#the amount of salt i had to scrub out of this text is unbelievable btw

[verycharismaticdragon]

Venom (2018) is a Romcom, and here’s why

(or ”in this essay I will” joke gone very very wrong)

So, as most of us already noticed, Venom (2018) sure feels like a romantic comedy disguised as a superhero (well, antihero technically) movie. But is it truly? The short answer is yes, but I didn't just spend my afternoon hunting proof to leave you with a short answer.

Now, I must note that Venom is really not the first superhero movie to mix another genre in. Off the top of my head, and perhaps most obvious, Ant-Man is mixing superheroics with a heist movie. Black Panther has the political thriller going. Thor: Ragnarok is a full blown cocktail, adding at least three more genres to the original one. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone thought to mix in romcoms, and I for one am grateful that our first example of it has alien slime falling in love with a guy.

Because that's what happened, despite certain people bending over backwards just to not acknowledge it. But I promised you proof, so let's get to it.

How do you determine if something is a romantic comedy or not? "That's just the vibe I got" is really not going to cut it in a debate. But what is a vibe if not our subconsciousness recognizing a certain pattern? In this case, the pattern was the plot structure. Not being a huge fan of romcoms in general, though, I wasn’t sure how to put it into words. Thankfully, I didn't need to: with a bit of googling, I found out that most articles have referred to the same source when it came to the romcom plot structure: a book "Writing the Romantic Comedy" by Billy Mernit. According to him, all romantic comedies can be broken down into seven story beats. How many of those would you guess does Venom follow? Hint: it’s all of them.

The rest under cut. Careful, spoilers start here!

I’m going to give a short description for each beat, and then point out a scene or scenes which align with them. Let’s get to it!

We start at “The Chemical Equation” - this is a setup, a starting point, our characters’ status quo prior to meeting each other. It is meant not only to give us a sense of their personalities, but to show us what it is that they lack: an unfulfilled need, a missing piece in their life. Note that some films have that part concentrate on the main (point-of-view) character, while others distribute it equally.

For our case, that is pretty much everything prior to Eddie agreeing to help Dr. Skirth.

On one side, we are introduced to Eddie Brock. We are given a glimpse into his life at it’s high point: he has a work that he loves, being a reporter who goes after the powerful and corrupt, and a beloved fiance. However, a mistake he makes ruins both his career and his engagement. Now he is alone, and more than that, he lost faith in what he used to do - helping people. He says as much to Skirth when she approaches him: “I’m done with it” - “Done with what?” - “That whole ‘helping my fellow man’ shit.” On top of that, his ex-fiance has moved on…

On the other side, we are introduced to the symbiotes. We don’t learn as much as we do about Eddie, who is our point-of-view character, but we do get a glimpse. While a lot of exposition here is for the superheroing half of the plot, let’s pick a few important bits: the symbiotes can’t just attach themselves to anyone, they need a host that ‘suits’ them. And they are trapped.

So, Eddie’s life is ruined seemingly beyond repair; and the symbiote needs someone to get out. Which leads us to…

“Meet Cute”, the catalyst: an incident that brings our characters together, but also sets up a conflict between them. It should reflect the theme of the story, as well as set the tone for the relationship.

Technically, everything from Eddie getting into the lab and up to Venom jumping into the bay falls under this beat, but I think the apartment fight scene and the following chase bear most of it. We get the tone of Venom and Eddie’s relationship (“What are you doing?” - “I’m putting my hands up!” - “You are making us look bad!”), and we get the conflict: not only can the symbiote control Eddie’s body at a whim, but they also relish in violence (“Pile of bodies, pile of heads”) and, well, consider human beings food. These scenes also tie into the main plot, as well as show that our characters are capable of more together than they are apart.

The next story beat is “A Sexy Complication”. Typically occurring at the end of Act 1, this is a new development that raises the stakes of the story. It can be an external problem that might break the characters apart, or an internal issue that keeps them from really connecting. This is where the conflict becomes apparent: either characters’ feelings interfere with their external goal, or characters find themselves at cross-purposes with each other.

In Venom, this is a scene under the Golden Gate Bridge. Our characters get to talk without getting interrupted for the first time, and the Venom symbiote makes it clear that their relationship is not that of equals: “Cooperate and you just might survive”. On top of that, the symbiote admits that eating people is “why [they] are here”. That goes directly against one of Eddie’s main personal values, his desire to help people, thus putting the characters at odds. Yet Eddie has no way of stopping the symbiote, so he has to go along with it.

Going into Act 2, we come to the midpoint, “The Hook”. This is a big scene that really binds the characters together as a couple: it gives a feeling of “now they are in this together for good”. It should repeat or reflect the main theme in some way, and offer implications for how their relationship is going to work out.

This is the whole sequence at Eddie’s former place of employment, which going forward I’m calling a tower (because I have no idea if it’s called anything in the movie and it’s a tall building, bear with me). We see Eddie successfully argue against Venom for the first time when the latter suggests eating the security guard. This is the beginning of an agreement Eddie is going to put into words at the end of the movie - that they are only going to hurt (and eat) bad people. We see also that Venom is willing to do things for Eddie, such as scaling the tower to get to Eddie’s former boss’ office. Essentially, they start to compromise and work together, ending the sequence with a good old fight. And this time Eddie is not an unwilling participant - unlike the apartment fight scene, he actually chooses to let Venom out (“Mask!” - “Copy”).

But nothing is ever that easy, which brings us to the “Swivel”: a turning point at the end of Act 2, raising the stakes higher than ever. This is where the underlying conflict of the relationship finally plays out, the main character forced to choose between the relationship and something of equal importance for them.

