...Romantic comedy is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms and focuses on the foibles of those who are falling in love Title page of the first quarto of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (1600) "Comedy", in its Elizabethan usage, had a very different meaning from modern comedy. A Shakespearean comedy is one that has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's other plays.[13] Comedy (from the Greek: κωμῳδία, kōmōidía), in the contemporary meaning of the term, is any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film and stand-up comedy. This sense of the term must be carefully distinguished from its academic one, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.[1] The theatrical genre can be simply described as a dramatic performance which pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye famously depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old",[2] but this dichotomy is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory explanation. A later view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth...
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...Pretty Woman: A Romantic Comedy The popular romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, is a story that shows how members of two different social classes meet and become forced to learn about each other's way of life and fall in love in the process (Garnham). Edward, (Richard Gere) is the upper-class businessman who coincidentally meets Vivian, (Julia Roberts), a lower-class prostitute, while trying to find his way back to his hotel after a fancy gathering of co-workers and other members of his elite society. After staying with Edward for a period of time, Vivian becomes assimilated into his upper-class way of life. While Vivian is learning how to fit into the upper echelons of society, Edward also learns how life is for the lower class. "Every society is marked by inequality, with some people having more money, schooling, health, and power than others. With its predictable plot, simple conflict and easy resolution, simple characters that the audience relates to, and the notion that one character saves the other, this film is the very definition of a romantic comedy. The predictable plot. This particular aspect of romantic comedies both explains their continued popularity and remains one of the hallmarks of this particular genre. Romantic comedies almost always follow the basic formula: Two people who are not supposed to be together somehow manage to fall in love. Hijinks and other mishaps ensue, they get into a huge fight, and then everything ends happily ever after (Garnham). This film...
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...Is Twelfth Night Predominantly a Romantic Comedy or Predominantly a Satire? Although one may argue that Twelfth Night contains many features that are typical of romantic comedies, it can be more accurately described as a satire, parodying such conventions. Shakespeare has purposely written a romantic comedy with the intent of highlighting the absurdity of the genre. It could be said that Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy but the term ‘satire’ is more fitting as the play exposes the stupidity of techniques associated with romantic comedy. Shakespeare uses many stereotypes of love in Twelfth Night and ridicules them to form his satire. At the beginning of the play Orsino makes it known what he believes love entails, “Away before me to sweet beds of flowers. Love thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers” (I.i.40). Music and flowers are both commonly associated with love. The fact that Orsino feels the need to have flowers and music around him so he can think about love properly is intended to be humorous. Twelfth Night depicts elements of love coupled with exaggeration for comedic purposes and could therefore be called a Romantic Comedy. However, this quote occurs in the very first scene of the play, before the audience even meet Olivia, and is clearly setting the satirical tone for the rest of the play. It may be argued that Shakespeare is ridiculing the works of romantic writers at the time, perhaps including himself. One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays (in his lifetime...
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...Hitch Plot summary Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor", or consultant as Hitch terms himself, who coaches other men in the art of having the perfect date with the woman of their dreams. While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James), who is smitten with celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist who is determined to unmask and ruin the so-called date doctor after one of his "clients" (with whom Hitch refused to work) had a one-night stand with her best friend. However, where Albert and Allegra's relationship continues to progress, Hitch finds that none of his tried and tested methods are working on himself, despite being a master of the art. After Hitch is unmasked, he and Sara break up, and Allegra and Albert follow suit. Finally, Hitch confronts Allegra and convinces her to reunite with Albert, before reconciling with Sara. In the process, he makes the startling discovery that he doesn't really do anything significant, and that most of his customers (particularly Albert) really were successful by just being themselves. In the end, Albert and Allegra get married and celebrate their marriage with Hitch and Sara, who are also back together again. Hitch, reflecting on love's unpredictability, addresses the audience in the last line, "Basic principles... There are none." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch_(film)#Plot_Summary taken on Dec. 24...
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...Script (Section B coursework) Bridget Jones is a romantic comedy film first released in 2001, based on the 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. The extract I have chosen to transcribe is the opening scene, when Bridget meets Mr Mark Darcy. The film focuses on how Bridget is unlucky with men, her weight and her job and many other aspects of her life. The movie is supposed to relate to women who feel they have the same life problems as her. The main speaker in this scene is Bridget Jones directly speaking to others and also she provides narration as well. Often speaking in the background of situations. Bridget Jones’s general target audience would be mostly women aged 17 upwards as some teenagers may enjoy Bridget’s story too, however some men may also be interested in watching the movie as it may explain the way women are supposedly meant to think. There are also numericals used, for example an ordinal determiner ‘32nd’ by using numerical it this gives more information to the reader and lets them into the life of Bridget, if they understand more about the topic of the character they will then enjoy the movie more, and understand key things which have happened in the film and what will continue to happen. There are many interrogative sentences used in the text for example ‘now what are you going to put on?’ and ‘how’s it going?’ this reminds the readers that in Bridget’s life everything is questionable as the topic of the movie is a comedy romance making everything in Bridget’s like comical...
