finding a formula for true love analyzing the romantic comedy and its effect on the movie industry

7/14/2019 Finding a Formula for True Love Analyzing the Romantic Comedy and Its Effect on the Movie Industry

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Finding a Formula for True Love:

Analyzing the Romantic Comedy and its Effect on the Movie Industry

By: Michelle Wilson

Each and every genre of film has certain formulas that are associated with it. Action

movies often have the hero who no one will believe. Horror films always tend to follow a similar

pattern as to who gets killed in what order. Arguably the hardest genre to find only one formula

for is the comedy genre, because there are several sub-sections to it: the slapstick, the drama-

comedy, the parody, and what many consider the lowest of the low, the romantic comedy.

Perhaps that is why people who have studied the romantic comedy genre, or the ³rom-com,´

have such a difficult time finding one universal definition for it. In the simplest terms, a romantic

comedy is a romance told with a light, humorous touch. The America Film Institute (AFI)

defines it as a genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations. It has also

been described as a narrative of the heterosexual couple with a happy ending in which humor

does not necessarily play an important part. There has been debate over whether the romance or

comedy is more important, or whether one or the other should be treated more lightly. In any

case, the way it is defined has been changed, stretched and extended through the decades by

many films, actors and directors, which will be highlighted throughout this paper. Another aspect

that will be reviewed is the impact these films have on audiences and society, and vice versa.

Romcoms fill viewers with the feeling that romance can overcome all obstacles, that true

love exists and if you find that person out there for you, then you can experience true love as

well. These feelings generally tend to draw in a specific audience type: women. In the 1993 film,

Sleepless in Seattle, there is a moment when Suzy (Rita Wilson) explains her love for the



romantic ³old movie´ An Aff air To Remember , to her husband (Victor Garber) and friend, Sam

(Tom Hanks). As she recounts the plot, which involves two star-crossed lovers meeting, falling

in love, and nearly failing to reconnect, Suzy begins to cry. The male audience around her is

unimpressed by the story, and Sam even replies, ³That¶s a chick¶s movie!´ This testifies to the

assumption that romantic films are made for and to be enjoyed by female audience members

(McDonald, 1). The question then is, if romantic comedies are so popular with that gender, why

do dozens of romantic comedies fail at the box office? The easy answer is that they are too

formulaic in plot and characters. More than with other genres, romantic comedies need to speak

to that generation¶s audience in fresh and provocative ways, with more story than boy meets,

loses, then gets girl (Mernit, 6). The films discussed here are those that changed and influenced

the genre and film industry as a whole, as well as surviving by adapting to changing societal

circumstances.

The late 1920s brought changes to the film industry that would affect the way every

movie from then on would be made. The major change was the switch to sound film, or

³talkies,´ which meant that silent films were quickly on their way out. Many silent film stars

found themselves out of work because they didn¶t have the voice to make it in the up-and-

coming industry. Despite this drastic change of sound becoming the standard, Charlie Chaplin,

the most recognized silent film comedian of all time, and his company United Artists, continued

to create silent films. One of the reasons for this was Chaplin¶s iconic on-screen character, the

Tramp. Chaplin knew that this character was universal, and if he added a single, monosyllabic

voice, his worldwide audience would shrink (Robinson, 4). Although it was an extremely risky

move, the result of this choice was the production of very popular films, including a picture,

which is known as one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. C ity Lights, which was



starring, written and directed by Chaplin, told the story of the Tramp, and his attempts to win the

heart of a blind woman he loves. In the film, the tramp stops a drunken millionaire from

committing suicide, and the millionaire befriends the tramp, giving him nice clothes, a car, and

other amenities. The blind woman, who needs money for a surgery that will help her see,

mistakes the tramp for a millionaire. This causes the tramp to go through many odd jobs to get

money, in order to keep up the charade and pay for her surgery. Chaplin has said that he was

nervous about whether or not the film, which was released almost three years after the firm

establishment of sound film, would be successful. Regardless, C ity Lights ended up being one of

his most financially successful and critically acclaimed films (Robinson, 5).

There are overall themes in C ity Lights that become cliché in romantic comedies to come,

the greatest of those being a man going through elaborate, often comedic stunts to win the heart

of a woman. The 1930s and 1940s brought other films with original themes, some of which

hadn¶t been really done before sound film. In silent films, women were often weak characters,

waiting for a man to save them; a perfect example is the aforementioned C ity Lights. The blind

woman as a character doesn¶t serve much more than fuel for the Tramp to enter comedic

situations, and she certainly doesn¶t do much to raise the money on her own. What the late 1930s

and 1940s brought, with the help of sound, were more powerhouse women. Although these

women were still dependent on men, which can be attributed to the social climate of the time,

they had their own independent characters and weren¶t afraid to give their opinions.

