The History Of Romantic Films
The screwball comedy is a subgenre of the comedy film genre. It has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring film genres. It first gained prominence in 1934 with It Happened One Night, and, although many film scholars would agree that its classic period ended sometime in the early 1940s, elements of the genre have persisted, or have been paid homage to, in contemporary film.
While there is no authoritative list of the defining characteristics of the screwball comedy genre, films considered to be definitive of the genre usually feature farcical situations, a combination of slapstick with fast-paced repartee, and a plot involving courtship and marriage or remarriage. The film critic Andrew Sarris has defined the screwball comedy as "a sex" comedy without the sex.
(1896) (aka The May Irwin Kiss) although regarded as "disgusting" and scandalous, a Victorian couple May Irwin and John Rice re-enacted a lingering kiss. This was produced for Thomas Edison's film from their 1895 Broadway stage play The Widow Jones; it was the first film ever made of a couple kissing in cinematic history. It then became the most popular film produced that year by Edison's film company (it was filmed at Edison's Black Maria studio, in West Orange, NJ)
The first American feature-length sex film was Traffic in Souls (1913) (aka While New York Sleeps) The original vamp and first movie sex goddess, the full-bosomed Theda Bara, starred in a number of early silent’s for the Fox Film Corporation - her first lurid, slinky vamp appearance (and first lead role) was in Fox's melodramatic A Fool There Was (1915).
It was not until the creation of romantic love in the western European medieval period, though, that "romance" came to refer to "romantic love" situations, rather than the heroic adventures of medieval Romance. These adventures, however, often revolved about a knight's feats on behalf of a lady, and so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into them, as in Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart.
Friday 4 December 2009
Book Research Into Romantic Comedies
Book Research
The Cinemas Book Third Edition BFI Edited By Pam CookPart 5: Genre Comedy (Steve Neale)
Romantic Comedies:
Rom Com, has received the greatest attention in recent years, at least in part because of its revival by Hollywood in the mid 1980s under the guise of what Neale and Krutnik have termed ‘the new romance’ (Neale and Krutnik, 1990; Krutnik; 1990: Neale, 1992) In contrast to the screwball films, little has been written on the ‘sex comedies’ of the 1950s and 1960s – films such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Lovers Come Back (1961). There has been a revival of interest in the ‘sophisticated’ comedies of romance, sex, marriage and remarriage that preceded the screwball cycle in the late 1910’s and 1920s, especially those directed by Cecil B. DeMille. (Higashi; 1994; Musser1995). However, there are as yet no histories of romantic comedy in Hollywood that encompass all these trends. Neale (1992) proposes a number of basic conventions, including ‘the meet cute’, ‘the wrong partner’, the learning process the couple nearly always have to undergo and the initial hostility it eventually dispels. Neale and Krutnik (1990) argue that deviations from the norm are conventional in comedy and hence that ‘subversion’ is a licensed and integral aspect of comedy’s social and institutional existence. And Purdie (1993) has explicitly attacked the views of Balchtin and others, arguing that all forms of comedy involve a recognition of the norms whose transgression they entail, and hence a claim to social membership at the expense not only of those who are comedy’s butts, but also of those who do not get it jokes. Either way, it is likely that, as is the case with most genres, comedy’s ideological significance and impact varies from film to film, cycle to cycle, and audience to audience, and is probably best assessed at specific and local levels rather than through universal generalisations.
