So while I was reading other people's blogs I turned on the TV for some background noise. In the end I decided to put on TNT's presentation of Titanic. It's been forever since I've watched the movie in its entirety and honestly I really don't remember much about it. Well when I turned on the movie I ended up coming in when the boat is sinking and Jack's friends break through the gates to reach the upper levels. I must admit I've seen the ending many times, often just to see America's obsession with death at its finest. After the film ended TNT started to show it again. I can't recall the last time I saw the beginning of the film and was generally surprised by it. However the point of this blog is not a critic of a movie I can't say I've ever truly enjoyed. While watching the film I started to think of the way that films reuse couples. Titanic was the film that launched Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into stardom. They were the couple that every girl wanted to be in the 90's. When Revolutionary Road came out last year the film used this previous pairing to help get interest in the new film. I must admit that I find this concept so interesting when you look at the couples the two actors play. In Titanic they are two people from opposite worlds who fall madly in love with each as they explore each others worlds. Revolutionary Road is about a new couple trying to live life in the suburbs while dealing with issues of identity and the desire to follow dreams that do not correspond with the American dream. The two couples have nothing to do with each other and look at very different issues. In the end I find it amazing that advertisers would even try to compare these two couples.
Along with this idea of reusing couples in extremely different genres of films I started to think about the sheer multitude of couples that get reused. Earlier this weekend TNT also showed Runaway Bride, another film that utilizes a previous coupling. Runaway Bride stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts who also star together in Pretty Woman. We go from the prostitute and the lonely business man to the newspaper reporter and the independent tomboy afraid of settling down. Another example would be Matthew McConaughy and Kate Hudsen in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool's Gold. And yet another would be Nia Vardolas and John Corbett in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I Hate Valentine's Day. Why do we feel this need to see the same couples over and over again in such diverse and yet similar roles? I realize there are only so many stars out there but our fascination with seeing the same actors reprise the same roles is clearly evident in today's and yesterday's films.
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Good observation. Are those really the only two movies where Hudson and McConaughy are a couple? It feels like they are always working together. The world of romantic comedies isn't exactly art. The plots are so contrived and the point is to make money, so maybe producers just think, "it made money the last time we used these two, let's try it again."
ReplyDeleteBut Revolutionary Road and Titanic are a different issue, to be sure.
I love this observation. Its so true that consumers love to see hit couples staring in movies for the second time. And its funny because they never turn out to be as good as the original yet we always buy into it for the sake of seeing them together again. It really is a great marketing strategy.
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