Hilary Goetz is a sophomore in Cornell’s School of Human Ecology and works for the Federal Social Security Department, but her most time-consuming and demanding credential is that she is my beeeeeeest friend. And she is an insightful and punchy writer. Check out Hilary weighing in on the state of the contemporary romantic movie:

I recently stumbled across an interesting feature in TIME magazine titled “Who Killed the Love Story?” chronicling the romantic movie’s fall from box-office glory. Reporter Hilary Hylton notes that the last romantic drama to achieve top-ten box office status was the massively successful Titantic, but that it opened almost ten years ago (Can you believe that? It simply does not feel like a decade since I sat in the theater with Jack and Rose, threatening to deplete the world’s supply of tissues).

As it turns out, the decline of the romantic drama is in large part economically motivated. Young men are the demographic most likely to turn up within the crucial ten- day time period when a studio makes the bulk of its box-office profits. As such, commercial films increasingly cater to today’s young men; “sick” explosions and other special effects tend to win out over chance meetings and sweet gestures. Romantic comedies tend to have a modest showing opening weekend, even if the numbers do pick up in the weeks that follow.

Hylton also notes the rise of “bromances,” –think Wedding Crashers, Knocked Up, and the upcoming Superbad–that focus more on the jocular buddy bonding between two heterosexual men than on any overwhelming romantic affections for the women in the films. Hylton’s lamentation that, “the new model for intimate human relations is the platonic love of one emotionally underdeveloped adolescent boy for another,” was enough to elicit a chuckle—followed by a heavy sense of dismay.

Hylton presents another possible explanation for the fall of the romantic drama genre that lends itself to a lot of interesting questions. She wonders whether or not traditional love stories are losing their relevance due to the changing dynamic of today’s romantic relationships:

“What now, for example, are the differences a man and a woman have to overcome to get together? Their lives look pretty alike. They worry about what they do, about whether they’re maximizing their talents, about what others think of them, about the way they look, about if they will be able to make the money they need. A love interest is no longer an alternative to or solace from the rat race; she’s another rat. As such, it’s perhaps understandable that a suitor expects to be able to pull her over for a quick mating session and then get back on track. Where is romance in all that?”

I certainly don’t think it is a bad thing that as women gain more equal footing in the world of work, they confront increasingly similar life challenges as men. Yes, there may be less potential for epic romances starring a bedazzling damsel in distress. But is it such a travesty that it is now more relatable to spotlight a female CEO under stress? Probably not.

And now that racial and class differences are no longer seen as insurmountable obstacles between two lovers, heart-rending stories of impossible, forbidden love lose much of the wind in their sails. Still, as half of an interracial couple, I am certainly glad that I have never had to answer to people objecting to my relationship based on our differing races. Of course, 90 minutes of valiant battling against the bigots who try to pry us apart would make considerably more titillating footage when splashed across the silver screen than would our actual mundane movie and dinner dates.

I don’t really know how to address the last part regarding how it makes sense that a suitor would want and expect only a “quick mating session” before returning to the rat race. Is the author saying that because men and women are both clawing their way up the corporate ladder, they have no time or energy left for the refuge of a functional relationship? This is a bleak notion, and I hope it does not represent the mainstream mentality.

In the end, I think it is safe to say there remains no shortage of obstacles to be overcome in a relationship. The problems modern couples face may not be perfect love story fodder like the division between the Capulets and the Montagues, but they are still worth exploring on-screen. If film makers can capture the struggles of modern relationships in a way that is poignant and funny, not flippant and vulgar a la Knocked Up, we can revive the genre, and blow those superhero sequels out of the water. Now that’s enough to make a girl swoon.