Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

The Fault in our Stars (2014) Movie poster. The Fault in our Stars based on on the book by John Green, follows two cancer patients falling in love.

When thinking about the best romance movies, the big ones and their famous quotes obviously come to mind. “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird,” from “The Notebook” (2004) “It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you,” from “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014) and “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her,” from “Notting Hill” (1999). All of these movies have been crowned some of the best romance movies of all time.

Films centered around romance come in many different forms, from rom-coms that end with us laughing to tear-jerking love stories. romance movies aren’t hard to come by. Stories about people falling in love and the understood difficulty that it takes are already popular, but what makes a romance movie able to withstand the multitude of others and truly be great?

Timeless films that are able to convey an original love story and remain enjoyed well after their debuts are iconic. Movies like “Titanic” (1997), which follows two people from different social classes falling in love on the infamous, ill-fated Titanic ship, or “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), a teenage Shakespearean adaptation that manages to still be relevant, clever and witty with the same intertwined relationships expected from Shakespeare, withstand the test of time.This is also seen in many fan favorite classics like “Clueless” (1995), “Pretty Woman” (1990) and “Dirty Dancing” (1987).

Romance movies that are able to break out of the box that a lot of movies tend to stay in end up being truly substantial. These films represent everyone and not only the typical relationships that are showcased on screen, and also display different sexualities and the same diversity that the rest of the world’s relationship show.

Films like “Call Me by Your Name” (2017), set in 1980s Italy telling the story of Elio’s first love and rom-com “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), about Rachel Chu traveling to Singapore finding and living her boyfriend’s family Lux life there, among other films, have been able to show romances between demographics that haven’t been showcased, making an impact on romance movies and shaping a new path for ones in the future and shifting the culture in romance films. This is also shown in movies like “Love, Simon” (2018), “Sierra Burgess is a Loser” (2018), “Someone Great” (2019), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2018).

All of these films, whether recent or decades old, have proven to be great romance movies and have made their mark on viewers. Romance films have been able to influence the way people view different romances and these films especially have made their mark on romance film’s culture as well.