The film It Happened One Night , starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, which

premiered in 1934, is great example, and another that paved the way for other films. Colbert

plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who escapes her millionaire father when he kidnaps her

for eloping with a man whom he thinks is a fortune hunter. After running away, Ellie boards a



bus to New York, in order to see the man she eloped. On the bus, she runs into Peter Warne

(Gable), a recently fired newspaper reporter looking for a story. After Ellie¶s bag and money is

stolen, Peter agrees to help her, in exchange for rights to her story about running away. Peter and

Ellie highly dislike one another other at the start of the film, but throughout the story, slowly

begin to fall for each other ± another cliché that will be discussed later on in this paper. Despite

Ellie desperately relying on Peter throughout the story, she also manages to contribute to their

journey. In one of the most well known scenes of the film, the two characters are on the side of

the road trying to hitch a ride. Peter tries and fails several times with his technique, and Ellie,

with a raise of her skirt, manages to stop a car on her first try. Little moments like that

interspersed throughout the film, set Peter and Ellie as equals ± or as close as men and women

could be to equals in the 1930s. This film helped to set the bar for the female characters in films

to not have to be as subservient to the males as they had been in silent films.

Katharine Hepburn, one of the ³It Girl´ actresses of this time, was known for portraying a

strong female character with a sassy attitude, specifically in the film The Philadelphia Story, in

which Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and John Howard co-star. Hepburn plays Tracy Lord, a proud

woman from a wealthy background, similar to the character of Ellie. The film begins with her

about to embark on her second marriage to George (Howard). On the eve of her wedding, her ex-

husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant) shows up with a reporter, MacCauley ³Mike´ Connor, and a

photographer (Stewart and Ruth Hussey, respectively), who are doing a story on the family for

their magazine. As the story progresses, it leads Tracy to have to choose between her past love,

her current love, and her potential new love.

Both of the aforementioned films, It Happened One Night and The Philadelphia Story,

follow the theories of ³commitment comedy´ and the ³reaffirmation comedy.´ These themes are



both apparent in the romantic comedies of the 1930s and the 1940s, in films such as Bringing Up

Baby, Holiday, and His Girl Friday which all share general themes, plot elements and character

roles. Commitment comedies develop along two plot lines: one of these, concerns a character¶s

commitment to career and social advancement, which runs alongside this character being

introduced to a love interest for whom attaining wealth is unimportant. In It Happened One

Night , Peter¶s character is looking for a new story to save his career, and Ellie has never worked

a day in her life. The working protagonist in commitment comedies doesn¶t give up their

profession and accept the easy lives of their counterparts. They must, however, make some

sacrifice to reach the correct balance between professional and personal concerns, usually

dealing with their career or money. Peter must choose between Ellie and the ³scoop´ that he¶s

been working towards the whole film. The upper-class character must also give up something ± a

life of inherited wealth ± so the couple can be together. At the end of the film, Ellie leaves the

lavish wedding she was going to have, and goes with Peter to a run-down motel in Michigan.

When both characters relinquish something that was important to them, it creates a happy

equilibrium, that is assumed will be maintained when the film ends (Karnick, 133-4).

Reaffirmation comedy, on the other hand, is more about what happens after the assumed

equilibrium. In many ways, reaffirmation comedies are continuations of the stories established in

commitment comedies. However, the formula followed for reaffirmation comedies is a bit more

complicated than that of commitment comedies, because of the spheres of action, or character

roles, that are assigned. These roles include the first and second partner, the first and second

blocking figure, a conscience figure, and a common denominator that brings the partners

together. At the beginning of reaffirmation comedies, the comic/romantic couple has been

married previously, but their divorce is looming, if it has not already been done when the film



begins. In these films, one spouse always leaves the other; however, the one who is left has

usually abandoned the relationship emotionally (Karnick, 136). In The Philadelphia Story,

