Romantic Comedy

by Curtis Sittenfeld

I said, “I don’t like the You-don’t-know-how-beautiful-you-are part. It makes it seem like the love is predicated either on a lack of awareness on the woman’s part or else on her being insecure. And the woman in the songs is often both a child and a sexy enchantress. So the lyrics might as well be ‘I’m attracted to you because you conform to the standards agreed upon to be desirable at this moment in human history, but you don’t even know it and your cluelessness is what makes me feel like a real man.’