Miss Congeniality
(USA/Australia 2000 p.c- Warner Bros. /Castle Rock Entertainment/Village ROADSHOW Pictures/NPV Entertainment/Fortis Films; d – Donald Petrie)
Traditionally classic Hollywood romantic comedy focused on the apparently mismatched heterosexual couple, overcoming conflicts and obstacles in order to move towards their happy union. As a contemporary rom-com, Miss Congeniality follows this formula, but the predictable romance that develops between FBI agents Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) and Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) is pushed away from the centre and towards the margins of the narrative which instead focuses on the question of female identity and the performance of gender – contributing to the films queer appeal. Miss Congeniality plays with the conventions of this popular Hollywood genre to provide its audience marriage of masculine and feminine characteristics within Gracie’s personality. Thus it is Gracie herself, rather than the couple who undergoes a significant change. Miss Congeniality makes use of stereotypes and much of the comedy derives from gendered attitudes to hair, make-up, costume and behaviour. The films opening scenes establish Gracie as a social definition of femininity. Consequently she is a misfit who exhibits typically masculine characteristics she is aggressive, violent and clumsy.
The Cinemas Book Third Edition BFI Edited By Pam CookPart 5: Genre Comedy (Steve Neale)
Romantic Comedies:
Rom Com, has received the greatest attention in recent years, at least in part because of its revival by Hollywood in the mid 1980s under the guise of what Neale and Krutnik have termed ‘the new romance’ (Neale and Krutnik, 1990; Krutnik; 1990: Neale, 1992) In contrast to the screwball films, little has been written on the ‘sex comedies’ of the 1950s and 1960s – films such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Lovers Come Back (1961). There has been a revival of interest in the ‘sophisticated’ comedies of romance, sex, marriage and remarriage that preceded the screwball cycle in the late 1910’s and 1920s, especially those directed by Cecil B. DeMille. (Higashi; 1994; Musser1995). However, there are as yet no histories of romantic comedy in Hollywood that encompass all these trends. Neale (1992) proposes a number of basic conventions, including ‘the meet cute’, ‘the wrong partner’, the learning process the couple nearly always have to undergo and the initial hostility it eventually dispels. Neale and Krutnik (1990) argue that deviations from the norm are conventional in comedy and hence that ‘subversion’ is a licensed and integral aspect of comedy’s social and institutional existence. And Purdie (1993) has explicitly attacked the views of Balchtin and others, arguing that all forms of comedy involve a recognition of the norms whose transgression they entail, and hence a claim to social membership at the expense not only of those who are comedy’s butts, but also of those who do not get it jokes. Either way, it is likely that, as is the case with most genres, comedy’s ideological significance and impact varies from film to film, cycle to cycle, and audience to audience, and is probably best assessed at specific and local levels rather than through universal generalisations.
Miss Congeniality
(USA/Australia 2000 p.c- Warner Bros. /Castle Rock Entertainment/Village ROADSHOW Pictures/NPV Entertainment/Fortis Films; d – Donald Petrie)
Traditionally classic Hollywood romantic comedy focused on the apparently mismatched heterosexual couple, overcoming conflicts and obstacles in order to move towards their happy union. As a contemporary rom-com, Miss Congeniality follows this formula, but the predictable romance that develops between FBI agents Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) and Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) is pushed away from the centre and towards the margins of the narrative which instead focuses on the question of female identity and the performance of gender – contributing to the films queer appeal. Miss Congeniality plays with the conventions of this popular Hollywood genre to provide its audience marriage of masculine and feminine characteristics within Gracie’s personality. Thus it is Gracie herself, rather than the couple who undergoes a significant change. Miss Congeniality makes use of stereotypes and much of the comedy derives from gendered attitudes to hair, make-up, costume and behaviour. The films opening scenes establish Gracie as a social definition of femininity. Consequently she is a misfit who exhibits typically masculine characteristics she is aggressive, violent and clumsy.
Questionnaire
Template Of Our Questionnaire
Questionnaire Summary
After researching through the different genres and gaining an understanding of the codes and conventions through different analysis, I have decided to do a romantic comedy as my final piece as 40% of people aged between 15-20 preferred romantic comedy to any other genre. I gathered this information from my questionnaires which where handed out around the college and out side of the working environment into my family home. By doing this gathered that majority of females asked aged 15-19 favoured romantic comedies rather than watch a horror or a thriller, some of the reasons given for this for this was that they found a romantic comedies more interesting and funny, and it was they liked the idea they could watch a film without being scared of what is going to happen and afraid of what will happen next. A large amount of females aged 15-20 said that the only thing they disliked about watching a romantic comedy was that it is too unrealistic and the story lines are sometimes predictable.