Tracy, the first partner, throws C.K. Dexter Haven, the second partner, out of the house, due to

his drinking. After this flaw established, there is the introduction of the conscience figure; in this

case, that character is Dinah Lord, Tracy¶s younger sister, who comments to Tracy about her

aversion to George, the man Tracy is marrying. Then the fault in the first partner is revealed, and

with Tracy it is her pride, which is the other reason for the original divorce. The film suggests

that Dexter drank so much due to Tracy¶s emotional and sexual coldness. The common

denominator then comes into play, when Dexter comes to keep Tracy and her family from being

blackmailed by a magazine. From then on, the stories with the first and second blocking figures

begin ± George and Connor ± all leading to the ³ideal couple,´ or the first and second partners,

finally holding a civilized conversation, where the discuss their relationship. This is particularly

important, because all films that follow this formula focus on the romantic couple¶s recapturing

some important yet temporarily missing aspect of their relationship. After the couple has that

conversation, it leads to the conflicts being resolved. When The Philadelphia Story ends, Tracy

decides to remarry Dexter, making the assumption that in their second marriage, they will

tolerate each other¶s imperfections. When the narratives are arranged in this way, it is possible to

examine the importance of single actions to the overall structure (Karnick, 142). It also helps to

show how homogeneous the romantic comedy can be and continues on to be in the preceding

decades.

The 1950s saw the rise of a new ³It girl,´ and a different Hepburn. With films such as

Roman Holiday, Break f ast at Ti ff any¶s, Sabrina and C harade, Audrey Hepburn very much

dominated the romantic comedy market. The film that wowed audiences and won her the 1954



Academy Award for Best Actress was Roman Holiday. Hepburn plays Ann, a sheltered princess,

who while on vacation in Rome, falls for an American reporter. In this film, we see yet another

example of rich girl meets poor boy. Roman Holiday was Hepburn¶s first American movie role,

having done European films and stage plays in the past, but it was that role which shot her

stardom. The director of the film, William Wyler, is quoted as saying that Hepburn, ³had

everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. (Ford)´ These qualities are what

Hepburn became known for, along with being style icon, with a waifish figure, elegance and

grace.

In B

reak f ast at Ti ff any¶s, Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, her most recognized and

memorable role. Holly is a naïve, outgoing woman, who pretends to have her life put together,

but is actually very troubled. Hepburn has said that it was the hardest role for her to play,

because she is introverted and Holly is very extroverted character (Ford). Along with the

identifiable character of Holly Golightly, Ti ff any¶s brought an interesting way of looking at sex

in romantic comedies. In order to make ends meet, Holly ³spends time´ with wealthy

businessmen and aristocrats. It is never actually said or shown that she sleeps with them just

heavily implied. Even after Holly and her romantic interest in the film, Paul (George Peppard),

kiss for the first time, it is only assumed that they slept together.

Obviously, before and up to this point in the film industry, sex was a taboo subject, and

was not shown in films of this genre, or any genre. The word ³sex´ itself is hardly ever used, if at

all, until the 1960s and 1970s. Perfect examples of this are the films that starred Doris Day and

Rock Hudson, like Pillow Talk . Despite being labeled as ³sex comedies,´ they were, for the most

part, squeaky clean. With the rise in age of the baby boomers, another major cinematic trend

were ³clean teen´ beach films, meant to counteract the rebellious teen films of Marlon Brando



and James Dean. These films, such as 1959¶s Gidget, were meant to be comic, idyllic romantic

escapades, without heavy melodrama, and starred actresses like Sandra Dee, the archetypal

³good girl´ (Dirks, 4). Even with the good intentions those films were made with, they never put

a huge dent in the memorable romantic comedy market.

A film that brought a new, refreshing take on this genre was 1959¶s Some Like It Hot ,

starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe; it was one of the first films that had

cross-dressing as a central plot element. Curtis and Lemmon play Joe and Jerry, two musicians

who witness a mob hit; they try to find a way out of the city before they are found and killed by

the mob. The only paying job they can find is in an all girl jazz band, leading the two to covertly

dress as women. Both of the men run into problems while in the band; Joe falls for Sugar Kane

(Monroe), the lead singer of the band, but can¶t tell her his real gender. Jerry, on the other hand,

has a rich, elderly suitor, Osgood, who is infatuated with him. The most famous moment from

the film is the closing scene, in which Joe, Sugar, Jerry (still in drag) and Osgood have safely

escaped from the mob in a motorboat. Jerry tries to convince Osgood that they can never be

married, and finally rips off his wig and cries out, ³I¶m a man!´ Osgood doesn¶t blink an eye

when he replies, ³Nobody¶s perfect.´ This famously open ending, written by Billy Wilder, may

be seen as subversion to the typical happy ending of the romantic comedy genre. Some Like It

Hot , as with many of the Wilder¶s films, had the positioning of sex at the center, which was a

logical consequence of the cultural saliency of sex and sexuality in the 1950s. This interest in sex

increased at the beginning of the 1960s and would eventually lead to the so-called sexual

revolution (Deleyto, 35).

