The Genre Of Romantic Comedy

Released in the summer of 1994, the movie “When a Man Loves a Women” produced by Touchstone Pictures’ producer Jon Avnet created a film that touches on a female alcoholic. This film included stars like Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia, and Lauren Tom. An airline pilot played by Garcia as Michael and his wife Alice portrayed by Ryan are forced to deal with her alcoholism. Within this family it includes that of her two children and the nanny (Lauren Tom). The film offers several hinting scenes to Alice’s addiction. Alcoholism is a disease of denial, the movie focuses on not only the alcoholic but those around her that deny and have even grown accustomed to her drinking.

In the article, “Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Are Not Real”, actor and writer, Mindy Kaling, classifies the women’s roles from classic romantic comedies, while a critical analysis piece over the genre as well. Starting the article, She discusses her inspiration for the piece itself, furthermore expressing her love for romance, as well. Throughout the article, she separates the different types of women in these roles, whether it’s the obnoxious glamour girl, or the girl with an amazing personality, in latent terms, the difference between “The Klutz” and “The Ethereal Weirdo.” By the end of each example, she differentiates how cliche the storyline of the female character

“Why Did I Get Married?” directed and produced by Tyler Perry is a movie based on four couples who take a reunion vacation to the Colorado Mountains in order to reunite with friends from college. On this vacation things didn’t go according to plan. Throughout the movie there was heartbreak, infidelity, suppressed feelings, conflict, and secrets raging throughout each of the couples’ relationship in some aspect. With these unfortunate events occurred at various times throughout the film it cause their trip to evolve from a place to relax, enjoy friends, and time off from work into an emotional and tense atmosphere with the involved couple seeking validation from the other couples on the reason why their marriages are the way they are. Even though the movie ended on a good note in their celebration of Janet Jackson’s character (Pat) receiving an award one of the marriages did not survive. This couple’s relationship will be my focus for this paper.

In his 2001 film entitled Lantana, director Ray Lawrence provides a dramatic look into the consequences of jealousy and infidelity in relationships. The film focuses primarily on two couples, Leon and Sonja, and John and Valerie, whose relationships are both seemingly in the midst of their own downward spirals. As the story unfolds and the issues affecting each of these relationships are uncovered, the film paints a vivid picture of the different ways that such themes can quickly bring ruin to relationships, and, in the case of some of the film’s characters, lives.

Romanticism was a movement that started in the 1700's that focused on emphasizing pathos, inspiration, individualism and superiority. Most films have a dimension of romance between a main character and a supporting character. A romance film is any film that the central storyline features the romantic involvement of two characters.

In the 2005 film The Wedding Crashers directed David Dobkin show many normal gender stereotypes and gender inequalities that are still present in today’s society. The film mainly focuses on two divorce mediators Jeremy and John who enjoy sneaking into wedding parties in order to get drunk off free booze and seduce bridesmaids. Certainly, the film exposes the bromance relationship that Jeremy and John have, which opposes the hegemonic masculinity that society renders on. Their attendance to Secretary Williams’s party exhibits the patriarchy of a white, rich, and powerful man. And lastly the way the guys view women as part of objectification and women displaying sexual agency towards these two gentlemen has been able to change overtime in society where both concepts have become a norm.

Serendipity, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Pretty Woman, Overboard, and Bridesmaids. What do all these movies have in common? For one, they are all obviously romantic comedies. But, what makes them romantic comedies? Probably the most obvious trait they share is that each of these movies creates a lighthearted, whimsical, and amused feeling for their viewers.. There are no times during the movies that the audience feels uneasy or confused. The filmmakers for these movies also creates characters that the viewers like and root for. For these reasons, Punch Drunk Love is not a romantic comedy. When compared to the previous examples it’s clear that Punch Drunk Love does not provide any of the traditional romantic comedy feelings. In fact, it makes the viewers feel anxious and very confused. Additionally, the main characters are much different: they are awkward, to say the least, and the audience does not relate to or like them. Clarity, light heartedness, and a positive relationship with the characters are important assets to be considered a romantic comedy.