The most popular style of romantic comedy was American Rom Com’s which were preferred by both male and female. In the questionnaire they were asked to define why they preferred American comedies and both genders answered because they hadn’t really seen many British Romantic Comedies and because the actors are funnier and the actors in American Romantic Comedies are at a better standard of acting. Also 30% of females who took part answered they favoured an American comedy to an English one for the reason that the actors are more “glamorous” and English films always look low budged
The question 9 was ‘what lifestyle do you prefer in romantic comedies?’ they had the choices of ‘urban lifestyle’ and ‘posh lifestyle’ and 80% of the participants answered ‘urban lifestyle’.
The participants where also asked what point of view they prefer to see a romantic comedy from and 17 / 30 people said that they prefer to see it in 1st person. 13/30 said they find it hard to stay engaged into a film being told in 1st person. Overall the main question of the questionnaire was ‘why do you watch romantic comedies’ and the males aged 20-23 stated that they watch it because they get dragged to watch it with there female companions,
The participants were then asked, other than this why would you go to the cinemas to watch a romantic comedy females aged between 20-23 stated that they would watch a romantic comedy because it makes them feel better and they feel that sometimes they can relate to the film in situations wise. The younger generation of females aged between 15-19 stated they watch romantic comedies because its entertaining and they make them smile and they feel they have better knowledge on how boys think and what they want, however a lot of the males asked also response was slightly different from the age15-19 as they stated that they would watch a romantic because they are funny and there are always dilemmas in the end which they find amusing, The males aged 23+ stated that they would watch romantic comedies because they feel they’re sometimes interesting to watch, where as the females aged 23+ replied in a unexpected way as they would prefer to watch a horror or thriller but if they where to watch a romantic comedy it would be because they are interested in watching it through the reviews off the mass media.
Due to the feedback I received on my questionnaire, I have decided that I will be doing Romantic Comedy with a target audience of people aged between 15-20. Mainly because of the positive feedback we received from this particular age group.
Here is the template to our questionnaire:
1. What gender are you?Female ___ Male ___
2. What age are you?15-16 ___ 17-18 ___ 19-20 ___ 21-23 ___ 24+ ___
3. What genre in films do you prefer?Romantic Comedies, Horror, Thriller or Other _____________________________
4. Do you watch romantic comedies?Yes ___ No ___ Sometimes ___
5. What would attract your attention to watch a romantic film?
6. What do you dislike about a romantic comedy?
________________________________________________
7. Would you prefer a romantic comedy if you could relate to it?
Yes ___
No ___
8. What do you prefer?American Romantic ComediesEnglish Comedies &Why ………………………………………………………………………….......................................................
...........................................
9. What lifestyle do you prefer in romantic comedies?
‘Urban Lifestyle’ ____
‘Posh Lifestyle’ ___
10. What point of view would you prefer to see a romantic comedy from?
1st Person ____
3rd Person _____
11. What emotion are you normally left feeling with at the end of a romantic comedy?
12. Why do you watch romantic comedies?
We appreciate that you have taken time out to complete our questionnaire!Thank You :)
Questionnaire Summary
After researching through the different genres and gaining an understanding of the codes and conventions through different analysis, I have decided to do a romantic comedy as my final piece as 40% of people aged between 15-20 preferred romantic comedy to any other genre. I gathered this information from my questionnaires which where handed out around the college and out side of the working environment into my family home. By doing this gathered that majority of females asked aged 15-19 favoured romantic comedies rather than watch a horror or a thriller, some of the reasons given for this for this was that they found a romantic comedies more interesting and funny, and it was they liked the idea they could watch a film without being scared of what is going to happen and afraid of what will happen next. A large amount of females aged 15-20 said that the only thing they disliked about watching a romantic comedy was that it is too unrealistic and the story lines are sometimes predictable.
