The Hollywood Romantic Comedy: Conventions, History, Controversies

225 Pages·2011·2.31 MB·english

by  Leger Grindon(auth.)

THE HOLLYWOOD
ROMANTIC COMEDY
NEW APPROACHES TO FILM GENRE
Series Editor: Barry Keith Grant
New Approaches to Film Genre provides students and teachers with original,
insightful, and entertaining overviews of major film genres. Each book in the
seriesgivesanhistoricalappreciationofitstopic,fromitsoriginstothepresent
day,andidentifiesanddiscussestheimportantfilms,directors,trends,andcycles.
Authorsarticulatetheirowncriticalperspective,placingthegenre’sdevelopment
inrelevantsocial,historical,andculturalcontexts.Forstudents,scholars,andfilm
buffsalike,theserepresentthemostconciseandilluminatingtextsonthestudyof
film genre.
From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western, Patrick McGee
The Horror Film, Rick Worland
Hollywood and History, Robert Burgoyne
The Religious Film, Pamela Grace
The Hollywood War Film, Robert Eberwein
The Fantasy Film, Katherine A. Fowkes
The Multi-Protagonist Film, Mar´ıa del Mar Azcona
The Hollywood Romantic Comedy, Leger Grindon
Forthcoming:
Film Noir, William Luhr
THE HOLLYWOOD
ROMANTIC COMEDY
CONVENTIONS, HISTORY,
CONTROVERSIES
Leger Grindon
Thiseditionfirstpublished2011
(cid:2)2011LegerGrindon
BlackwellPublishingwasacquiredbyJohnWiley&SonsinFebruary2007.Blackwell’spublishing
programhasbeenmergedwithWiley’sglobalScientific,Technical,andMedicalbusinesstoform
Wiley-Blackwell.
RegisteredOffice
JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,
PO198SQ,UnitedKingdom
EditorialOffices
350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA
9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK
TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK
Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformationabouthowtoapply
forpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeourwebsite
atwww.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
TherightofLegerGrindontobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordance
withtheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,or
transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor
otherwise,exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,withouttheprior
permissionofthepublisher.
Wileyalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronicformats.Somecontentthatappearsinprintmay
notbeavailableinelectronicbooks.
Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarks.All
brandnamesandproductnamesusedinthisbookaretradenames,servicemarks,trademarksor
registeredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.Thepublisherisnotassociatedwithanyproductor
vendormentionedinthisbook.Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovideaccurateandauthoritative
informationinregardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldontheunderstandingthatthepublisher
isnotengagedinrenderingprofessionalservices.Ifprofessionaladviceorotherexpertassistance
isrequired,theservicesofacompetentprofessionalshouldbesought.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Grindon,Leger,1949–
TheHollywoodromanticcomedy:conventions,history,controversies/LegerGrindon.
p.cm.– (Newapproachestofilmgenre)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4051-8266-9(hardcover:alk.paper)–ISBN978-1-4051-8265-2(pbk.:alk.paper)
1. Romanticcomedyfilms–UnitedStates–Historyandcriticism. 2. Loveinmotionpictures.
I. Title.
PN1995.9.C55G752011
791.43’617–dc22
2010043498
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Thisbookispublishedinthefollowingelectronicformats:ePDFsISBN9781444395945;
WileyOnlineLibraryISBN9781444395969;ePubISBN9781444395952
Setin11/13ptBembobyThomsonDigital,Noida,India
1 2011
For my daughter Blake,
may her life be filled with heartfelt laughter
and happy endings
CONTENTS
List of Plates ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
2 History, Cycles, and Society 25
3 Thinking Seriously About
Laughter and Romance 67
4 Trouble in Paradise (1932):
What is the Trouble in
Paradise? 84
5 His Girl Friday (1940): Jailbreak! 96
6 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944): The Home Front
Romantic Comedy 106
7 Adam’s Rib (1949): Anatomy Lesson 117
8 Some Like It Hot (1959): Riding Sidesaddle 129
9 The Graduate (1967): Counter-Conventions and Cultural
Change 139
10 Annie Hall (1977): The Trials of Partnership 150
11 When Harry Met Sally (1989): Friendship, Sex, and Courtship 160
12 There’sSomethingAboutMary(1998):ParodyandtheGrotesque 171
13 Waitress (2007): Women’s Ambivalence 181
A Chronology of Prominent Hollywood Romantic Comedies 191
References 195
Index 201
viii CONTENTS
LIST OF PLATES
Allimages arethe author’sown screen
