Have Fun Storming the Castle - Part One

As a connoisseur of romantic comedies (that or a glutton for punishment), I’ve decided that I would share—or curse—you all with the strange and slightly worrying study I have made of this particular cinematic genre. As I’ve watched a host of these features, certain patterns started to emerge, patterns that I began to recognize, patterns I even categorized and codified, at least for myself, much like The Hero’s Journey. I call my description of the amorous archetypal journey found in rom-coms “Have Fun Storming the Castle,” (no copyright infringement intended).

Storming the Castle consists of three acts—The State of the Kingdom, The Quest, and The Kingdom Reborn. To start off, I’m just going to be focusing on the cast of characters because if you don’t know the players how will you ever fully understand the game.

To begin with we have the protagonist or protagonists. Normally in a rom-com there are two, a man and a woman, though very often one takes on the role of the primary view point character, usually because they get introduced first or some other arbitrary nonsense like that. They come in a variety of flavors, namely the Knight or Knights—they can be either a man or woman—or the Prince and Princess. Most of these roles are interchangeable to some degree or other. Knights are protagonists with a quest. Now, every character as goals, but being a knight normally means they have to prove themselves in some way, earn their spurs so to speak. They’re starting a business or a new career; they’re undertaking to save something they love, e.g. a family home, a beloved wilderness area, a local tradition, etc. Whatever it may be throughout the narrative they will strive to accomplish their task and come into their own. The Prince or Princess is similar except they inherit an established position or have already achieved a certain prestige before the events in the movie and have to display their worthiness of that position. You know, the usual I’ve just inherited a multi-million dollar family operation and now I’m going to show everyone that it was for more reasons than just nepotism. A dilemma everyone comes across at least once in their lives. Pairs of Knights end up together in rom-coms. A Knight and a Prince or a Knight and Princess can also come about. Each combination brings out different, though predictable, patterns of narrative.

The next two in our cast are the Lady-in-Waiting and the Dark Knight. These two represent the wrong partners for our protagonists, though very often their dramatically ironic wrongness remains frustratingly unapparent to the protagonist. The Lady-in-Waiting usually presents herself as a prince’s intended, the blatantly-catty-yet-somehow-hides-it-from-the-overbearing-mother-of-the-prince type. She, with her arching eyebrows and snide asides, does her best to derail the budding romance that “spontaneously” springs up between the it’s-so-obvious-you-were-meant-for-each-other-just-kiss-already couple. The Dark Knight represents the male counterpart to this trope—the boyfriend that never listens, is too wound up in his own business ventures, has nothing in common with his girlfriend, and constantly tries to make her more like him. Both the Lady-in-Waiting and the Dark Knight represent a major obstacle that the Knight or the Prince or Princess has to overcome before they can have their happily-ever-after, and very often these interlopers pop up when they are least wanted and throw the proverbial monkey wrench in the works to scupper the fated couple’s amorous union.

Following this duo in the short procession struts the imperious King and Queen. Now, not every rom-com has both. Very often you have one or the other, however one usually exists. The King or Queen can be quite literally the mother or father of the protagonist, though not always. Often this role is take by an employer. The King or Queen is the character that sits in the paramount position of power in the narratives hierarchy. These individuals can wield said power to either crush the hopes and dreams of our couple or help them along their way. Some even just occupy their thrones with a sort of benign neutrality. In most cases, Knights must prove themselves in some way to said royalty and the Prince and Princess have to display their qualifications before the current monarch. But don’t get comfortable. Remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely and the King and Queen of a rom-com can go over to the dark side more easily than most. If the King or Queen (if both show up in a movie a lot of times only one of them succumbs) turns out to favor the darker persuasions of monarchy, they represent yet another obstacle the protagonists have to overcome in their long—but really short—quest for l’amour.

Bumbling along behind their Supreme Majesties come the Stooges. Now, not every rom-com has a Stooge or Stooges, but, if they do, they are always connected to the evil king or queen. Stooges undertake to do the evil monarch’s bidding, ofttimes in a humorously bungling way. Sometimes these nincompoops don’t even know they have become servants to the monarch’s will, having come under the subtle workings of the conniving sovereign’s manipulation. Usually not the brightest candles in the chandelier, Stooges offer a portion of the much needed comic relief and help cut some of the saccharine sentiment that oozes through every layer of the movie’s subtext.

While Stooges do provide some of the comic relief, the main comedic rapscallion is the Jester. The main difference between the Jester and a Stooge is quite simple, the Jester is smarter and is always connected to one or both of the protagonists, a Knight or a Prince or Princess. However, a Jester is not the only sidekick that one or both of the beloved protagonists can have. Squires, those characters that offer support and well timed advice, support the Knight or Royal Highness as well, often as friends, siblings, or other family members. Again, there can be some overlap between the roles of Jester and Squire.

So there you have it. The cast of nearly every romantic comedy out there. Obviously there exists plenty of variations on this theme, but, if you go back and watch some of your favorite films from this genre, I can almost guarantee you’ll be able to pick out who is who when comparing this list to the feature.

So now that the table has been laid, next time we’ll dig into act one of Storming the Castle, The State of the Kingdom. Hopefully, the prospect of which doesn’t sound too dull. Chao for now!