Romance or Performative Love : Misogynistic Behavior Found in Romantic Comedies by Brielle Bait

Brielle Bait

Professor Sinowitz 

Romantic Comedy 

25 February 2020

Romance or Performative Love : Misogynistic Behavior Found in Romantic Comedies

The interactions between male and female characters in Much Ado About Nothing shows how patriarchy is prevalent throughout the play. The role of patriarchy gives way for male dominance to play a part of Claudio and Hero’s relationship. A misunderstanding leads Claudio to believe that Hero has been unfaithful. His response is dramatic, and he consciously makes the decision to publicly humiliate her. One may say Claudio is willing to accept this information so quickly because of his relatively short and shallow relationship with Hero, which may be true. However this does not explain his dramatic reaction to the situation. Instead of taking a civil approach, and privately confronting Hero, he consciously makes the decision to do the most damaging thing he can do to Hero. He publicly humiliates her, knowing very well that it will ruin her life.  Shakespeare uses Claudio’s belief of Hero’s infidelity as an excuse for him to exhibit misogynistic behavior through publicly humiliating Hero. Capra’s film, It Happened One Night, appears to replicate Shakespeare's justification of male dominance. He does this by using Ellie’s character flaw as a way to disguise the misogyny in the way Peter treats her. 

Peter’s resentment for the upper-class is used as an excuse to assert control over Ellie much like how Claudio uses the excuse of infidelity to assert control over Hero. Both men have the need to assert dominance over women, and use the women’s character flaws to justify their own controlling behaviors. Capra makes it clear Ellie cannot survive outside of her wealthy bubble because of her biggest flaw, which is her economic privilege. This is demonstrated when Ellie expects the public bus to wait on her while she runs an errand. Because she is unaware of how to live in the real world, she does not realize that in the middle class, everyone does not cater to one person's needs. Of course the bus does not wait, and this is when Peter blackmails her with the decision of staying with him, or getting sent back to her father, where she has no personal agency. One may point out he is doing this to get his newspaper story or he likes the idea of getting money by turning her in. However, it is hard to ignore the satisfaction he gets from being able to assert his dominance over Ellie by telling her what she can and cannot do. Capra characterizes Ellie as so spoiled, she is completely oblivious of how a regular person would live; She needs Peter to teach her how to live an ordinary life. “He is teaching the heroine how to be ordinary, how to fit in, how to look and act like everyone else” (Harvey 117). By doing this, it takes away any sympathy the audience would have had for Ellie, and therefore giving them justification for Peter’s misogynistic display of dominance. 

When Ellie unwilfully participates in Peter’s way of doing things, it is hard to ignore the satisfaction he gets from this. Peter puts up the wall of Jericho and Ellie protests because she thinks the hotel room is trashy and does not come close to her standards of living. In order for Ellie to accept the room, Peter smugly starts to take off his clothes and tells a sarcastic story about how men undress until she reluctantly goes to her side of the wall. The composition of this scene also plays into the male dominance. Capra is using a medium shot with Peter and Ellie both in the frame at eye-level. Ellie is flat up against the door pushed all the way to the right side of the frame. She stays almost completely still, holding clothes to her chest in a defensive position. On the other hand, Peter is taking up the entire left half of the screen facing Ellie while undressing nonchalantly. Undressing in itself can be seen as an act of dominance. Because of a man’s natural size and strength, the act of undressing is a symbol of his physical dominance over a woman. The way Peter is towering over her and taking up so much space while she takes up so little space, adds to the effect. Without context, a man threatening a woman by taking off his clothes in order to persuade her to follow his orders would usually be frowned upon. However, since Capra has characterized Ellie as a spoiled brat, this scene serves as a reality check of a rich girl not getting her way, rather than an inappropriate interaction caused by a man exhibiting controlling behavior. Capra is manipulating the audience into siding with Peter. It is an American ideal that nothing should ever be handed to a person, they must be self-made through hard work. There is a general societal resentment towards people like Ellie because she does not follow this ideal. She gets whatever she wants by using her father's money and has never worked a day in her life. Capra uses this resentment the audience harbors for people like Ellie in order to get them to side with the hard-working American man Peter is characterized as.  

            Peter’s need for control is further exposed in the hitchhiking scene. Peter has gone on one of his lessons about dunking donuts, eating carrots, and now, how to properly hitch a ride. When Ellie successfully gets a car to stop by pulling up her skirt after Peter has failed to flag someone down, he becomes furious. He reacts in this way because Ellie has for the first time demonstrated that she has conquered an aspect of ordinary life without his help. This irritates him for two reasons; one, a woman was able to do something that he could not, and two, she showed to be resourceful in her own way without following his instructions. If Ellie is able to start making it on her own, she will no longer need his guidance to survive, and he has lost all leverage over her leaving him with no control. This is why the deep dissatisfaction arises in the scene after. 

Although it came in different forms because of different social norms of the time, both Claudio and Peter took part in the patriarchal custom of controlling womens behaviors. Peter resents Ellie for being a spoiled brat and Capra uses this as a reason to justify his insults to her, his mansplaining of “how to be ordinary” (Harvey 117), and most importantly, him welcoming the opportunity to govern her life. Similarly, Shakespeare justifies Claudio in taking control of Hero’s life by publicly humiliating her because of his misconception that she was cheating on him. Shakespeare and Capra try to hide the need for dominance in their male characters by using their female counterpart’s flaws or perceived mistakes as justification for misogynistic behavior. This pattern of misogyny has continued to show up in love stories from Shakespeare's time into the 1930s, and even today. As works of literature and film continue to be created in the romantic comedy genre, it is important to keep in mind the question of why misogyny has played such a big role in the relationships depicted in romantic comedies.

Works Cited

Harvey, James. Romantic Comedy in Hollywood: from Lubitsch to Sturges. Da Capo Press, 1998.