6. Cute Obsessive Personality
By cute, I mean, what an adorable / funny / light-hearted / romantic situation we find these characters in. Only in film could extreme hoarding or OCD be played for laughs. And only in film could stalking be portrayed as cute, and yet audiences fall for it every time. A prime example of this? The disturbing plot of
Why You Were Sleeping. Sandra Bullock playing Sandra Bullock watches the very cute guy a station platform fall off the track and into a coma. Thats where it should have ended. But no, she brings flowers to his bedside and sits with him, even though he is a COMPLETE STRANGER. But hes a good-looking stranger and its a Sandra Bullock rom-com so the audience plays along. And then his family turns up, all distraught and what does she tell them? Im the creepy stranger who watches him while he lay unconscious? No, she tells them shes his FIANCEE! The one they conveniently didnt meet. But its okay. Perhaps they have convenient amnesia. Have I discussed those rare occasions where amnesia is used as a plot device in film. And then what does Sandra Bullock with her cute obsessiveness do? She becomes part of the STRANGERS FAMILY. Too far? Not for Sandra Bullock. She still has to fall in love with the STRANGERS brother. Yes, lets add some complexity to this insidious plot. Of course, when the good-looking stranger finally wakes up he does what everyone, the audience included, should have done immediately. He reacts badly to Sandra Bullock, this cute obsessive woman who has wormed her way into his life and the hearts of his family. But, because its a Sandra Bullock rom-com, all is forgiven and she lives happily ever after with the strangers brother. Over reaction perhaps? Okay, lets make this a gritty drama. Lets put the very talented but severe looking Tilda Swinton with her menacing eyes in the female role. Lets play it again. Tilda Swinton observes a man for whom she shares an attraction, almost die. Obsessed with mortality she comes to his bedside and watches him while he is unconscious. With cold calculation, she tells the strangers family that she is his fiancee and worms her way into this new life so that she may better understand the man in the coma she has spent hours studying. Not so cute now, is it?