," McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Still at loss about what to do with your life? Fret not - if you happen to find yourself in a romance/comedy/romantic comedy, you can follow this easy counselling guide for career enlightement. You do need a job, or you won't be able to afford the lifestyle that allows for luxurious abodes while spending most days solely mulling over romantic entanglements. But narrowing down the job options is very easy:
Want to show your nurturing side? Become a doctor (especially if male) or a teacher (especially if female), to land an infinitely secure, respectable and satisfying job. Those jobs are character shorthand that tell every potential suitor that you are caring and non-threatening, adept at looking after others, i.e. good spouse/family-making material - essential qualities in Rom Com.
Want to be creative? Become anything where a normal person has miniscule opportunities to make an actual living - a photographer, illustrator, writer, designer of stuff, or choose one of the more creative jobs in media. You will still be guaranteed unprecedented success, big promotions and/or rave reviews. Even if you're currently a starving artist who is still waiting for the breakthrough or just lazy, remember you're super talented and have unlimited potential! And the love of your life you've just met will thrust you in the right direction.
Cooking has enough creative elements to be applicable. As a bonus, it handily offers opportunities for romantic gestures - like creating meals in unusual locations - and hints to your special someone that you are family-ready. If you're a man you should be a chef; if you're a woman try something smaller and cuter, like cupcakes. If you'd rather not physically create something yourself, become a hanger-on to the cultured and creative: try event planning, advertising/PR, music business, doing stuff at an art gallery, or running your own artsy corner shop.
Creative jobs are useful in the Rom Com world, as they have a cool and glamorous ring to them, yet sound like there could be a decent expected income to support your prospective family. They have vague job descriptions and irregular hours which free you for the romance, and you get a chance to meet a variety of colorful characters (especially at places like art galleries and little corner shops). It doesn't hurt here that the typical writer-creator of the Rom Com world can pour in some of their insight of the creative business.
Want money? Become a high-flying exec of an unspecified corporate entity or a lawyer without a good cause. This is character shorthand for you being a type-A workaholic who's married to their job and a total sell-out. Therefore, be prepared to change jobs ASAP to prove your creative or nurturing side (see: options 1 and 2) to your laidback love interest, as currently you work for Evil. Remember, if you're too good and efficient at what you do, bad things will follow, like dying.
So go ahead, pursue your chosen job, opportunities are practically endless! (Restrictions may apply.)
Compare with Stock Superhero Day Jobs and Occupation Tropes. See also Most Writers Are Writers, One-Hour Work Week, Starving Artist, Love Tropes, Romantic Comedy.
Examples:
- The Cable Guy - he's an architect
- (500) Days of Summer - he's a (greeting card) writer turned architect
- Click - he's an architect
- Fools Rush In - he's an architect
- House Sitter - he's an architect
- It's Complicated - he's an architect
- Jungle Fever - he's an architect
- The Last Kiss - he's an architect
- Love Actually - he's an architect
- The Mistress Of Spices- he's an architect
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend - he's an architect
- One Fine Day - she's an architect
- Sleepless in Seattle - he's an architect
- Three Men and a Baby - he's an architect
- Three to Tango - he's an architect
- You, Me and Dupree - he's an architect
Live Action TV:
- Partners - he's an architect, so's the partner
- How I Met Your Mother - he's an architect
Web Video:
- Lampshaded in After Hours, where the Romantic Comedy episode mocks the sheer number of architects in these movies.
- Bridesmaids - she's a pastry chef
- The Devil Wears Prada - he's a chef
- The Five-Year Engagement - he's a chef
- It's Complicated - she's a pastry chef
- The Kids Are All Right - he's a chef
- Last Holiday - she's a chef
- Life as We Know It - she's a pastry chef
- No Reservations - he's a chef, she's a chef
- Run Fatboy Run - she's a pastry chef
- Simply Irresistible - she's a chef
- Spanglish - he's a chef
- Stranger Than Fiction - she's a pastry chef. As a subversion, he's an IRS agent.
