Rom-coms have been with us since the 1920s and 30s, though it’s been hard to avoid the surge in romantic comedies since the ’90s that have blessed (or cursed) our screens, especially over the last decade. For many, romantic comedies are a guilty pleasure, and there’s nothing like watching two people fall in love with a bit of feel-good comedy to keep it light.
Typically, the feel-good storyline in a rom-com generates a buzz of serotonin in the audience when we finally see the two main characters coming together, and we can all let out a big sigh of relief. For some reason, the (most of the time) unrealistic yet optimistic and cheerful approach gives us hopeless romantics something to hold onto, but the year 2000 saw something a little different with director Stephen Frears’ film High Fidelity.
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Based on Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel of the same name, High Fidelity stars John Cusack, in what is considered to be one of his greatest films. Cusack stars as an unlucky in love, audiophile record store owner, Rob Gordon, who (after being dumped by his girlfriend Laura) decides to take a trip down memory lane and track down his ex-girlfriends (who largely make up the excellent High Fidelity cast, along with a great Jack Black). Making a kind of music fan’s typical ‘Top Five’ list, he dissects his five most memorable break-ups to find out how he failed in his relationships and what he is doing wrong.
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This brilliant romantic comedy affected the rom-com genre and is still significant today, as evidenced by the High Fidelity TV series which unfortunately came and went. Fortunately, the movie High Fidelity will probably remain immortal in the hallowed hallways of great romantic comedies, and here’s why.
Breaking The Fourth Wall
The decision for Rob to break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience was not something that was commonly seen in a rom-com, and affected how we had previously viewed romantic comedies, despite the technique being around for a long time. Cusack actually told The New York Times that breaking the fourth fall was “the biggest challenge in adapting the novel,” but the decision ended up being very liberating and the director, Stephen Frears, said that “once you commit to that, you can bypass naturalism completely.”
The direct-to-camera audience address is a trick that can distance or compel the viewer from something; it can be funny, irritating, or even shocking at times, and it is always a brave move by the director. In the case of High Fidelity, it certainly paid off, as it places the audience outside their comfort zone (where people would usually want to be in a classic rom-com). It allows the view to feel as though they are part of the movie, that it is more realistic, which is something completely different from the typical lovey-dovey feel of a rom-com, where it almost feels like an impossible fiction and a bit of a fairytale. High Fidelity effectively brought something new to the genre in this way, something which people like Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag have used to great effect ever since.
The emotional nakedness that comes with breaking the fourth wall and communicating directly with the audience adds to the humorous effect of the movie, allowing the viewer to dive into the fears and contradictions of the male psyche in a way few others did, bringing a modern and refreshing spin on the genre. This is interesting to watch, because Rob is not always completely truthful when speaking to the viewers; he is what’s termed an ‘unreliable narrator.’ Though attempting to own up to his flaws and mistakes, he is still self-deluded and self-deceiving, which is amusing for viewers as we see everything and know what he is actually like.
The Relationship With Ourselves
A typical romance story: person meets person, they fall in love, have a little conflict, make up, and then live happily ever after. Most rom-coms might have that bit of drama thrown in there, where something goes wrong before being quickly fixed, but it is still always about the relationship, right? High Fidelity, of course, is about relationships, but it affected the rom-com genre by doing something different; at a time when the height of romantic comedies and action movies were filled with certain love and binaries of heroes and villains, High Fidelity made a self-centered jerk the protagonist.
Rob was indeed a terrible person, a sexist and a womanizer, someone who dumped one of his girlfriends because she refused to let him touch her whenever he wanted. Making this type of person the main character in a rom-com redefined the way protagonists are portrayed, and now, the number of anti-hero protagonists has grown exponentially.
Unlike most love stories, High Fidelity isn’t a will-they-or-won’t-they scenario. It’s more about how we interact with ourselves and how we grow in self-awareness. Rob refuses to learn from his ex-girlfriends and struggles to recognize and address his flaws. We watch romantic comedies for solace; they’re comfort films, guilty pleasures, or a way to feel sad because we’ve had bad luck in love. They’re not always there to deliver a message; sometimes the movies are just there to cheer us up.
Buenna Vista Pictures
High Fidelity, on the other hand, had an impact on rom-coms because of its ability to truly influence the viewer since it teaches us valuable lessons about self-awareness, healthy relationships, and detecting our own selfishness or toxicity. It’s almost an anti-romance film, in the way it challenges the typical tropes of romance films and invites viewers to consider why they’re seeking love and how they’re doing it in the first place. It also had an impact on the rom-com genre by bringing concepts such as male dysfunction, misogyny, fear of commitment, and how certain men perceive women’s importance and position in their life.
The film’s unconventionality is part of what makes it so compelling to watch, as it invites us to consider ourselves, our behaviors, and how we treat others in relationships. Without a doubt, High Fidelity is a brilliant romance about the tragedy of failed relationships and the pain of a broken heart, but it also beautifully and successfully changed how we view rom-coms, influencing the genre by creating a new way of portraying a protagonist and giving rom-coms an exciting, fresh, and more realistic view of self-development and romance.
