A Modified Perspective; The Romantic Comedy Genre

Olivia Neal

Professor Sinowitz

Romantic Comedy

May 14, 2020

A Modified Perspective; The Romantic Comedy Genre

Tamar Jeffers McDonald said that romantic comedy films are predictable, unrealistic, and made to attract the female audience. Before taking this Romantic Comedy course, I completely agreed with these statements. At the start of this class, we were asked to define what we thought classified a film to be in the romantic comedy genre. I thought, “A romantic comedy has to have romance as it’s core part of the film, and there has to be a fairytale ending where the couple ends up together.” Now, at the end of this semester, I have watched and read romantic comedy films, plays, novels, and writings, and I can confidently say that my view on romantic comedy has drastically changed. I now have a better understanding of what the romantic comedy genre depicts as love, it’s ideal partner, how these films impact our culture, and how the genre reflects a change in our culture. This class has taught me that the romantic comedy genre is continuously being reinvented in terms of the culture and history of the time.

Love In The Romantic Comedy

Love in a romantic comedy has the ability to change depending on the time period of the film. However, one thing I noticed that stays consistent throughout the entire genre is the type of love the characters crave and the partner that they choose. The characters want the kind of love that is worth fighting for and willing to take risks to be with their real true love. This happens several times throughout the history of the genre up until current day romantic comedy films. As seen in Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, the characters Beatrice and Benedick both are willing to risk their pride in order to find love. The two characters are portrayed as extremely witty and satisfied being single. Their similar personalities cause them to butt heads often, resulting in them disfavoring the other. Beatrice and Benedick are then tricked by their friends to believe that the other is madly in love with them and that they must accept their love in order to prove their good nature. Low and behold, the two character’s fake love for one another soon turns into genuine love and admiration for the other (Shakespeare). Both characters were willing to risk their pride to fall in love.

 Comparably, in Michael Showalter’s film, The Big Sick (2017), the main character Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) is a Pakistani comedian. The Pakistani culture participates in an arranged marriage, meaning his parents will choose a Pakistani woman for him. Consequently, he will not be able to have a future with his love interest, Emily (Zoe Kazan). However, while Emily is in hospital, Kumail realizes that his love for her is worth the risk, and he decides to tell his family that he is in love with her. His confession results in his family disowning him, but his willingness to take that risk proves to Emily his commitment to her.

 It is worth noting that the attributions of the ideal partners throughout the romantic comedy remain consistent. The ideal partner in a romantic comedy comes with the qualities of being charming, seemingly attractive, witty, and by the end of the film, they are willing to change. Although their attributions remain the same, their motives differ with the continuous reinventing of the romantic comedy. 

Character Development of The Ideal Partner

Overall, every partner follows the same journey throughout the film. McDonald told us that all romantic comedy films follow the same three steps: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins the girl back (McDonald, 12). This guide is set in place for a reason. That reason is to let the audience experience the character transformation. He will prove to the female love interest and audience that he is willing and wanting to break old habits and to change his ways in order to win the girl back. This consists of him realizing he is wrong, realizing how significant of a loss it’ll be to lose the love interest, and then him proving himself worthy to her in a fairytale way.  

 An example of this character journey takes place in Michael Gordon’s film, Pillow Talk (1959). Jan Morrow (Doris Day), as an independent New Yorker living alone in her lavish apartment. Her combination of style and confidence makes for her successful career as an interior decorator. Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) is a smooth-talking bachelor that knows how to get on every one of Jan’s nerves. He does this by constantly hogging the telephone on their shared party line with his late night and early morning phone calls. In this film, the first step: boy meets girl is when Brad finally sees Jan in person and is intrigued by her physical appearance. Brad is able to win Jan over by masquerading as Rex Stetson instead of revealing his true identity. Step two: Boy loses girl. This happens when Jan finds Brad’s sheet music in the pocket of Rex’s jacket, and she begins to piece two and two together. Also, with the help of Jonathan barging in the door exclaiming Brad’s true identity. Step three: Boy wins the girl back. This happens after Brad makes an immense effort to prove to Jan how much he loves her. He was willingly risking losing his bachelor lifestyle because he wanted to marry Jan. This was good enough for Jan and forgave him with the end of the film with them happily married and expecting a child. 