- Think Like a Man - he's a chef
- What to Expect When You're Expecting - he's a chef, she's a chef
Live Action TV:
- 2 Broke Girls - she's a pastry chef, so's the other girl
- How I Met Your Mother - one of Ted's love interests, Victoria, was a pastry chef
- Friends - Monica is a chef
- Charmed - Piper is a chef (turned bar owner)
- The Ex-Mrs. Bradford - he's a doctor
- French Kiss - he's a doctor
- Just Like Heaven - she's a doctor
- The Kids Are All Right - she's a doctor
- No Strings Attached - she's a doctor
- Sex and the Single Girl - she's a psychiatrist
- There's Something About Mary - she's a doctor
- The Wedding Planner - he's a doctor
- Valentine's Day - he's a doctor
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - she's a wedding planner
- Just My Luck - she's an event planner
- She's Out of My League- she's an event planner
- The Wedding Planner - like it says in the title, she's a wedding planner
- The Accidental Husband - she works for radio
- Bridget Jones' Diary - she works for TV and publishing, so does he
- Design for Living - Love Triangle; she's a commercial artist, he's a painter, the other he is a playwright
- Groundhog Day - he works for TV, she works for TV
- The Holiday - she's a movie trailer editor, he composes background music for movies
- Just Married- He works in Radio
- Knocked Up - she works for TV
- Life as We Know It - he works in TV
- Life or Something Like It - she works for TV, he works for TV
- A Man and a Woman - she works as a movie script supervisor. (He has a different exotic job, as a race car driver.)
- Morning Glory - she works for TV, he works for TV
- Mrs. Doubtfire - he's a voice actor, she's an interior designer
- Notting Hill - she's a film actress
- No Strings Attached - he is an assistant on a tv show set turned screenwriter
- Phffft!! - she's first a writer for the radio, and then the head writer for a TV show
- Someone Like You - she works for TV, he works for TV
- The Ugly Truth - she works for TV, he works for TV
- Valentine's Day - he works for TV
- Little Black Book - She works for TV
- Bell, Book and Candle - he's a book publisher
- The Bounty Hunter - she works for a newspaper
- Confessions of a Shopaholic - she works for a magazine, he works for a magazine
- Definitely, Maybe - she works for a magazine
- Designing Woman - he works as a newspaper reporter
- The Devil Wears Prada - she works for a magazine
- Friends with Benefits - he works for a magazine
- Going the Distance - she works for a newspaper
- He Said, She Said - she works for a newspaper, he works for a newspaper
- His Girl Friday - They're both newspaper reporters
- Hitch - she is a gossip columnist for a newspaper
- The Holiday - she works for a newspaper, he's a book editor
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - she works for a magazine
- How to Lose Friends & Alienate People - she works for a magazine, he works for a magazine
- It Happened One Night - he works as a newspaper reporter
- If You Believe - she works as an editor for a publishing house, he's a novice writer
- Kissing Jessica Stein - she works for a newspaper
- Labor Pains 2000 - She is a columnist.
- Love Again - she's a children's book writer, he's an entertainment journalist
- Love And Other Disasters - she works for a magazine
- Marley & Me - she works for a newspaper, he works for a newspaper
- My Best Friend's Wedding - she works for a newspaper
- Never Been Kissed - she works for a newspaper
- Nothing Sacred - he works as a newspaper reporter
- One Fine Day - he works for a newspaper
- The Philadelphia Story - he is a reporter
- The Proposal - she works in publishing
- Roman Holiday - he works as a newspaper reporter
- Runaway Bride - he works for a newspaper
- Sex and the Single Girl - he works as a tabloid newspaper reporter
- Six Days, Seven Nights - she works for a magazine
- Sleepless in Seattle - she works for a newspaper
- Tamara Drewe - she works for a newspaper
- Thank You for Smoking - she is a newpaper reporter
- Third Finger, Left Hand - she works as a magazine editor
- 13 Going on 30 - she is a junior magazine editor
- 27 Dresses - he works for a newspaper
- When Harry Met Sally... - she works for a newspaper
Live Action TV:
- Charmed - she works as an advice columnist
- This Is Forty - he runs a record label
- Music and Lyrics- he's a musician
- The Wedding Singer - he's a musician
- About a Boy - he's a musician
- Just Friends - he's a record exec
- Just My Luck - he's a music manager
- New Year's Eve - he's a record exec
- Love with the Proper Stranger - he's a musician
- Head Over Heels - she's an art restorer
- When in Rome - she's an art curator
- The Ex-Mrs. Bradford - she's a writer
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend - she's an art curator
- The Kids Are All Right - she's an aspiring landscape designer
- The Tao Of Steve - she's an opera designer
- Sweet Home Alabama - she is a fashion designer
- Enchanted - she is a fashion designer
- Designing Woman - she is a fashion designer
- Grown Ups - she is a fashion designer
- Roberta - she is a fashion designer
- Fools Rush In - she's a photographer
- Two Days In Paris - she's a photographer, he's an interior designer
- Love And Other Disasters - he's a photographer
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - he's a photographer
- What to Expect When You're Expecting - she's a photographer
- A Lot Like Love - she's a photographer
- Hope Floats - she's an aspiring photographer, he designs and makes furniture
- Labor Pains 2000 - he's a painter
- Love Actually - he's a writer
- Magic Mike - he designs and makes furniture (and as a notable subversion, he strips)
- While You Were Sleeping - he designs and makes furniture
- Must Love Dogs - he designs and makes boats
- Ruby Sparks - he's a writer
- Theodora Goes Wild - she's a writer and he's a book illustrator.