In our case, the hospital scene. Dan, a doctor, tells Eddie that his body is suffering extensive damage, which will lead to his death. The symbiote tries to convince Eddie that they can fix him. The situation escalates, and as a result Venom gets physically separated from Eddie.

This was the scene that initially clued me in to the whole “wait, Venom is actually a romcom” deal, I must say, mostly because of Eddie’s reaction to being separated. Because he isn’t relieved, or scared, or anything else one might expect from a person whose life was just saved from an alien parasite. No, his first action is actually to jump up to the glass separating them and yell. “What happened to we, huh? what happened to we?”

He sounds hurt. He sounds betrayed. He sounds like he is breaking up with the alien slime, not happily getting rid of it. He even adds “We’re done!” as he leaves.

This brings us to “The Dark Moment”: the consequence of the swivel scene. The characters’ private motivations revealed, they have sacrificed either their relationship or their goal. This is the lowest point for our characters.

Eddie leaves, and is captured by the bad guys. Without Venom, he can’t do much more than quip at them. When the main villain realizes Eddie doesn’t have a symbiote, he orders his henchman to dispose of him. Eddie is taken to the forest, and his attempt to fight and escape yields nothing. It seems these are his last moments - and then he is saved by none other than the Venom symbiote, leading to…

“Joyful Defeat” - a reconciliation between the characters that reaffirms how important the relationship is to them. It usually leads to a happy ending, albeit often at the cost of some personal sacrifice for one or both of the characters.

I could say “that’s the rest of the movie” and be done, but let’s be honest: I want to talk about them juicy details. I also want to make sure you can use this essay should you ever find yourself in an argument with someone saying Venom isn’t a romantic comedy, so: let’s talk about the Big Damn Kiss.

So, the love interest makes a grand entrance, saves the protagonist, and plants a big one on him. We all saw this scene probably a million times! Granted, most of those times the love interest wasn’t also re-bonding to the protagonist in a symbiosis - but finding a new way to spin a familiar scene is what keeps the genre fresh. It must be noted that the bonding could be done without making out for almost 15 seconds (every other symbiote transfer we see is done by hand on shoulder/neck). It must also be noted, for those hung up on who Venom chose as a temporary host (Eddie’s ex-girlfriend), that not only does the kiss end the moment a symbiote is fully transferred, but her reaction when Eddie brings it up later is “you call that a kiss?” She also confirms it was Venom’s idea.

The kiss and the bonding definitely check that “reaffirms how important the relationship is to them” box - Venom clearly shows that Eddie is the only host they want. But there is more, even as romantic plot gives way to the superhero plot. The symbiote has a few reasons for going against their own kind, but the main one is spelled out clearly: “What really made you change your mind?” - “You. You did, Eddie”.

As the main plot concludes and the movie moves to the epilogue, we learn that Eddie is doing better - he’s got his job back, he and Anne are now amicable exes, and despite a bit of a dramatic goodbye in the final battle, Venom is still alive and with him. Eddie outlines the rules for their renewed partnership, showing how far they came from “Think of yourself as my ride”. The agreement is a compromise: the symbiote is still a human-eating alien, and Eddie isn’t trying to change that - but he finds a way to align it with his own values. In the end, it’s clear they are better off together than they are apart.

Remember that this story beat is called “Joyful Defeat”? It implies that characters didn’t get what they wanted, but they do not mind; in a lot of cases it means they got what they actually needed. Eddie doesn’t get his old life back; instead he gets a new partner, a new purpose, and a fresh start. The symbiote has turned against their whole kind, but found a place for themselves and a person they can truly belong with.

As you can see, Venom (2018) follows the same beats as a romantic comedy would, complete with a kiss and a grand declaration (seriously, get yourself an alien who would betray their entire species for you, right?). Romantic feelings influence characters’ decisions, give them a reason to do what they do as a hero (super-, anti-, or both). Not acknowledging that does disservice to the characters and the movie.

So enough. Is Venom truly a romcom? Yes.

[frankie2902]

1000% Agree!! Fuckin Fight Me Hoe!!

Venom (2018) is a Romcom, and here’s why

(or ”in this essay I will” joke gone very very wrong)

So, as most of us already noticed, Venom (2018) sure feels like a romantic comedy disguised as a superhero (well, antihero technically) movie. But is it truly? The short answer is yes, but I didn’t just spend my afternoon hunting proof to leave you with a short answer.

Now, I must note that Venom is really not the first superhero movie to mix another genre in. Off the top of my head, and perhaps most obvious, Ant-Man is mixing superheroics with a heist movie. Black Panther has the political thriller going. Thor: Ragnarok is a full blown cocktail, adding at least three more genres to the original one. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that someone thought to mix in romcoms, and I for one am grateful that our first example of it has alien slime falling in love with a guy.

Because that’s what happened, despite certain people bending over backwards just to not acknowledge it. But I promised you proof, so let’s get to it.

How do you determine if something is a romantic comedy or not? “That’s just the vibe I got” is really not going to cut it in a debate. But what is a vibe if not our subconsciousness recognizing a certain pattern? In this case, the pattern was the plot structure. Not being a huge fan of romcoms in general, though, I wasn’t sure how to put it into words. Thankfully, I didn’t need to: with a bit of googling, I found out that most articles have referred to the same source when it came to the romcom plot structure: a book “Writing the Romantic Comedy” by Billy Mernit. According to him, all romantic comedies can be broken down into seven story beats. How many of those would you guess does Venom follow? Hint: it’s all of them.

The rest under cut. Careful, spoilers start here!

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