At the start of the 1960s, films of every genre changed significantly, as a result of the

Counterculture revolution and the abolishment of the Hays Code, the censorship guidelines that



governed the production of most U.S. films until 1968. Films of the time were heavily affected

by societal changes and became more experimental (Dirks, 5). Perhaps because of this, typical

and popular romantic comedies declined heavily in the mid- to late 1960s. Westerns, musicals

and youth-cult films dominated the market with films like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The

Sound o f Music, Bonnie and C lyde, and The Graduate. Walt Disney also released profitable

films in the 1960s, including 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, and the last film Disney himself

oversaw before his death, The Jungle Book . This is not to say that romantic comedies

disappeared completely in this time. Some films, such as C harade starring Audrey Hepburn and

Cary Grant, had aspects of romance and comedy, intertwined with the thriller characteristics. In

addition, the film Harold and Maude was a romantic comedy with a darker side to it, that gained

a massive cult following. Still, very few, if any, of the fluffy romcoms that were made managed

to make it out of the decade with lingering success.

In his 1978 article, Brian Henderson wrote that because of the changes in modes and

methods of censorship in the late 1960s, the romantic comedy might be an art that cannot

flourish (Henderson, 22). Ironically, just as Henderson wrote this, a new wave of romantic

comedies hit the shore of the movie industry. Woody Allen began to emerge with his ³nervous

romances´: Annie Hall , The Goodbye Girl , and Manhattan (Krutnik and Neale, 171-2) Thanks to

the sexual and cultural revolution that was spawned in the previous decade, romantic comedies

in late 1970s and the years following, no longer shrouded the topic of sex. Many of these

nervous romances contained instances of sexually explicit representation and points at which µthe

sexual questions¶ were openly stated. These films demonstrate that the question at hand in the

romantic comedy is not just sexual, though. It is rather one of coupledom, compatibility and

romance ( Neale, 286). Most of Allen¶s nervous romances were male-centered films in which



romance is presented as complex, frustrating and elusive. In the majority of Allen¶s films, he

rarely ends up neatly partnered with the object of his desire, which changes the genre¶s definition

significantly, from one of consistent end-game coupledom to a more realistic viewpoint. The

1977 film, Annie Hall tells the story of neurotic comedian Alvy Singer, played indistinguishably

by Woody Allen, and his on-again, off-again relationship with the insecure, flighty, titular

character, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton).

Annie Hall was groundbreaking in quite a few ways; for starters, the film opened with

Alvy stating that he and Annie broke up. With a large amount of romantic comedies, the

audience can assume that the couple will end up together, from the very beginning, but what is

interesting is the journey of how they get there. Allen takes that same approach in this film, but

reverses it, so that the audience knows the doomed fate of the couple, but wants to see the ride

anyway. This film also uses a variety of innovative strategies and narrative techniques that

support the idea that Woody Allen is functioning as a self-conscious artist who evaluates his

entire life and uses film to achieve greater control over reality. The major theme of the film is

that there are severe limitations in life, but that art forms have the power to reshape reality and

provide some measure of control, thereby compensating for life's limitations (Dirks). These

cinematic techniques include Alvy directly addressing the camera, memory flashbacks,

animation in the form of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and sudden transformations, like

when Alvy suddenly becomes a bearded Hasidic Jew when visiting Annie¶s parents. In one

scene, Alvy fantasizes about conveniently bringing author Marshall McLuhan into the scene to

settle an argument, and Alvy comments, ³Boy, if like were really like this.´ The entire film

didn¶t simply revolve around a romance, but instead follows Alvy and Annie as they try to find

themselves, along with love. In contrast to many romantic comedies in the past, the couple the



audience was following was not the ideal couple at all. Marriage, or even the prospect of a

wedding, seems to start becoming less central elements to the genre and, certainly, less

associated to a happy ending (Evans and Deleyto, 6).

With the rise of the baby boomers in the 60s and 70s, more and more movies about

teenagers were produced. It wasn¶t until the 1980s that movies geared towards teenagers and

romantic comedies connected, much in thanks to director John Hughes. With films like Sixteen

C andles, The Break f ast C lub and Pretty in Pink , John Hughes, along with several of the ³Brat

Pack´ actors ± including Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Andrew McCarthy ± shed

a new light on teenagers in film. Previously, most films about this age group were either about

rebellious teenagers or were sex comedies, focused on watching teenagers get humiliated. What

the John Hughes era of films did was show that it was okay to laugh with the teenagers in the

film and feel what they are going through. It also showed teenagers as people looking for

something other than just sex, and being interested in something that only adults were concerned

about in films: love.