- Chasing Amy - they're both comic book artists
- New Year's Eve - he's a comic book artist
- What Women Want - he's in advertising, she's in advertising
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - he's in advertising
- Boomerang - he's in advertising, she's in advertising
- Friends with Kids - he's in advertising
- Lover Come Back - he's in advertising, she's in advertising
- Valentine's Day - she's a publicist
Live Action TV:
- Bell, Book and Candle - she has a shop dealing in African art
- Exit Strategy - he runs an independent second hand shop
- High Fidelity - he runs an independent record shop
- Imagine Me & You - she is a florist with an indpendent shop
- The Mistress Of Spices - She has a spice shop.
- Notting Hill - he runs an independent book shop
- The Heartbreak Kid (2007) - he runs an independent sports' shop
- This Is Forty - she runs an independent clothes' shop
- You've Got Mail - she runs an independent book shop
- Bad Teacher - she's a teacher, he's a teacher
- Bride Wars - she's a teacher
- French Kiss - she's a teacher
- Just Friends - she's a teacher
- Meet the Parents - she's a teacher
- Must Love Dogs - she's a teacher
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding - he's a teacher
- The Perfect Catch - he's a teacher
- Valentine's Day - she's a teacher
- You, Me and Dupree- she's a teacher
Live Action TV:
- New Girl - she's a teacher
- Korean romantic comedy Marriage Blue is a Hyperlink Story about four couples all on the verge of marriage. Among the jobs these people hold are chef, flower shop owner, baseball coach, wedding planner, manicurist, theme park performer, and comic book writer/artist.
- He's Just Not That into You: Gigi, Janine, Beth, and Ben all work unspecified office jobs (though it's implied that Ben works at some sort of talent agency and that Beth works in marketing), Conor is a real estate agent, Anna is a yoga instructor and singer, and Mary works in the advertising department of a local newspaper.
Live Action TV:
- Friends - Ross is a college teacher, Rachel works in fashion, Monica is a chef, Chandler becomes a copywriter, Phoebe is a masseuse and a quirky singer, Mike gives up being a lawyer to become a professional pianist, Joey is an actor.
- How I Met Your Mother - Lily is a teacher turned art buyer, Marshall is an environmental lawyer, Robin works for TV, Ted is an architect (and a college teacher!). Ted's love interests include a pastry chef, a doctor, a bass player who studies economics to solve the world poverty (The Mother). Robin dates two TV anchors, and both Barney and Ted date two of Robin's colleagues from the TV station - Nora and Becky. Barney becomes a professional blogger. Even Blah Blah was a handbag designer.
- Sex and the City - Carrie is a writer; Samantha is a PR person; Charlotte runs an art gallery. As a subversion, Miranda is a lawyer, yet she doesn't have to give up her career for a man.
- Gilmore Girls - Lorelai runs a historical inn, Luke owns a bistro, Rory is a journalist, Jess joins a small publishing house and writes, Sookie is a chef, Jackson grows fruit and vegetables; Logan probably ends up working for his family business, which involves newspaper and media. Lorelai also dated Max Medina, a teacher. Paris owns a fertility clinic (she's a doctor and a lawyer), Doyle is a screenwriter (they met when working for Daily Yale News; despite their glorious Rom Com jobs, they are getting divorced in the revival miniseries.)
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine, "Greg & Larry": Amy and Charles watch 27 Dresses on a plane. It's supposed to be a distraction to keep Amy from spiralling, but she can't focus.
Charles: You okay?
Amy: Yeah, yeah. I'm just so into the movie, you know, really worried about Katherine Heigl and her dressmaking business.
Charles: I'm sorry, dressmaking business?
Amy: Her architecture firm? Her cupcake bakery. The magazine she edits?
Charles: Jane is the executive assistant to an outdoor lifestyle entrepreneur. You're not even watching!
