The digital age is propelling on-screen romantics toward disturbing extremes. Whether pretending to be a stranger’s fiancée or falsely accusing someone of obsessive stalking, happy endings seem more elusive than ever. It’s a long-standing rom-com convention that the couples we’re meant to support are often concealing falsehoods that jeopardize the possibility of a happy relationship blossoming. From timeless classics like “The Shop Around the Corner” to contemporary blockbusters such as “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” the genre flourishes when it presents audiences with alarming red flags that are hidden from its characters, escalating the tension by seeing if chemistry can still ignite when a hidden agenda behind each charming encounter is in plain sight.
In the romantic comedies we’ve witnessed thus far this year, this trope has not only been revived but has been stretched far past its breaking point, solidifying a new rom-com archetype: the unlucky-in-love sociopath. This week’s new release, “Finding Emily,” serves as the most striking illustration to date. It introduces Emily (Angourie Rice), a psychology student whose intense desire to find a compelling case study for her dissertation on the self-destructive aspects of love leads her to devise a cunning, Machiavellian plan to portray university student Owen (Spike Fearn) as an obsessive stalker.
English Translation:
Eek-cute: The Rebirth of the Frothy Rom-Com Sociopath
The online era is pushing screen romantics to alarming extremes. Whether posing as a stranger’s fiancée or framing someone as an obsessive stalker, happy endings look harder than ever to find. It’s a long-running rom-com trope that the couples we’re supposed to root for are often hiding lies that threaten the chances of any happy relationship blossoming. From classics such as “The Shop Around the Corner” to modern blockbusters such as “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” the genre thrives whenever it presents the audience with the most alarming red flags it conceals from its characters, raising the stakes by seeing if sparks can still fly when an ulterior motive behind each meet-cute is hidden in plain sight.
In the romantic comedies we’ve seen so far this year, this trope has not only been revived but pushed far beyond its breaking point, cementing a new rom-com archetype: the unlucky-in-love sociopath. This week’s new release “Finding Emily” is the starkest example to date, introducing psychology student Emily (Angourie Rice), whose desperation to find a good case study for her dissertation essay on the self-destructive nature of love leads to her concocting a Machiavellian scheme to paint university student Owen (Spike Fearn) as an obsessive stalker.