Sixteen C andles, a 1984 film directed by Hughes and starring Ringwald and Hall,

acknowledges teenagers sexuality, but doesn¶t make it the main focus. The plot centers on Sam

(Ringwald), her crush on her older classmate, Jake Ryan, and the nameless freshmen geek (Hall)

that has a crush on her. Undoubtedly, the plot is very simple, and could almost be seen as

formulaic. What makes this film original is the way the characters are portrayed. There are

various times throughout the movie where these teenage characters have mature, in-depth heart

to hearts. One specific scene finds Sam and the geek alone in their school¶s auto shop, where

they talk and bond. He comes to see her as more than a sex object, and she sees bits of herself



reflected in him (Medic). Hollywood had seemed to think that this age group was incapable of

having these types of discussions, and Hughes proved that wrong.

There are some films that, simple they may be, pave the way for other films to follow that

same path. Then there are films, like 1987¶s The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner, which

set the bar for originality. The Princess Bride, based off of the book of the same name, combines

the romcom genre with fantasy, drama and action, which happens quite often in films of the next

couple decades. This film demonstrates how you can take the simple formula of ³boy meets,

loses, and then gets girl´ and make it something new and different. The movie opens with a boy,

sick in bed with the flu, being read a fairy tale by his grandfather. As the grandfather reads, the

audience sees the story play out on screen. The story is a tale of the love between Buttercup

(Robin Wright) and her childhood beau Westley (Cary Elwes), a love interrupted by his

apparent death at sea when seeking his fortune for them to marry. Heartbroken, Buttercup

has sworn never to love again, but accepts the marriage proposal of Prince Humperdinck.

She soon learns that death is no barrier to true love, when Westley returns as a seemingly

masked pirate. The story is filled remarkable characters, from swordsmen to giants to

disgruntled miracle workers. As an adventure or a fantasy, Westley stands at the center of

The Princess Bride; as a romance, Buttercup is the central role. In the romance genre,

women are more and more becoming the key protagonists. The reason for this is

thematically the romance genre is about the conquest of reason by emotion. In order for

love to prevail, the woman must convince the rational man to abandon reason (Bartfield,

94). In a glaring departure from that usual form, this occurs easily and early in the film,

making The Princess Bride an unusual romance from a thematic perspective, but also an

original one.



Even with all of the new ways romantic comedy was being portrayed on screen,

there was one thing the genre hadnǯt seen for a number of years, and that was the

quintessential romantic comedy heroine. Not since the Hepburn women had an actress

come along with that special something to make them the ǲIt Girlǳ of the genre. Then, in the

late 1980s, the big screen got the pleasure of being introduced to Meg Ryan, a fresh-faced,

cute-as-a-button woman who could hold her own comedically alongside Tom Hanks,

Matthew Broderick and Billy Crystal. Ryan¶s romantic comedies cover much the same territory

as those of 1940s, exploring the meanings of romantic love, the arts of courtship, the social

implications, fulfillments and limitations of marriage, as well as finding yourself on the way to

finding love. The appeal of these romantic comedies is at least as much attributable to their

relation with the changing needs and desires of their 1980s and 1990s' female audiences as the

Hepburn films were for 1930s' and 1940s' women and issues relevant to their day (Evans, 190-1).

One of the main needs of audiences was to see more sex in film. It is not to say that the 1980s

and 1990s invented the topic of sex in films; on the contrary, many films prior to the decade had

touched on the subject, but it was hardly fully and openly discussed in romantic comedies.

However, the subject of sex is much more an integral part of open debate in Meg Ryan romcoms

than a Katharine Hepburn film from the 1940s (Evans, 191).

While many elements remain constant in the genre from the Hepburn era to the Meg

Ryan era, the pressures under which romantic comedies are made have naturally varied from one

generation to another, offering a temporal framework to the theme of love. These are all given a

woman's perspective in Meg Ryan films where even in that time period despite the greater trend

towards male-centered comedy, like American Pie and There¶s Something About Mary, the

genre's traditional female-dominated loyalties continue to flourish. The Meg Ryan films



overwhelmingly hold fast to many of the genre's traditions, especially its idealization of the

couple (Deleyto, 150).

