Jose K Joseph
post news network
Bhubaneswar, July 5: Romantic comedies are the latest flavour of the times. Members of Generation Z, which affably calls the genre ‘romedy’, appeared to have developed a fetish for it considering the glut of such works and their patronage. But why?
In its interactions with youngsters, Orissa POST gathered a range of opinions. Young girls were hugely disenchanted by romedies, as they are enamoured of classic pairs such as Romeo and Juliet, Orpheus and Eurydice, Anarkali and Salim, and Layla and Majnu.
“Mixing love and comedy is an unfortunate combination and romance is best when it is treated as such. Boys sometimes consider romance as passing fancy and that is perhaps why romedies are successful,” Harshita Swain, a college student, said. Boys, meanwhile, tugged opinion the other way. They consider romedies as mere entertainment.
“We go to movies or read novels to relax. So there is nothing wrong with mixing comedy and romance. Comedy can be relaxing when someone is bored and tired. I believe girls like tragedies and complicated suspense, which is why teleserials are such a success and that is probably why they are criticising this new trend,” Sitanshu Dey, a college student, said.
Senior citizens, who are unbiased by the opinions of the youngsters, term the trend as ‘unfortunate’ and describe it as a product of the internet culture.
“The chief sources of entertainment for our generation were books and sports. Even love letters were handwritten and it reflected a culture. But, that era is past. SMS-es and Facebook chats have changed all that and we are living in a world that makes a comedy out of everything,” Rabindra Senapati, a retired schoolteacher, said.
Sailabala Moharana, a housewife, too, believes in the beauty and immortality of romance. “The new generation appears to believe that romance is about gifts on special days such as Valentine’s Day, birthdays and other special occasions. Greeting card companies and gift shops are beneficiaries of this romance. This comedic situation is being reflected through movies.”
But leading writers such as Bibhuti Patnaik, have welcomed it as a change in line with time.
“There is nothing wrong with new experiments in writing. There is no point criticising a new style of writing and new writers have to come up with trends,” Bibhuti Patnaik said.