're left with a repetitive framework. But a few years ago, Hollywood had a marvelous idea-instead of having the girl be pretty and popular, let's make her pretty and shy! Look, she's cute and reads classic books! How novel!*

Go fuck yourself. I am so tired of watching the movies treat every bookreading lady like she's a hipster. Readers are not just 5'4" skinny white girls in leggings and sweaters drinking tea. Readers can be short and like Chinese or black and punk rock or gay with an affinity for books about history. Give us some diversity, already!

That goes for the guys, too. While these fine fellows are nice to look at, I can't think of a single girl that wouldn't mind seeing a guy onscreen that at least remotely resembles a normal human being. How about a guy that's muscular, but with acne spots? Someone scrawny but incredibly kind? How about a guy that wears ill-fitting clothes and has a silly looking farmer's tan, but is emotionally repressed?

Give us some diversity. Let people see that not being one of the cookie-cutter movie stars is ok. Tell us that you can find love even if you have bad skin.

*I realized that this was a pun when I was proofreading and I am so, so sorry.