The most popular style of romantic comedy was American Rom Com’s which were preferred by both male and female. In the questionnaire they were asked to define why they preferred American comedies and both genders answered because they hadn’t really seen many British Romantic Comedies and because the actors are funnier and the actors in American Romantic Comedies are at a better standard of acting. Also 30% of females who took part answered they favoured an American comedy to an English one for the reason that the actors are more “glamorous” and English films always look low budged
The question 9 was ‘what lifestyle do you prefer in romantic comedies?’ they had the choices of ‘urban lifestyle’ and ‘posh lifestyle’ and 80% of the participants answered ‘urban lifestyle’.
The participants where also asked what point of view they prefer to see a romantic comedy from and 17 / 30 people said that they prefer to see it in 1st person. 13/30 said they find it hard to stay engaged into a film being told in 1st person. Overall the main question of the questionnaire was ‘why do you watch romantic comedies’ and the males aged 20-23 stated that they watch it because they get dragged to watch it with there female companions,
The participants were then asked, other than this why would you go to the cinemas to watch a romantic comedy females aged between 20-23 stated that they would watch a romantic comedy because it makes them feel better and they feel that sometimes they can relate to the film in situations wise. The younger generation of females aged between 15-19 stated they watch romantic comedies because its entertaining and they make them smile and they feel they have better knowledge on how boys think and what they want, however a lot of the males asked also response was slightly different from the age15-19 as they stated that they would watch a romantic because they are funny and there are always dilemmas in the end which they find amusing, The males aged 23+ stated that they would watch romantic comedies because they feel they’re sometimes interesting to watch, where as the females aged 23+ replied in a unexpected way as they would prefer to watch a horror or thriller but if they where to watch a romantic comedy it would be because they are interested in watching it through the reviews off the mass media.
Due to the feedback I received on my questionnaire, I have decided that I will be doing Romantic Comedy with a target audience of people aged between 15-20. Mainly because of the positive feedback we received from this particular age group.
Research into Romantic Comedies & Classification
Research into Romantic Comedies & Classification
2008 was a great year for the Box Office UK as it grew to a record £850 million. The top film of 2008 was Mamma Mia which is a romantic comedy and has gone down in history by becoming the highest grossing film of all time in the UK, which means romantic comedies becoming increasingly popular. Another romantic comedy which was in the top five best film releases of 2008 is Sex in the City which was made in the USA.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is an English romantic comedy which is the top independent UK film which shows that the public do enjoy watching romantic comedies even if they are independent. This is also inspirational for me and my media team as we will be an independent group making a romantic comedy.
Comedy is currently the UK’s favourite genre and making almost a quarter of the Box Office in 2008. Comedy was the dominate genre of films sold in 2008 accounting for around 22% o the market figure. The next genre was action with 18% of all sales. However although comedy did exceptionally well in 2008, it did perform as well as it did in 2007.
Comedy was again this year the top grossing genre which means comedy alone turned over £222.4 million, which was followed by action which achieved £203.7 million. Primarily, comedy did so well because of the record breaking Mamma Mia which was the highest grossing film of all time.
In 2008 the Box Office released 140 comedy films which toped all other genres, however only 7 romance films toped the UK box office which states that romance is not as popular has comedy, however merging the two genres it will be drawing two types of audience together so that will be increasing the amount of viewers.
Classification
All films in the UK must carry a classification indicating the age group suitable to view the film. The British Board of Film Classification classifies most of the films of the theatre, however some local authority’s also can grant their own classification.
The box office released 193 films and15 rating topped all other classifications. It also made the most gross profit at the box office. The top film of this classification was Sex in the City which is also a romantic comedy and classified 15 rated film. The lowest gross profit made at the box office was 18 rating which only turned made 0.1 million gross box office. This is because of the rude and offence nature of 18 classified films the audience is very restricted.