In 1989, Meg Ryan had her first starring role in a feature length film, When Harry Met

Sally, co-starring with Billy Crystal. The movie poster asks the question, ³Can two friends sleep

together and still love each other in the morning?´ which is an underlying theme throughout the

entire film. After their college graduation, Sally (Ryan) offers to drive her friends¶ boyfriend

Harry (Crystal) from Chicago to New York, an 18-hour drive. The two have very contrasting

personalities, and don¶t get on from the start. Sally is blonde, smiley and uptight, while Harry is

darker, a slob, and extremely pessimistic. While on the trip that is very reminiscent of the bus

scenes in It Happened One Night , Harry comments that men and women can never truly be

friends. Sally disagrees with him, saying she has many male friends. Harry continues on, to

explain that the sex always gets in the way, and no man can just be friends with a woman he

finds attractive. When they get to New York, they go their separate ways, planning on never

speaking to each other again. They meet briefly five years later, the again five years after that,

when they finally do become friends. The rest of the film follows their relationship as friends,

then lovers, than eventually, a couple.

This film was very near groundbreaking in the genre ± one of the reasons it is on AFI¶s

Top 10 romantic comedies ± largely because of the open way it talks about sex and relationships.

In the most infamous scene of the movie, Harry and Sally are in diner, and Harry offhandedly

says that after sleeping with a woman, he tells a lie in order to sneak away from the bed in the

morning. He states that the sexual pleasure he provides makes everything fair, but Sally points

out that he has no way to tell whether or not he knows for sure that the women really have a

good time. 'You don't think I could tell the difference?¶ he asks incredulously just before Sally



demonstrates the art of faking orgasms, loudly and convincingly (Krutnik, 32), making Harry¶s

point invalid.

When Harry Met Sally is often compared and contrasted to Annie Hall , due to the

startling resemblances between the two. The obsessive talk about sex, the setting of Manhattan

and the characters of Alvy to Harry and Annie to Sally bearing similarities. The two films also

differ in ways. The romantic song, µIt Had To Be You¶, for example acts as a distancing strategy

in Annie Hall , being sung by the title character in a crowded room full of background noise. In

When Harry Met Sally, the same song is used almost as part of the narrative, played both at the

start and in key sequences leading up to the eventual union of Harry and Sally (King, 59). The

main difference, though, is that Annie Hall showed that lovers may end up better as friends,

where When Harry Met Sally illustrated how friends can ultimately realize they are better as

lovers (Dirks).

The other exceedingly popular film starring Meg Ryan was Sleepless in Seattle, which

was vastly different from When Harry Met Sally in character and plot. Tom Hanks plays Sam, a

widower with a son, Jonah; Ryan plays Annie, an engaged reporter who is listening in when

Jonah calls into a talk radio advice show, hoping to find a new wife for his dad. Annie, unhappy

with her current engagement, impulsively writes to Sam and Jonah, along with hundreds of other

women, saying they should meet on Valentine¶s Day on top of the Empire State Building.

Sleepless in Seattle itself pays homage to film Suzy cries about, An Aff air To Remember , which

also has the suggestion of meeting on top of the famed New York landmark.

There is one scene where Sam catches his first glimpse of Annie, just as he is giving his

son a practical version of what single people do when they get together. µThey try other people

on and see how they fit,¶ he explains. µBut everybody¶s an adjustment. Nobody¶s perfect. There¶s



no such thing as perfect«¶ His word trail off, as he is struck dumb and silent, as Annie walks

past, a vision accompanied by a magically tinkling piano (King, 60). Sam, at this point in the

film, does not know that this is the woman that wrote to him, but is nevertheless drawn to her,

simply under the idea of ³love at first sight.´ His words to Jonah, which draw upon Osgood¶s

final words in Some Like It Hot , say one thing, but they are clearly a shallow gesture contradicted

by the style of romantic comedy convention. Sam and Annie don¶t actually meet until the final

scene in the film, which is a major variation from other romantic comedies. The two actors only

share about two minutes of on-screen time together, but when they do meet on top of the Empire

State Building, it is clear that the two are compatible just by looking at each other. There is

nothing substantial to back up this attraction, and the audience is merely supposed to trust in the

principle expectations of romantic comedies.

The expectations of romantic comedies changed rapidly as the decade moved forward. A

new term was coined, ³new romances´ to define the crop of genre-mixing films released in that

time. One of the most popular and successful new romances premiered at the start of the decade

in 1990. Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, is an against-all-odds romance

between Vivian, a prostitute with a heart-of-gold (Roberts) and a businessman (Gere), which

follows the story arc of a Cinderella fantasy. Gere¶s character is seen as the charming prince,

who rescues Vivian from her life of prostitution (Scala, 36), by taking her to operas, giving her

new clothes and a new life. The ending of the film presents the fulfillment of the fantasy of their

union, while underscoring that it is only wish fulfillment. It invited the audience to recognize that

while what was narrated might not have been true, the cultural and filmic devices made it

possible, not in reality, but on film. This is the perfect solution for an audience disenfranchised



from old-fashioned romance, but wary of the disordered emotions that are presented in Woody

Allen¶s nervous romances (Evans, 30).