Development of Social Progression

The romantic comedy genre has been reinvented several times over the years to continue social progression. It has to continue to stay relevant to the times in order to maintain a consistent audience. As Wesley Morris explains that, “Eventually, it seemed reasonable to surmise that if you cared about a female character, it might be more satisfying to watch her solve a crime or fight for a promotion, to be an astronaut or Margaret Thatcher — anything besides trying to get to know a man. It became difficult, at some point, to even conceive of a romantic-comedy plot that could meet our moment; we’re surrounded by films that come close but run into practical obstacles that force them to veer in some other direction” (Morris, page 5). What Morris means by this is that throughout the genre, we see love go from being the main focus to being a subplot. In Judd Apatow’s film, Knocked Up (2007) does not portray the same ideas of romance as the previous romantic comedy films have. Knocked Up, focuses more on comedy than it does romance. This film was created for a new audience. Knocked Up was filmed in the earlier 2000s, so the audience had different expectations and interests than they did in the previous years. Before, romantic comedies were known for having a strong romance throughout the film. In the film's the male love interest would always end up changing his ways and cleaning up his act in order to be with the girl. He made this decision on his own to win the girl back and secure their romance. The audience would watch these films for the reassuring fairytale ending. Romantic comedies are known for being predictable and leaving the views longing for what they had just seen. This film differed from the previous ones because it was more comedic than romantic. During this film, the main male character, Ben (Seth Rogen), had to be told how to win the girl back. He was told to clean up his life by getting a job, quit smoking, and taking responsibility from others instead of having the desire to do it on his own. This puts a very different image of a romantic comedy into the heads of our audiences.

 Similarly, I found the changing representation of marriage throughout the course of the semester to be extremely interesting. In all of the early romantic comedies, love was depicted as a happy marriage. The films would show no cheating or divorces between the characters. Back then, divorce was very uncommon, which makes sense as to why it was hardly ever shown in the early romantic comedies. However, as I mentioned before, romantic comedies are constantly reinventing themselves as the times' progress. Divorce is a lot more prominent now than it was fifty years ago. That being said, romantic comedies have evolved to incorporate divorces and stray away from the idea of the perfect marriage. This kind of change is needed in order to fit the lives and realistic expectations of new audiences. 

In Mike Nichol’s film, The Graduate (1967), we are given a perfect example of an unorthodox marriage. We are first introduced to a seemingly happy and successful couple named the Robertson’s, which is how most romantic comedy films would have portrayed a married couple.  However, we quickly find out how unhappy Mrs. Robertson (Anne Bancroft) truly is. Mrs. Robertson makes it very clear to Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) that she is available and willing to be romantically involved with him. We then find out that she and Mr. Robertson have not slept in the same bed in years. Her poor decision to cheat on her husband result’s in her getting a divorce and losing the trust and bond of her daughter. That is where it strays from the early romantic comedies we have seen and enters the new social progression of its times. Elaine (Katharine Ross),  also decides to leave her husband at the altar in order to be with Benjamin, her “true love,” even after all the trouble he caused her and her family. This film shows the changing of the ages and how romantic comedy films must adapt to the new norms. 

Over the course of this semester, my outlook on the romantic comedy genre itself was reinvented. I have gained a greater understanding of what romantic comedies depict as love. The characters want the kind of love that is worth fighting for and willing to take risks to be with their real true love. I was shown this remains consistent throughout the genre by seeing it displayed in the play Much Ado About Nothing and the film, The Big Sick. I am also more aware of the genre’s character development of the ideal partner. McDonald’s explanation of the character’s journey helped me to appreciate the film, Pillow Talk better, and Brad Allen’s character development (McDonald, 12). I have become remarkably more able to judge the romantic comedy genre’s progression throughout history. As shown in the film, Knocked Up focuses more on comedy rather than having romance being the core focus or how the film, The Graduate strays away from the ideal perfect marriage and is based around cheating and divorce. I can say with confidence that my views on romantic comedies have drastically changed, increasing my appreciation for the genre. 

Work Cited

Apatow, Judd, director. Knocked Up. Knocked Up, 2007.

Gordon, Michael, director. Pillow Talk. 1959.

            McDonald, Tamar Jeffers. Romantic Comedy Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre. Wallflower, 2007.

            Morris, Wesley. “Rom-Coms Were Corny and Retrograde. Why Do I Miss Them so Much? .” Rom-Coms Were Corny and Retrograde. Why Do I Miss Them so Much? , 24 Apr. 2019.

Nichols, Mike, director. The Graduate. An Embassy Pictures Release, 1967.

Shakespeare, William, et al. Much Ado about Nothing. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2018.

Showalter, Michael, director. The Big Sick. The Big Sick, 2017.