Las Vegas Weekly

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Kristen Peterson

Thu, Feb 7, 2013 (midnight)

Before marrying a cardboard cutout of Twilight character Edward Cullen at a Las Vegas wedding chapel, artist Lauren Adkins had already been making art that delves into the romance genre on film. That includes a video loop of misty-eyed female characters caught in “the look” and a sound collage of famous over-the-top music scores from romantic movies. Given the Valentine’s holiday, we asked her for some personal favorites.

Favorite romance movie? Twilight. We all know making fun of Twilight is everyone’s favorite pastime, but just for a minute, let’s give it some credit. Millions of girls and women of all ages, all over the world, call themselves fans, and there are still more fans who won’t admit it because of the potential harassment. Obviously, I’m not one of those fans. I’m not saying Twilight’s a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s powerful in a way not many films have been.

Guilty pleasure? I don’t really have guilty pleasures. Just pleasures.

Most disastrous romance movie? If you mean disastrous as in having terrible effects on girls’ and women’s expectations of their partners, can I just say ... all of them? Particularly the light-hearted, silly ones of the rom-com genre, like The Wedding Planner, Sweet Home Alabama and Serendipity, to name just a few. They all encourage the concept of “the one,” of a destined relationship that shouldn’t require much real work.