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.