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...Perceptions of Women and Female Adolescents: An Annotated Bibliography Green, C. (2013, April). The effects of romantic comedies on women and female adolescents. Paper presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), University of Wisconsin La Crosse, WI. In the article, Green points out how romantic comedies alter women’s and female adolescents’ perceptions of romantic relationships. She refers to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (as cited in Green, 2013) to explain how they learn from observation and copy behaviors that are depicted by romantic comedies. She advocates that romantic comedies cause women to have high expectations of their romantic relationships and that these movies or series support conventional patriarchal ideals and post-feminist ideologies. She explains that romantic comedies make women believe that the behaviors of the male partners that are depicted in the shows are truly ideal and should be expected in a romantic relationship. With all these explanations, the article answers my research question directly as can be predicted from its title. The article’s being supported with Social Cognitive Theory and concrete examples makes it more reliable. Moreover, it is quite recent. Johnson, K. R., & Holmes, B. M. (2009, July-September). Contradictory messages: A content analysis of Hollywood-produced romantic comedy feature films. Communication Quarterly, 57(3), 352-373. Retrieved from http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/c63310/ArticlesFromClassMembers/Joe...
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...Sandra Bullock Makes The Proposal Stands Sandra Bullock is one of the greatest actresses in the history of cinema. All her movies are beloved movies and are very close to the heart of the audience The proposal movie is a unique addition to her history. Sandra Bullock asserted in this movie how a skillful actress she is because she had the courage to choose a hateful mistress role and excel in it despite of being different from type of characters she used to present before, she could transit smoothly and professional from frigidness, to comedy, to romance, and she undoubtfuly could make us enjoy the movie despite of its easily predictable and stereotypic events. Bullock used to play the role of an ordinary woman who finds herself suddenly in the face of an extraordinary events and obstacles. Yet, in this movie, she portrays a powerful, cranky, pushy, and bossy woman. This “pitch” has been hated deeply by all her employees especially the miserable Andrew who had a lot of ambitions that he worked hard to achieve(). His devotion to his work is the thing that made him the perfect candidate for blackmailing by Margaret who threatened with ruining his future if he did not comply with her demands. She...
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...FROM LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT TO SOUL MATE: ROMANTIC IDEALS IN POPULAR FILMS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH YOUNG PEOPLE‘S BELIEFS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS BY VERONICA HEFNER DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Speech Communication in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Barbara J. Wilson, Chair Associate Professor John P. Caughlin Associate Professor Kristen Harrison Associate Professor Travis L. Dixon ABSTRACT Romantic comedy films have been popular since motion pictures first entered the media world. Scholars have speculated why these movies remain appealing to viewers and have argued for several reasons. These movies might foster hope about real-life romance (Galician, 2004), or demonstrate that that there are no limits to how love may manifest itself (Harvey, 1998). Despite this speculation, few studies have systematically investigated the content of these movies or the effects they may have on viewers. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate that potential. In particular, I conducted two studies that explored the nature of romantic ideals in romantic comedy films and their influence on viewer endorsement of romantic beliefs. The first study was a content analysis of the themes or romantic ideals embedded in romantic comedies. The second study was a survey designed to explore whether exposure to such...
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...It Happened One Night This movie is a well put together movie and directed for being filmed during the depression. All thought the movie was filmed in (1934) I still found comedy in it today. Ellen Andrews character played by Claudette Colbert reminds me of a complete spoiled brat, she plays the character extremely well. She plays being spoiled, selfish and naïve and the original run away bride. She reminds me of the epitome of a complete spoiled brat who thinks everything needs must be bestowed to her. I feel that is why Colberts character Ellen Andrews and Gables character Peter Warne had fallen in love with each other as they had, because she had never been spoken to or treated that way she had from anyone because of his enormous personality. These two characters opened up the prelude to the romantic comedy seen for movies today like The Proposal, Failure to Launch, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. There are some scenes in the movie that today would seem toned down and not as risqué as it was in the 1940s, such as then Andrews hails a hitch hike using her leg and says “The limb is mightier then the thumb” this is both funny and then unheard of. Another part is the fact that they are even sleeping in the same room and put a sheet up through the middle of the room just to make it seem more appropriate. A part that I didn’t notice the first time watching it is when Warn is buttoning up Andrews shirt after they out witted the men who are searching to find Andrews for her...
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...500 Days of Annie Hall Romantic Comedy contains the favorable elements of both romance and comedy genres. Some notables are funny jokes and humorous plots, which surround a love story or the search of a true love. Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977) and Marc Webb’s 500 Days of Summer (2009) are both movies that fall under the genre “Romantic Comedy”. These two movies are connected in many ways, for each film contains relatable characters and effective narrative techniques to portray a realistic relationship. Each film is also able to portray the differences between the reality and expectations of a relationship in humorous ways that allow them to be called a romantic comedy. Alvy and Tom are two different characters with separate mindsets. In 500 Days of Summer, Tom Hansen, despite his passion to be an architect is an unmotivated greeting card writer who deeply believes in the concept of true love and soul mates. Whereas in Annie Hall, Alvy Singer is a pessimistic comedian and control freak that is seen changing things to benefit him. Both characters due to their attitudes on life and relationships bring forth different aspects that make them such unique and likable characters. Tom strongly believes that he will never be happy until he meets the person that he believes is ‘the one’ for him. Whereas with Alvy he pushes Annie and doesn’t fully accept either Annie’s insecurities or support her as she finds ways to work through them. Summer and Annie, like their male counterparts...