When we think of romance novels, one's first thought might be of the kind we see at the newsstand while waiting to check out at the grocery store. Visions of a white knight like Fabio whisking away the fair damsel in distress. Romance novels for the young adult are appealing because many romantic symbols relate directly to what they're experiencing both physically and emotionally in their lives; that of youthfulness and hope.

The movie Silver Lining playbook is an award winning movie that exposes some social disorders that the community as a whole as engaged in for years. “A word-of-mouth hit in 2012, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook has been popularly discussed as successfully targeting an adult audience under-served in contemporary Hollywood, as “authentically” reflecting the parenting challenges of its star and director, and as portraying a “modern” romance about a sympathetic, deeply damaged protagonist couple” (Nadel P1.).

Whether it be due the malleable minds of children, or the turbulent world around them, dramatic changes in life are an absolute certainty. Young, naïve children are highly impressionable. Their parents teach them one thing, their friends another, and society, yet something else. Fickle, they morph in and out of the plethora of ideologies and mindsets laid out in front of them. This leads to a disorienting and rather confusing child-to-young-adult life, one without a clear sense of morality. The lack of focus upon what is right and wrong, inherently subjective terms, continues into our early adult hood and, for better or worse, seemingly defines the child for the rest of his or her life. This universal theme has been explored for many years through films aptly called “coming-of-age” stories, recently, and perhaps most effectively in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012). This film revolves around Sam and Suzy, two recently pubescent kids, their romantic affair, and their effects on the world around them. The film not only captures the youthful dynamic between the two protagonists, but explores the “coming-of-age” theme through Anderson’s signature flat perspective and through the actors’ portrayals of these characters.

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

However Molly Haskell In her development of “buddy movie” the homosexual eroticism of the main male figures are able to present the story-line with no interruption. Normally the woman shown operates within two sectors, the first one is as a sexual object of the other actors and the second one is as a sexual object for the target audience.

Romantic comedy films create a comic climate through a series of cues to the audience: subject matter is treated as trivial, jokes and physical humor make fun of events, and characters are protected from harm (Grindon Leger (2015). Romantic comedy films usually have a couple that meet and fall in love in some way throughout the movie. In the movie Rocky Sylvester Stallone as Rocky meets Adrian at the pet shop and realizes she is the women he wants to be with. Rocky is a want to be boxer at the time who wants to be a professional boxer and knows Adrian’s brother from the gym. When Rocky sees Adrian through the window of the pet shop he uses the excuse that he buys a fish and asks her out. Adrian agrees and she is a very bashful lady, she dresses and looks very homely. Rocky and Adrian starting dating and she supports him through his boxing career. The couple falls in love and they get married. Adrian starts dressing nice and gets contacts to the point you see her transform into a beautiful lady by the end of the film. The genre of Romantic comedy is pairing two individuals into a couple with some comedy which Rocky proves to have. The comedy part would be where Adrian asks Rocky why he boxes and he says “because he can’t dance or sing”. Throughout the film there are little conventions to show the comedy.

Just as other interpersonal themes, sexual themes in film are often depictions of sexual themes that exist in real life relationships. For this very reason, it is very easy for a person to compare his relationships with that of a relationship shown in media or film. Some relationships are total train wrecks from the start while others are not necessarily ideal, but healthy. Although not seen very often, ideal couples in film are attributed with characteristics that are seen by society as desirable; youthful, attractive people who are hyper-sexual and affectionate. As cliché as it sounds, sometimes relationships are simply “complicated”. Such is the case in the film It’s Complicated.

The media that I have chosen to discuss for the purpose of this essay is a scene from the 2009 film, “The Ugly Truth.” The film, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, is about Abby, a TV producer (Heigl) whose show is on the verge of being cancelled. In a last-ditch attempt to save the show, Abby’s boss brings in a “love expert,” Mike (Butler) to raise the ratings. Mike’s character is crass and disrespectful, essentially the antithesis of Abby’s character. As such, she harbors extreme dislike for him. Despite this, when Mike offers to