Abstract

Child characters in romantic comedies are not mere "helping characters" but really divine figures essential in moving the story forward. Young, innocent, and with no one paying any attention to them, children make good helping characters. Looking more closely at the films, The Shop Around the Corner, The Philadelphia Story and Sleepless in Seattle, however, we see that children's characters actually--and mysteriously--seem to more know about love and romantic chemistry than the adult protagonists, and use that knowledge to bring the protagonist couple to their happy ending