Another film that was a member of the popular new romances was Groundhog Day. The

plot, that starred Bill Murray as Phil, a weatherman who wakes up to the same day over and over

again, could have gotten old quickly, but found a way to stay fresh each day Phil wakes up. By

reliving every day, Phil begins to redeem himself from the conceited man he was at the

beginning of the film to a very likeable character. By the end, Murray¶s character focuses all of

his energy into getting his producer, played by Andie MacDowell, to fall in love with him. This

film was the first to use the plot of waking up to the same day, every day, and has been imitated

by many other films since. The end of the film suggests that romantic happiness can only be

achieved with a transformation of character; something it does through equal parts romance and

comedy. Groundhog Day is an example of how the definition of the genre is expanding more and

more. In terms of redefining romantic comedies, an additional film that did just that was another

with Julia Roberts, My Best Friend¶s Wedding . In an unexpected turn for a mainstream romantic

comedy, Julianne (Julia Roberts), ends up losing the man she is in love with to her rival, because

she waited too long to notice him. Julianne has to make due with a relationship with her gay best

friend which ³will involve no marriage, certainly no sex, but a great deal of dancing´, which

introduces the concept of friendship as an opponent to romantic love in the genre (Evans, 9).

This trend continues with films like The Truth About C ats and Dogs, in which two

neighbors meet and become friends; Abby (Janeane Garofalo) is an insecure radio talk show

host, and the other, Noelle (Uma Thurman), is a beautiful, dim supermodel. Their friendship is

soon threatened when they start to compete for the love of the same man, Brian (Ben Chaplin).

Towards the end of the film, Noelle decides to give up on the man she desires for the sake of her



friend and their relationship. In a conversation with Abby, she admits that, if she had to choose,

she prefers their friendship to a relationship with the man. Although there is a stereotypical

³happy ending´ with Abby and Brian, the real relationship is that of Abby and Noelle (Deleyto,

175-6).

Along with themes of friendship in romantic comedies, another change to the genre came

into play: the introduction of homosexuals. The majority of the time, homosexual couples in

films were more in dramatic films. In the romantic comedy genre, the bulk of homosexuals in

films were either friends, such as in My Best Friend¶s Wedding , or not the main couple, there

were a couple of films in the late 1990s that touched on it.C

hasing Amy, for example, is the

story of a male protagonist, Holden (Ben Affleck) falling in love with Alyssa (Joey Lauren

Adams) who is a lesbian. The problem with the film is that even though the couple doesn¶t end

up together, the friendship between Holden and Alyssa becomes love, after she admits to having

heterosexual feelings for him too, thus subscribing to rather traditional heterosexual male

discourses about lesbianism (Deleyto, 179). Regardless, most films about homosexual couples

don¶t fall into this genre very often, but instead tend to add a gay character or two, which keeps

up with societal standards in the new millennium.

The 2000s saw the launch of numerous new technologies for film, including CGI, 3D,

and IMAX. Many genres changed to fit the mold of the new special effect; the romantic comedy

was not one of them. This is not to say, however, that the genre didn¶t have radical changes in

this time. On the contrary, there is one major change that took place at the start of the new

millennium, and that is the rise of women in what some called, professional romantic comedies.

Most female-centered romantic comedies prior to the 2000s tend to focus solely on a

woman¶s attempt to find love. Even in films where friendship is shown as a replacement, the



majority of the film is usually spent with her solely trying to find a relationship. The romantic

comedies in the early twenty-first century, mainly Bridget Jones¶s Diary, Miss C ongeniality and

The Princess Diaries suggest that romantic desirability comes with self-discovery and

professional success.

In the film version of Bridget Jones¶s Diary, based on a book of the same name, Mark

Darcy (Colin Firth) tells Bridget (Renêe Zellweger) that she is ³an appallingly bad public

speaker.´ He refers to an earlier scene in which Bridget speaks at a book launch party given by

her publishing firm. She can¶t turn on the microphone, gets people¶s attention by shouting

³Oy!´, insults Salmon Rushdie, and forgets the name of the man she is introducing. Although

Mark says he likes Bridget ³just as she is,´ he begins to fall in love with her after a much more

successful public speaking encounter, when she performs in a brilliant television interview. Plot

development points like these indicate a cultural dissatisfaction with romance as the primary

form of happiness for the heroine (Hersey, 149).