From the classification 15 and above the nature of the film contains much stronger material than any other younger classification. Most of the older classified the films (depending of what genre it is), are more likely to involve adult – oriented topics.
If the classification of the film is U rated, then the film is limited to what it can show. The film has to make sure that all the material showing is suitable for all ages and contains no material likely to harm or offend anyone of any age or culture.
PG classification is abbreviated for Parental Guidance. Which means young children are suitable to watch the film, however an adult should be present at the time because the child may feel uncomfortable at times as the film may contain mild, infrequent language or mild fantasy violence.
The next rating is 12A, which means 12 years of ages accompanied with an adult. This classification allows the film to have mild language, moderate violence and sex; it is also aloud to show drug use which is band from any younger rating.
Rating 15 is the next rating above 12A and there is a large gap between what can been shown in a 12A and a 15. 15 is currently the most popular rating of film mainly because the martial approved for the film is much stronger and can me more attacking/shocking. The language in a 15 can be a great deal stronger and the film can contain scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence.
2008 was a great year for the Box Office UK as it grew to a record £850 million. The top film of 2008 was Mamma Mia which is a romantic comedy and has gone down in history by becoming the highest grossing film of all time in the UK, which means romantic comedies becoming increasingly popular. Another romantic comedy which was in the top five best film releases of 2008 is Sex in the City which was made in the USA.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is an English romantic comedy which is the top independent UK film which shows that the public do enjoy watching romantic comedies even if they are independent. This is also inspirational for me and my media team as we will be an independent group making a romantic comedy.
Comedy is currently the UK’s favourite genre and making almost a quarter of the Box Office in 2008. Comedy was the dominate genre of films sold in 2008 accounting for around 22% o the market figure. The next genre was action with 18% of all sales. However although comedy did exceptionally well in 2008, it did perform as well as it did in 2007.
Comedy was again this year the top grossing genre which means comedy alone turned over £222.4 million, which was followed by action which achieved £203.7 million. Primarily, comedy did so well because of the record breaking Mamma Mia which was the highest grossing film of all time.
In 2008 the Box Office released 140 comedy films which toped all other genres, however only 7 romance films toped the UK box office which states that romance is not as popular has comedy, however merging the two genres it will be drawing two types of audience together so that will be increasing the amount of viewers.
Classification
All films in the UK must carry a classification indicating the age group suitable to view the film. The British Board of Film Classification classifies most of the films of the theatre, however some local authority’s also can grant their own classification.
The box office released 193 films and15 rating topped all other classifications. It also made the most gross profit at the box office. The top film of this classification was Sex in the City which is also a romantic comedy and classified 15 rated film. The lowest gross profit made at the box office was 18 rating which only turned made 0.1 million gross box office. This is because of the rude and offence nature of 18 classified films the audience is very restricted.
From the classification 15 and above the nature of the film contains much stronger material than any other younger classification. Most of the older classified the films (depending of what genre it is), are more likely to involve adult – oriented topics.
If the classification of the film is U rated, then the film is limited to what it can show. The film has to make sure that all the material showing is suitable for all ages and contains no material likely to harm or offend anyone of any age or culture.
PG classification is abbreviated for Parental Guidance. Which means young children are suitable to watch the film, however an adult should be present at the time because the child may feel uncomfortable at times as the film may contain mild, infrequent language or mild fantasy violence.
The next rating is 12A, which means 12 years of ages accompanied with an adult. This classification allows the film to have mild language, moderate violence and sex; it is also aloud to show drug use which is band from any younger rating.
Rating 15 is the next rating above 12A and there is a large gap between what can been shown in a 12A and a 15. 15 is currently the most popular rating of film mainly because the martial approved for the film is much stronger and can me more attacking/shocking. The language in a 15 can be a great deal stronger and the film can contain scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)