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The Hollywood Romantic Comedy: Conventions, History, Controversies PDF

225 Pages·2011·2.31 MB·english
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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

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