The Subtle Art of Being Clumsy

Romantic comedies, formulaic as they are, seem to have a go-to personality trait for their heroines that is supposed to inspire sympathy for their central character. That is, of course, clumsiness, which almost immediately elicits gasps of 'aww bless' for a woman who, up until the moment of falling on/into/over something, has actually been little more than a selfish, vacuous airhead. But hey, she fell over, that automatically makes her endearing!


The subtle art of clumsiness can appear in male characters too but it does appear to be mostly the female ones, for that added element of slapstick comedy when they inevitably get caught up in a dog lead/spill something stainable on their potential date's crisp white shirt/slip up in front of their new boss (Delete as appropriate).

Although not a romantic comedy, the most recent use of this character trait has been in the po-faced Twilight franchise; a key trait of Bella Swan's is that she's clumsy. Because that means she goes from being a two-dimensional character with all the personality of a herring to a two-dimensional character with all the personality of a herring who falls over a lot.

As a person for whom this happens all the time (as no doubt my flatmates would tell you) being clumsy really isn't as fun as it looks in the movies. Often, it's painful, embarrassing and never actually leads to you meeting that cute guy you see at the bus stop every Wednesday. It just makes him laugh under his breath and carry on listening to his iPod. And that moment when the heroine oh so hilariously dumps a convenient dollop of ketchup on a white blouse? Well that's a standard Tuesday night in the world of Becky Lea. Or how about when she stumbles in the street in her gorgeously over-priced high heels? In reality, this is usually a pre-cursor to a sprained ankle or blisters. Then again, if I'm having a really good day, it could be both.

So why is this such a valued trait for your romantic comedy heroine? Is there a formula to it? A way in which you can trip over your own feet, fall flat on your face and still look cool?

Probably not. Not in reality anyway.

I'd like to think that this clumsiness seemingly inherent in all of these rom-com heroines from Bridget Jones to that one in the Shopaholic film that I've clearly committed to memory, is just an attempt to make her more endearing. But I also can't help thinking that there's something a little more sinister at work because, after all, a typical rom-com plays out a little bit like a fairytale. You've got your heroine trapped in a tower, or in this case, unable to walk into an office without tripping over something, and who is always there? The prince charming, ready to sweep her off her feet gallantly, mop up the coffee she's no doubt spilled all over herself and generally starts to take care of her. And this is where I begin to have an issue. It's all part of this constant need to show that women need to be rescued.


These women seemingly can't function without a man there ready to catch her when she over-balances due to the sheer amount of shopping she's carrying. It's an amazing trend in romantic comedies that once a heroine has been helped out by her blatantly obvious love interest with her winning ability to crash into things inappropriately, they're suddenly able to walk down a street without the teeniest hint of a wobble. They've been rescued from the Leaning Tower of Imbalance and get to be all princess-like with their ruggedly handsome hero.


But I don't need rescuing thank you very much. I'm fairly sure that even if someone did manage to catch me, I'd probably drag them over too and it would be nowhere near as good as the orange juice moment in Notting Hill.


So I will continue to spill drinks, fall over and generally make an idiot of myself unwittingly for as long as I shall live. Granted, I would not object if Ryan Reynolds did appear to help me up but I would not suddenly feel 'complete' if he did so.


In fact, I'd probably just fall straight back over again.