What defines a romantic movie? Is it the sappy smiles and the fake tears, the scripted “I love you’s” through clenched teeth and the most ridiculous plots? What is about it romantic movies that cause people to watch them on Valentine’s Day?

Maybe it’s because for one day they allow couples to be happy without the constant criticism of everyday life. The movies such as The Fault in Our Stars or A Walk to Remember display two people that change each other’s lives for the better.

The Fault in Our Stars

The screen brightens to show a girl with a short pixie cut, hooked up to a breathing machine, that she has affectionately named Phillip. Her name is Hazel Grace and she has stage IV Thyroid cancer.

At a group therapy session she meets Augustus Waters. They both know what it’s like to experience pain and sacrifice, yet Augustus shows Hazel how to enjoy life, even though it seems like their health is against them.

This story is different from others because they both know that they might not make it to adulthood, but they don’t care.

They love each other through everything, showing what couples have to go through to be in love that most movies don’t show.

The romance is unconventional; it starts out with a tragic beginning, but slowly brightens for Hazel as she gets to know Augustus.

A Walk to Remember

During his senior year, bad boy Landon Carter is given detention after being caught for trespassing. An ultimatum arises; if he doesn’t shape up, he’ll be expelled from school.

To compensate, he joins the cast of the school musical. He asks Jamie Sullivan, the preacher’s daughter, to help him learn his lines. She helps him, like a good girl, and as time passes, Landon sees her as more than just pious; as Jamie is singing on stage, Landon falls in love her. Landon’s friends disapprove of the way he has changed and decide to target Jamie for his changes.

When Landon stands up against his friends, Jamie sees that he has changed for the better, though their happiness doesn’t last long. On their first date, Jamie reveals that she has been diagnosed with untreatable cancer, leaving her few years to live.

How he deals with this news defines Landon for the rest of his life; it shows him what real love requires. This helps you see not your typical bad boy, corrupting the good girl, but instead, you see the good girl mending the bad boy.