shots:
1 Greg Focker is interrogated by
his prospective father-in-law
Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents
(2000) 4
2 Viola is disguised as Thomas Kent
listening to Will Shakespeare
declare his passion for her in
Shakespeare in Love (1999) 17
3 George and Tom convince Gilda to leave her rich husband
and run off with them in Design for Living (1933) 29
4 SusanVancetearsthetuxedooffProfessorHuxleyinBringing
Up Baby (1938) 36
5 MarilynMonroewassimplyknownas“thegirl”inTheSeven
Year Itch (1955) 49
6 Thetransitionthroughthecounter-cultureclusterproducedwild
plotvariationsincludingNewAgeencountergroups,“open”
marriage,andgroupsexinBob& Carol& Ted& Alice(1969) 53
7 Loretta and Ronny in Moonstruck (1987) 60
8 Theunlikelymatchingoftheambitious,professionalAlison
with the slovenly, directionless Ben in Knocked Up (2007) 66
9 InThePhiladelphiaStory(1940)MikecarriesTracybackfrom
the pool on her wedding day 72
10 InItHappenedOneNight(1934)EllieskepticallywatchesPete
teach her hitchhiking 80
11 Gaston Monescu and Mariette Colet begin their mutual
seduction in Trouble in Paradise (1932) 88
12 LilyconfrontsMarietteandGastoninTroubleinParadise(1932) 93
13 Hildy disarms Earl Williams in His Girl Friday (1940) 101
14 Bruce Baldwin tries unsuccessfully to break up the alliance
between Walter and Hildy in His Girl Friday (1940) 104
15 InTheMiracleofMorgan’sCreek(1944)Trudyconfessestoher
sister Emmy that she forgot what happened 110
16 PapaKockenlockerattacksNorvalforbringinghisdaughter
Trudyhomefromadateat8a.m.inTheMiracleofMorgan’s
Creek (1944) 112
17 InAdam’sRib(1949)AmandaandAdamcuddleovercocktails
in the evening after their contest earlier that day in court 122
18 In Adam’s Rib (1949) the post-trial confrontation between
AdamandAmandareplaystheopeningsceneinwhichDoris
shoots her husband 126
19 Wearingonlypartofhisdisguise,Joeraisesthebowedheadof
Sugarandkissesheraftertheperformanceof“I’mThrough
With Love” in Some Like It Hot (1959) 136
20 “Nobody’sperfect” makesfunofaromanticclich(cid:2)e,the
acceptanceofimperfectionsinthebeloved,andthecommitment
toself-sacrificeinmarriageinSomeLikeItHot (1959) 138
21 “Mrs.Robinson,you’retryingtoseduceme...Aren’tyou?”
accuses Ben in The Graduate (1967) 142
22 OnthebusattheconclusionofTheGraduate(1967)Elaineand
Bengraduallyreplacetheirsmileswithuncertaintyanddiscomfort 148
23 AlvySingerbeginsAnnieHall(1977)facingthecameralikea
stand-up comedian 151
24 InAnnieHall(1977),thoughAnnieiswackyandself-effacing,
herbehavioranddressidentifyherwiththewomen’smovement 154
25 RobReinerneededoversixtytakestosuccessfullyshootthe
second split-screen episode in When Harry Met Sally (1989) 165
26 Sixunidentifiedelderlycouplesappearatregularintervalsin
WhenHarryMetSally(1989)totellthestoryofhowtheymet 169
27 TheclosingshotinWhenHarryMetSally(1989)findsawitty
means of affirmation 169
28 Pat Healy frantically tries to revive Puffy while Mary fixes
drinks in There’s Something About Mary (1998) 176
29 Mary is surrounded by the various men competing for her
love in There’s Something About Mary (1998) 179
30 Becky and Dawn, the work friends at the diner in Waitress
(2007), call Jenna to the pregnancy test 183
31 Teaching Dr. Pomatter to make a pie in Waitress (2007)
prompts Jenna to recall her mother 187
x LISTOFPLATES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DuringthisprojectIhavesoughtrecom-
mendationsforimprovement.Myfam-
ily,friendsandcolleagueshaveresponded
with generosity. Their assistance has
contributedgraceandreasontotheman-
uscript and rendered the shortcomings
thatremainlessconspicuous.
Many have offered valuable help as
thismanuscripttookshape.Middlebury
College provided financial assistance
throughtheFacultyProfessionalDevelopmentFundandthrougharelease
from teaching funded by the Mellon Foundation. Jared Rosenberg, my
student at Middlebury College, and Ethan Murphy, my staff colleague,
have helped me select and process the illustrations for this book. My
facultycolleaguesatMiddleburyCollegehavelistenedtomyideas,offered
constructiveadvice,loanedvideos,andreadpassagesofvariouspartsofmy
manuscript, including Chris Keathley, Jason Mittell, Ted Perry, Hope
Tucker, and Andy Wentink. John Bertolini and Ed Smith have been
particularlygenerous inreading andrespondingtomanychaptersofmy
manuscript and offering me the perspective arising from their extensive
knowledge of romantic comedies.
Thanks to Jayne Fargnoli, my editor at Wiley-Blackwell, for inviting
metocontributetotheseries“NewApproachestoFilmGenre.”Jaynehas
given me sound advice and continuous support, as has the series editor,
Barry Grant, who, with an anonymous outside reader, offered vital