It always intrigues me why certain types of movies and TV are popular in certain moments of our lives and straight up not our thing in other times. Obviously, right now we’re seeing the continued reign of the superhero movie with releases such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, which broke so many box office records. Horror movies have also proven popular once again, most recently with Scream’s well-received resurgence. And then there’s the rise of period romances, which continues with the release of Redeeming Love.
Redeeming Love is just one film among a larger interest from audiences for period romances, such as Netflix’s streaming phenomenon Bridgerton and the onslaught of book-to-movie adaptations, especially for Jane Austen as of late, including the upcoming remake of Persuasion with Dakota Johnson. When CinemaBlend spoke to the cast of Redeeming Love about this current trend, they had blunt thoughts as to why corsets are all the rage in Hollywood again. Here’s what Eric Dane told us:
I think people are investing in nostalgia. Seems as though lately. A yearning for the good time of yesteryear to some degree. I don’t know whether it be the ‘50s, the ‘60s, or the 1850s. I think people are yearning for something that we’ve had and lost and maybe want to go back to. Simpler times, same problems, same issues, the blueprint is just a little less cluttered.
This is true, and not only in a sense of romances, but across all genres. We recently went back to franchises such as Ghostbusters and Space Jam, among many others. Famke Janssen, who also stars in Redeeming Love, said this:
We’re definitely living in the age of distraction right now.
Along with speaking about the trend of romances these days, Famke Janssen also spoke to us about how her most famous role as Jean Grey in X-Men was part of setting the tone for the current age of superhero films. Back to period romances! Here are Nina Dobrev’s thoughts:
I just think they are timeless stories and especially in those times, love was pure. Maybe it’s because they had less options. They didn’t have Instagram and Raya and Tinder and all these different ways to find love. So the simplicity about it lends itself to a more pure experience of love and it’s also escapism. Life and love was more challenging in a lot of ways, but it was a lot simpler, so maybe it’s escapism as well.
It’s true. These days people are not necessarily always finding love in the typical and cinematic ways. Oftentimes it starts with a swipe of the phone in the right direction, and even so, with social media there’s a perception that there’s more options for people to meet their person than back in the day. Abigail Cowen, who plays the lead in Redeeming Love, also got candid with her answer:
No one wants to live in 2021/2022. [laughs]
Well this makes a lot of sense. A few years ago, rom-coms were becoming more popular again, perhaps in an effort to bring back the kind of optimism and escapism the genre is beloved for. Now there’s a bit of a natural progression into period romances because it leans into nostalgia and escapism even further. There’s certainly more where that came from! Check out Redeeming Love in theaters now and stay up to date with upcoming 2022 movies here on CinemaBlend.
