Screen Women
‘Romantic comedy is undeserving of its reputation for being ‘un-feminist’, since it holds a critical light up to romantic bargaining, the sexual economy and shifting cultural standards’. Discuss this statement in relation to two post-1990 Hollywood romantic comedies.
The aim of this essay is to discuss why romantic comedy is undeserving of its reputation for being ‘un-feminist’. This statement will be discussed by close analysis of two post-1990 Hollywood romantic comedies such as Something’s Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003, USA) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001, UK).
Romantic comedy films which are also known as ‘‘romcoms’’, are a sub-genre of comedy films and romantic films which can be traced back from the ‘‘screwball comedies’’ in America and which became popular during the Great Depression era in the early 1930s until the early 1940s. As Deborah Jermyn states, ‘‘romcom’’ is the most durable genre of Hollywood, with Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934, USA) being the first of the genre to win 5 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Actress and Best Actor (2011). This hybrid genre has attracted numerous feminist critics due to its focus on women which have always played a key role in the narrative; women are also predominately the main characters and the films of this genre are targeted at a female audience with rare variations through time. The portrayal of women in romantic comedies has been influenced by feminist movements such as the Liberation of women also known as the decade of sexual liberation which influenced for example Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961, USA). The main themes of the film are freedom and belonging. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a New York socialite with a commitment problem and who lives a life by her own rules: ‘‘I need money and I’ll do anything to get it.’’ Or ‘‘People don’t belong to people, I don’t want to be locked in a cage!’’. Produced in 2001, Bridget Jones’s Diary
The aim of this essay is to discuss why romantic comedy is undeserving of its reputation for being ‘un-feminist’. This statement will be discussed by close analysis of two post-1990 Hollywood romantic comedies such as Something’s Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003, USA) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001, UK).
Romantic comedy films which are also known as ‘‘romcoms’’, are a sub-genre of comedy films and romantic films which can be traced back from the ‘‘screwball comedies’’ in America and which became popular during the Great Depression era in the early 1930s until the early 1940s. As Deborah Jermyn states, ‘‘romcom’’ is the most durable genre of Hollywood, with Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934, USA) being the first of the genre to win 5 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Actress and Best Actor (2011). This hybrid genre has attracted numerous feminist critics due to its focus on women which have always played a key role in the narrative; women are also predominately the main characters and the films of this genre are targeted at a female audience with rare variations through time. The portrayal of women in romantic comedies has been influenced by feminist movements such as the Liberation of women also known as the decade of sexual liberation which influenced for example Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961, USA). The main themes of the film are freedom and belonging. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a New York socialite with a commitment problem and who lives a life by her own rules: ‘‘I need money and I’ll do anything to get it.’’ Or ‘‘People don’t belong to people, I don’t want to be locked in a cage!’’. Produced in 2001, Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bibliography: * Abbott, Stacey and Jermyn, Deborah, ‘‘Falling in love again: Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema’’, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2009 * Jermyn, Deborah, ‘‘Unlikely Heroines?: Women of a certain age’’ from CineAction no 84, 2011 * McRobbie, Angela, ‘‘Post-feminism and popular culture: Bridget Jones and the new gender regime’’ from ‘‘Media and Cultural Theory’’, (editors) Curran, James and Morley David, Routledge, 2006 * Radner, Hilary, ‘‘Something’s Gotta Give: Nancy Meyers, Neo-Feminist Auteur’’ from ‘‘Neo-Feminist Cinema: Girly Films, Chick Flicks and Consumer Culture’’, Routledge, 2011 * Sontag, Susan, ‘‘The Double Standard of Aging’’ from ‘‘On the Contrary: Essays by Men and Women’’, (editors) Fleetwood, Janet and Rainbolt, Martha, State University of New York Press, 1984 * Tally, Margaret, ‘‘Something’s Gotta Give’’ from ‘‘Chick flicks: contemporary women at the movies’’, (editors) Yound, Mallroy and Young, Suzanne, Routledge, 2008 * Wearing, Sadie, ‘‘Subjects of rejuvenation: aging in postfeminist culture’’ from ‘‘Interrogating postfeminism: gender and the politics of popular culture’’, (editors) Negra, Diane and Tasker, Yvonne, Duke University Press, 2007 * Kirkland, Ewan, ‘‘Romantic Comedy and the Construction of Heterosexuality’’, Issue 9: Articles, www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk (accessed 24.03.2013)