Romantic Comedy Blog Spring 2020

Campbell Montgomery Professor Sinowitz Romantic Comedy   May 14, 2020   A Journey Through Romantic Comedy: Perspective Gained As I enrolled in this course, I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I was excited to finally learn about a topic that I have been fascinated by for years: the Romantic Comedy. Growing up, Romantic Comedies has been a staple for my friends and I during all of our sleepovers, break ups, and everything in between. I had seen so many that I would have considered myself an expert in the field, until I walked into that cramped, perfectly square, 3rd floor Harrison Hall classroom. We started the course by discussing Aristotle, the history of the story, Shakespeare, and the origins of Romantic Comedy. I was surprised by the deep roots that Romantic Comedies had in history and excited to learn more about the genre. We then moved onward through history advancing through the screwball comedies of the 1930’s and 1940’s and then anal...

Hannah Lathrop Professor Sinowitz Tps:Romantic Comedy 13 May 2020 The Romantic Comedy: What is Love? Guilty pleasure : the endearment which dismisses all Romantic Comedies. Rom-coms are often generalized into meaningless fluff, and so we attempt to hide ever watching them or enjoying them. As I started our course on Romantic Comedies, I largely felt the same. My exposure to modern rom coms told me the genre was derivative. The formula is easy to recite: two strangers overcome all obstacles to find a way to be together. It can be wrapped up quite succinctly, as David Shumway describes it in his book Modern Love: Romance, Intimacy and the Marriage Crisis , “Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” (157). Now, romance stories have been side-lined, considered too insubstantial to hold attention on its own. They make up the B-plots, the side stories. However, Romantic Comedy has a long history, and we continue to make films in this genre. Why do we tell the...

Mary Grace Cusumano  Professor Sinowitz  ENG 255 13 May 2020 Is the Romcom Gone for Good?              As I have mentioned before, I am a sucker for romantic comedies. I love that feeling I get when the man makes some romantic gesture to the woman he loves. I laugh when something awkward happens between the couple. I get sad when they have a falling out during the middle of the film. Most of all, I smile, and sometimes tear up, when the couple defeats all the odds to be together. Romantic comedies are truly an emotional rollercoaster for me. Even though they can be predictable, I still love them. However, I have realized that the romantic comedy genre has taken a turn for the worse. Nothing seems to be spontaneous, lighthearted, corny, or even predictable anymore. I have found myself being utterly disappointed after recent films because there is a lack of predictability and added somberness. I did not have ...