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...Sandra Tamayo Prof. Elizabeth Lagaron ENC1101-876902 90s Romantic Films vs. Present Romantic Films With today’s growing industry of entertainment and technology, the concept of movies has increasingly changed, and this is especially true for romantic films, which in the last few years have become cultural product of consumption that calm the thirst of emotions and entertains audiences. We are been living in a decade where materialism, coldness, and convenience stands out compared to previous decades. A clear example of this are the romantic films of the 90s compared to the present romantic films. For example, when we look at the 1990 movie Pretty Woman, we can see that there is a gallant man, and the conquest and elegance prevails. However, when we look at the 2007 movie Good Luck Chuck, we can realize that there is nothing alike in this romantic film, or in this decade. It was only after comparing the courtly manners of the man, the intensity of the sensual scenes, and the song soundtracks of the two films, that it can be determined that there are several differences and similarities between the two romantic films. At first glance, comparing the 90s romantic films to the present romantic films, we can clearly appreciate that in the movie Pretty Woman, the character Edward (Richard Gere), demonstrates a high level of elegance and gentleman in how he treats Vivian (Julia Roberts), speaks to her, and how he expresses himself. In addition, how could anyone forget the scene...
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...The main difference in a tragedy and a comedy is the main character, what they go through and how they fare by the end of the play. In a tragedy, the main character usually commits a “deed that ultimately destroys them”, either by death or by or they are left in a death like state” (Barnet, Burto, & Cain, 2014). In a comedy the main characters and/or community, usually go through some hardship but at end they overcome their obstacles and live happily. There are typically two types of comedies, satiric and romantic comedies. Satiric comedies usually focus on the protagonist of the play who begins the play by being the bully and then later they are “outwitted by the younger generation, thus resolving the plot” (Barnet, Burto, & Cain, 2014). A Romantic comedy on the other hand focuses on a couple(s) who overcomes obstacles to finally be together. The end of a comedy is always joyous. Choosing between either a tragedy or a comedy is a hard choice to make; my feelings at the time, my emotional needs usually dictate what I’d choose. There are time when I feel like having a good cry, at those times I would chose a tragedy, and then there are times where I want to laugh and be happy for a couple who has found love, that is when I’d chose a romantic comedy. But if I was hard-pressed to make a choice, I would choose a romantic comedy; I really do enjoy a good...
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...Running Head: Genre and Genre Films 1 Romantic Comedy- Knocked Up Brandi Wheat ENG 225 Introduction to Film Prof. Sarah Snook July 31, 2014 Running Head: Genre and Genre Films 2 Romantic Comedy- Knocked Up The study of genre in this way examines the structural elements that combine in telling of a story and finds patterned in collection of stories. -(en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_studies). The word genre is originated from the French or Latin word kind and class. It refers to a certain kind of. My selected genre is Romantic Comedy. The genre Romantic Comedy is know as the least flexible genres. In the genre, the plot involves a romantic that leads to a comic situation.- (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.) I chose to write about the movie "Knocked Up". Knocked Up is a romantic comedy made in 2007. The movie, "Knocked Up" is considered to be a romantic comedy because jokes are being told and played on each other throughout, love and family plays a big part, and the characters are funny. The movie stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. Paying back due to a drunk one night stand between Ben(Seth) and Katherine(Alison) results in an unplanned pregnancy. Ben is very laid back living of of money he is receiving from a previous injury. Alison is...
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...Easy A The Princess Bride, Groundhog Day, and Ferris Bueller’s Day off have all become some of the great classic comedies of all time. What makes a classic comedies movie? A classic stands the test of time. It does not matter the period the film was made, because people can relate to the storyline in each era. The plots are solid. The films are enjoyed generation after generation. I believe Easy A will be joining this group of classic comedies as move generation moves to the next one. What makes Easy A such a great movie, that will last for generations, is its story. About how one lie can change the way everyone see you. It is a relatable and clever movie, with great humor and quotable one-liners. Easy A is about a high school student, Olive Penderghast, played by the talented Emma Stone, finds herself the victim of her school's "rumor mill". When she lies to her best friend Rhiannon, played by Alyson Michalka that she has a date with a nonexistent community college student, so that she doesn’t have to spend the weekend with Rhiannon and her family. The two of them are over heard in the bathroom the next Monday as Olive lies about her encounter, telling Rhiannon that she lost her virginity that weekend with her fictitious boyfriend. The rumor spreads through the school like wild fire; she soon becomes the scandal of the school after the religious fanatic Marianne decides to make her the school outcast. Meanwhile, Olive is studying "The Scarlet Letter" in the English...
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...It features stand-out performances by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as two wildly flawed individuals who need to lie to themselves constantly to make it through the day. Despite finding comedy in mental illness and marital failure, Silver Linings will melt your heart with its bittersweet cynicism of the world. (-- removed HTML...
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