Not many rom-coms begin with a successful match on Tinder. Even in the best of circumstances, there’s something nerve-racking about meeting up with a total stranger, disconnected from your own social milieu and community, with little to recommend him other than a few photos of him smiling with his buddies or holding rainbow trout. This may be why we love the “friends to lovers” trope. Boy meets girl, boy and girl bond over shared experiences or ways of thinking, and once boy and girl have established loyalty and trust, friendly affection becomes something greater.
From Emma to When Harry Met Sally to Clueless (a modern adaptation of Emma), such stories in literature and cinema have captivated romantic viewers for generations. But as modern mores shift, romance tropes that played on the natural differences between the sexes have become irrelevant.
In Frank Capra’s 1934 classic It Happened One Night, leading man Peter separates himself from leading lady Ellie in their hotel room by erecting a blanket he calls the “walls of Jericho.” The two are pretending to be married in order to travel together conveniently; of course, they eventually fall in love, and the film ends with the walls of Jericho tumbling down.