MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
If you, like me, love a good romantic comedy, here's a pattern you may recognize - that one of the love interests is an architect.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IT'S COMPLICATED")
STEVE MARTIN: (As Adam Schaffer) So, this becomes your office...
MERYL STREEP: (As Jane Adler) Uh-huh.
MARTIN: (As Adam Schaffer) ...You come down your new hallway...
STREEP: (As Jane Adler) Oh, love it.
MARTIN: (As Adam Schaffer) ...And from here to there...
STREEP: (As Jane Adler) (Laughter).
MARTIN: (As Adam Schaffer) ...Your kitchen.
KELLY: Steve Martin is the man with the blueprints there, caught in a love triangle with Meryl Streep. That, of course, is the movie, "It's Complicated." That is not even the only rom-com where Steve Martin plays an architect. I could also mention Keanu Reeves in "The Lake House" or Tom Hanks in "Sleepless In Seattle," not to mention all the times men pretend to be architects to woo women. Think George Costanza, as played by Jason Alexander in "Seinfeld."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEINFELD")
JASON ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) Let me be the architect. I can do it.
(LAUGHTER)
JERRY SEINFELD: (As Jerry Seinfeld) Hey, hey...
ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) I'm an architect.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: So why the lust for architects? Well, Charlotte Collins tackles this burning question in a piece for Architectural Digest headlined, "Why Is The Love Interest Always An Architect?" Charlotte Collins, welcome.
CHARLOTTE COLLINS: Thank you so much for having me.
KELLY: So let's get the origin story. Are there foundational movies, TV shows of this archetype?
COLLINS: Oh, 100%. And they're not even necessarily all rom-coms. Some of them are romantic dramas. But we're thinking that the foundation was most likely laid, like, way back, 1969, with Mike Brady in "The Brady Bunch."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BRADY BUNCH")
MAUREEN MCCORMICK: (As Marcia Brady) My father's an architect. And as for me, I'd like to become one, too, and share in that dream.
BARRY WILLIAMS: (As Greg Brady) Come on, Marcia.
ROBERT REED: (As Mike Brady) No, wait a minute.
(LAUGHTER)
REED: (As Mike Brady) I'd like to hear this.
COLLINS: Just a very dependable family man. But I think the most classic examples people think of - Tom Hanks in "Sleepless In Seattle," Keanu Reeves in "The Lake House," Steve Martin in "It's Complicated," for sure.
KELLY: Yeah. And why? Why are architects such great leads? Why are there so many as romantic interests?
COLLINS: I think this is honestly something that carries over to real life. I think if you are hearing out professions for, you know, potential lovers, the idea of somebody being an architect - not only are they dependable, they have the kind of right brain and left brain blend of, like, OK, kind of an engineering thought, like, somebody who can look at blueprints but also somebody who is a bit of a dreamer. They feel very...
KELLY: Like, they literally have a plan, which is...
COLLINS: Yes.
KELLY: ...Something when you're looking for (laughter)...
COLLINS: It's a man with a plan, a man with a floor plan, someone you can depend on.
KELLY: Right. I suppose also they're artists. They're creative. They're also, at least theoretically, employed.
COLLINS: Yes. Yeah, that's a big selling point. Someone who definitely has a job - really hot on the market.
KELLY: Now, I know you talked to a bunch of people about the appeal of the architect, including the vice president of programming at Hallmark Media - the Hallmark Channel, of course - which airs a lot of rom-coms. Her name's Jessica Callahan. What did she tell you?
COLLINS: Oh, she was a joy to speak to. She was talking about a little bit of, like, the coding of jobs, like, where this job is, like, kind of a hottie-coded job. Whereas, you know, in the Hallmark world, the lawyer is the guy who doesn't get the girl. The architect gets the girl. It's a job that you can kind of see as solid. It seems both creative but also mathematical.
KELLY: Did you talk to actual architects about this idea?
COLLINS: I did. I spoke to a couple of them, and they both noted that they were familiar with the trope. They're both in relationships and have been for a long time, so apparently, two people out there certainly got their happy endings from being architects. But they couldn't remember quite if it was so hot on the dating scene back in the day, but they did note - both of them to me independently - that architects tend to end up with other architects, so it is attractive even to them.
KELLY: I can't help but note that the examples we've talked about so far are all men. What about women? Do female leads ever get to be architects?
COLLINS: Yeah. In my sort of research, it did skew a bit male, this trope. And there are a few examples out there of women in this, but they don't get the same sort of swagger that these male characters are written for. I would love to see that happen in a movie. But if you think of an example, there is Michelle Pfeiffer in the rom-com "One Fine Day," and she's a mother depicted as, like, kind of harried, frenzied, running around trying to take care of it all - trying to have it all, so to speak.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ONE FINE DAY")
MICHELLE PFEIFFER: (As Michelle Parker) Now, honey, you can't make any noise in the office. I have a really important meeting, OK?
COLLINS: But Amale Andraos, who is an architect, said that she doesn't feel that the trope skews male, and the most recent example she could think of was Jennifer Garner in "Family Switch" as, like, a very hotshot architect and the matriarch of this family.
KELLY: Charlotte Collins is digital features editor at Architectural Digest. Thank you.
COLLINS: Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LONNIE LISTON SMITH, ADRIAN YOUNGE AND ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD SONG, "LOVE CAN BE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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