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I often feel like interactions between people in movies dont feel natural for some reason and don't remind me of how people interact with each other in real life (there are exceptions). Especially for romantic relationships, but a bit just in general.
the dialogue is always too perfect or clever; there are not enough filler words, awkward stumbles, malapropisms, spoonerisms, people with shitty attention spans blabbing away and dragging the convo away to something weird and off the wall, etc.
That would just not fit the length of the movie. And I don't think that is the part that makes scripted dialogue sound fake. It's delivery: how the words are said. Bad acting with uncomfortable body language makes interactions between actors in movies seem fake.
Good actors can actually pull off a really realistic looking scene. But good actors are rare, and even a good actor can mess up a scene if they put no effort into it.
Of course it's not natural it's a movie. Especially romantic movies are exaggerated and gives a false image of relationships. Watching a movie is meant to be an escape from real life, if you want real life watch a documentary or go outside and observe real people.
Yes because the acting is horrible in most movies. There are a small number of films and tv shows that actually look realistic, at least the character dynamics resemble those of real people.
In rom com movies you never see the protagonist look for a parking spot. That breaks me out of the movie and plot.
You are an the middle of downtown chicago and found a parking spot in less than a minute? This movie is a lie!
In rom com movies:
- A woman will either always wear her bra when having sex or, alternatively, tastefully framed shots will show that her bra has magically disappeared without any fumbling about by her or the guy.
- After a woman has had sex with a guy, when she needs to get out of bed she will always wrap the bedclothes around her just to make sure the guy doesn't get a glimpse of her naked body.
- As she staggers around the bedroom with sheets and blankets trailing on the floor around her feet, the natural feminine grace possessed by every woman will ensure that she doesn't trip, fall flat on her face, then rise from the floor with blood streaming from her mouth and both her incisors in her hand.
- When a guy slides out from under the bedclothes after having sex, it will be revealed that he's still wearing his underwear.
- The most romantic kissing takes place in downpours of rain. The magic of true lurve means we never hear squawks and bleeps from the couple's phones as they become waterlogged and die. The same mystical power ensures that we definitely never see smoke coming from their pockets as the lithium batteries in the phones short out and burst into flames.
- Famous people are always falling in love with non-famous people they happen to meet in the most implausible and embarrassing circumstances. In the same vein, incredibly hot, highly social people are always falling helplessly in love with naïve, geeky people who have zero social skills.
- A huge misunderstanding results in one of the parties stomping off in a huff without taking a moment to ask what the hell is going on.
- Newly-met couples agree to go on a first date, there's no discussion about the where, when or what, and yet the next thing we know, they're blabbering away in some restaurant where there's apparently a Cone of Silence™ around their table so we can't hear anyone else in the place, followed by salsa dancing or some such shit where they magically bond so they can then go outside and kiss in the rain.
- Approximately 20% of the working population in Romcomland works in a bakery. Around 50% of those bakers make a very good living out of producing something quirky, like Instagram-ready vegan brownie bagel wedding cakes, or organic, zero-calorie, carb and fat-free muffins.
- Those who don't work as bakers in Romcomland are all either art curators, reporters, fashion magazine editors, architects or bookstore owners.
- Unlike every other place in the world, in Romcomland you can safely run through an airport, charge right through into the boarding side and make it all the way to the gate your beloved is about to pass through without the local equivalent of Homeland Security tackling you, tasing you or shooting you.
Rom-coms have some of the worst script writing in the history of movies! Also in general they have very average actors who are good-looking... so there's that.
Yeah, the interactions in movies are meant to be perfect and appeal to peoples fantasies. Since it sells well, they're probably not going to change that formula anytime soon. Good on you for not falling for it.
I was tempted to say, "Well, duuuh! 🙄"
But I'm hanging around waiting for my wife and daughter to get themselves sorted out so we can go on an Ikea shopping expedition, so I'll drone on for a bit.
Movies tell stories, and stories aren't reality; they may seem to be, but they aren't. Stories have beginnings, middles and ends. There's a set-up that we can relate to, a narrative arc that makes some sort of sense, and a conclusion where matters are resolved in a way we find satisfying. The actions of people have some sort of underlying, comprehensible logic (even if it's not clear at the time), matters progress in ways that makes some sort of sense, and all the loose ends are tied up at the end.
That's not how real life works, but it's how we want to believe it does. We all really want to believe that there's some underlying, cosmic purpose to our lives. We want to believe that everything happens for a reason. We need to believe that we have agency: that we have at least some control over what happens in our lives.
The reality is that shit - wonderful, meh and totally awful shit - happens for no damn logical reason whatsoever. Saintly people do good things and get dumped on. Nasty people do horrible things and end up with all the toys. All of the rest of us bumble along trying to figure out what the hell is going on, doing the best we can and screwing up in various ways and in varying degrees. The people we interact with are just as confused, so they say and do things that make no damn sense to us, and often make no damn sense to themselves if they take a moment to think about it. Very occasionally there's a happy-ever-after - until one of the people dies, anyway - but most often it's just a matter of two people stumbling along and making the best of the random crap that life tosses their way.
In some ways, movies are even more fake than literary stories, since Hollywood executives have figured out exactly what beats to hit to appeal in order to prod at the emotions of their customers. So there are loads of tropes that have been thoroughly audience-tested for decades.
I'm now being asked why we aren't all in the car already, so...