Miss C ongeniality and The Princess Diaries are similar to each other in many respects.

Both of the main female characters are insecure and tomboyish, but are forced to channel their

inner ³girly´ at some point in the film. In Miss C ongeniality, Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is an

FBI agent who poses as a Miss United States beauty contestant to save the pageant from a

terrorist threat. She undergoes a very in-depth makeover from a stereotypical gay male stylist

(Michael Caine) who she develops a friendship with, which helps her break out of her shell. The

end of the film does find her sharing a kiss with the hero, but the more pivotal part of the finale is

the speech she gives that cements how far she has come; not just in terms of romance but in

discovering herself.



The makeover plot is parallel to that in The Princess Diaries, also based off of a book.

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is an insecure high school student when her grandmother

announces that Mia is the crowned princess of the (fictional) country, Genovia. Mia begins

taking ³princess lessons´, and undergoes a makeover from a similar gay male stylist, Paolo

(Larry Miller). She tries to hide her new beauty from her friends and classmates, for when her

best friend, Lily, discovers her new hair, make-up and clothes, she responds with typical feminist

outrage. Mia begins to discover that beauty can be more uncomfortable than the ugly duckling

phase, and much of the plot revolves around her struggle to accept her beauty and to suffer the

consequences of women¶s rejection and men¶s lust (Hersey, 154). She is given two choices in

romantic interests: Michael, the boy who noticed her before her makeover, and Josh, the boy

who only noticed her after. Once again, she gets her happy ending with Michael, the obvious

choice, but that is downplayed by the confidence she gains in herself. At the beginning of the

film, we see Mia attempt to give a speech, but due to fright, runs out of the room, nauseous. At

the end of the film, she gives another speech at the Genovia ball, in which she says, ³I¶m really

no good at speechmaking. Normally, I get so nervous that I faint, or run away«but I¶m not so

afraid anymore.´ These analogous scenes show perfectly how much Mia has grown, enough so

that she can rule a country.

As the decade moves along, it becomes more and more apparent how often current films

draw from those of the past, even if they are molding to the standards of today¶s society. The

2004 British film Love, Actually, for example, shows ten separate stories of love involving

various individuals that are revealed to be interconnected throughout the course of the film. The

stories themselves aren¶t very new: a man being in love with his best friends wife, a man with

power falling in love with a common girl, a woman loving a man from afar, but not making her



move due to certain circumstances. These same general themes were in previously discussed

films, like My Best Friend¶s Wedding , Pretty Woman, and even C ity Lights. What we see in

Love, Actually, is all of these storylines together in one film, which could easily be attributed to

the short attention span of this generation. Romantic comedies such as The Holiday, He¶s Just

Not That Into You, and Valentine¶s Day follow that same trend of multiple storylines as well.

There are other popular romantic comedies towards the tail-end of the decade that take

the plots of past films and rejuvenate them. The formulas of commitment and reaffirmation

comedy are still being used in romantic comedies like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010),

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2007), and Juno (2007). (500) Days o f Summer follows a very

similar storyline to that of Annie Hall . The story opens, telling us that the couple will not end up

together, and then takes us on a non-chronological journey of the couple¶s relationship. The 2007

film Stardust follows the same pattern of a multi-genre romantic comedy that The Princess Bride

does, with action, adventure, romance, comedy and fantasy blending together. A Lot Like Love

(2005) and Serendipity (2001) are the stories of a man and woman who fate continues to bring

together every few years, corresponding with When Harry Met Sally.

The romantic comedy is a frequently overlooked genre, for many think that it is an

overtly formulaic type of film. In some cases, this is true, but nowadays, films of most genres fall

into that rut. If one takes into account the elements that go into the romantic comedy and the

effects it has on the industry and audiences alike, they might reevaluate its importance. People

watch romantic comedies for many reasons. It could be to laugh, or cry. It could be women

or men just wanting to watch the life and love of characters separate from the real world,

protected from typical social conventions and psychological inhibitions imposed by reality.

Whatever the reason, romantic comedies are not only effected society, but also portray



society and the way it has changes over the years. From Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen to

Meg Ryan, the definition of the romantic comedy has changed with almost every film that is

released under the genre. Even so, the romantic comedy remains timeless and provides

feel-good entertainment in a world that habitually needs it.

finding a formula for true love analyzing the romantic comedy and its effect on the movie industry

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