1. Introduction: Genre and Romantic Comedy
Ryall defined genre as, “Patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual art products, and which supervise both their construction by artist and their reading by audiences” (Ryall cited in Lacey 2000, p.132).
In other words, genre is a communication system between filmmakers and spectators. On the one hand, genre is a tool which facilitates producers to engage their target audience and provides filmmakers with a framework to structure their narrative, to ensure their films meet the spectator’s expectations. On the other hand, genre is a shortcut for audiences to choose certain types of film they may find interesting and helps them to absorb more easily the text in films. A deep understanding of genre benefits producers, as they can generate clear strategies both in creating original narratives and orienting the audience. This essay focuses on romantic comedy in order to explore crucial issues within the study of genre.
There are three main reasons to pay close attention to the romantic comedy genre as a model to explore how the understanding of genre can benefit producers. Firstly, from the early years romantic comedy has been a popular genre with audiences and has remained so ever since, from films such as Trouble in Paradise (1932) to The Proposal (2009). This genre enjoys considerable box-office success, which provides a reliable source of income for cinemas around the world. Secondly, in general romantic comedy is a relatively inexpensive genre, capable of producing healthy profits at low cost (King 2002). For example, CNBC released a list of the 15 most profitable movies of all time in 2010, based on worldwide box office receipts. There’s Something About Mary (1998), Pretty Woman (1990) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) are modest budget romantic comedy films, which occupy three positions in the list. In particular, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a small independent film, outperformed some acknowledged blockbusters, was number one on the list and returned over sixty-one times its investment (Bukszpan 2010). Thirdly, romantic comedies are often viewed as a "guilty pleasure" (McDonald 2007) as these films employ formulaic storytelling which provides a simple option for easy, uncomplicated viewing. However, Leger Grindon provides this description of the genre:
“It has a pedigree that includes William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde. Moreover, these films reward study because they deal with dramatic conflicts central to human experience. From those conflicts arise the familiar conventions that form the foundation for the romantic comedy and portray our social manners surrounding love and romance, intimacy and friendship, sexual choice and orientation” (Grindon 2011, p.8).
In the current economic climate，compared with other genres such as sci-fi or action, producers are not only more likely to obtain commercial success with the romantic comedy genre, with its low cost and high profit, but also achieve aesthetic success which could build a reputation for them and benefit their career in the future.
The purpose of this essay is to consider whether romantic comedy is an established genre or an element of innumerable films and also analyze the factors which distinguish the genre from romantic melodrama and comedian comedy, in order to provide a precise definition of the romantic comedy genre. Moreover, using popular romantic comedy films as examples, generic conventions of setting, character and narrative will be explored and, with reference to evidence, emphasis will be placed on the importance of using conventions for producers to create their own narratives. In addition, the impact of fresh elements in the production of romantic comedies and several practical ways producers can add originality to narrative will be considered. Finally a brief conclusion will be drawn about the meaning of the study for producers in relation to the conventional patterns of the romantic comedy genre.
2．Definition of Romantic Comedy
In Hollywood cinema, most films are generically mixed. Rick Altman indicated that,
“Film producers often tried to sell major films by associating them with several genres at the same time in order to address and appeal to more than one audience sector” (Altman 1999 cited Deleyto 2011, p.6).
As a result, the elements of both romance and comedy are frequently combined within many film genres, making it difficult to define the romantic comedy genre precisely. Brian Henderson argued that romantic comedy is more likely to be considered as an element rather than a genre:
“A workable subset ‘romantic comedy’ might refer to those films in which romance and comedy are the primary components or those without other such components as crime, detection of crime, Western adventure, war, etc. But what is ‘primary’ in any given case, is difficult to determine where romance and comedy are pervasive. Moreover, even if crime, western, war, etc, films are eliminated, the remainder is vast and its modes of conjoining romance and comedy myriad” (Henderson 1987 cited Neale and Krutnik 1990, p.270).
However, containing elements of other genres such drama or action does not invalidate romantic comedy as a genre, just as a western might contain romantic and comedy elements. Steve Neale suggested that Henderson fails to consider the different functions of elements of comedy or romance in various genres and disputed Henderson’s conception of romantic comedy as too rigid.
“It is not the mere presence of elements which is significant, but how they are deployed” (Neale and Krutnik 1990, p.137).
Humour establishes the tone and courtship provides the plot (Grindon, 2011); this roughly describes romantic comedy’s two fundamental features. However, in order to develop a clear definition of romantic comedy and to highlight the factors that distinguish the genre from others, the differences between romantic melodrama and romantic comedy, together with the differences between comedian comedy and romantic comedy, require discussion.
Regarding romantic melodrama, one key factor which draws the boundary between romantic comedy and romantic melodrama is the happy ending, which is an essential convention of the classical Hollywood romantic comedy (King, 2002).
“In the romantic melodrama, love often tends to be pitched against marriage, or frustrated by it, or both. The romantic comedy, however, leads inevitably towards (marital union), even if the path of courtship is rocky” (Neale and Krutnik 1990, p138).
Furthermore, compared with romantic melodrama, which focuses on representing the conflicts of a central female protagonist, the romantic comedy is concerned with illustrating the relationship between a woman and a man (Neale and Krutnik 1990). Sleepless in Seattle (1993) is an obvious example because this film demonstrates two protagonists in parallel space and shifting between hero and heroine until they meet at the end of the film (Grindon 2011).
In terms of comedian comedy, Northrop Frye is widely reputed to be one of the most significant and influential theorists of the genre in the twentieth century and his analysis about two basic types of comedy helps to clarify the distinctions between comedian comedy and romantic comedy.
“There are two ways of developing the form of comedy: one is to throw the main emphasis on the blocking characters; the other is to throw it forward on the scenes of discovery and reconciliation” (Deleyto 2011, p.19).
In other words, rather than comedian comedy employing narrative as an excuse for holding together moments of comic business, the romantic comedy treats interlocking sequences of jokes and gags as the foremost element of the narrative (Deleyto 2011).
Renee Zellweger made headlines in the starring role in both of these films. She gained the extra thirty pounds to reach the average weight and size of most women. These two films achieved box office success and made a point of straying from the traditional Hollywood production, in which the leading actress is extremely thin and fits the stereotypical image of beauty. This example indicates that the primary couple in romantic comedy should be characterized as humorous, credible and believable, but also flawed which makes the characters more realistic and appealing to the audience. Furthermore, the hero and heroine in romantic comedies should have special qualities, which make them stand out from the crowd in order to attract and bond with their spouse, such as Tom Cruise’s famous dialogue “You complete me” in Jerry Maguire (1996). In relation to heroines, Brian Henderson suggests, “there can be no romantic comedy without strong heroines”.(Mcdonald 2007, p.12). Typically, a romantic comedy heroine is independent, unconventional and has the courage to pursue true love no matter how many obstacles she may have to overcome. Moreover, apart from seeking genuine fellowship, the character is given a second goal which provides space for the creation of original narratives. For instance, Alex Fletcher’s (Hugh Grant) mission in Music and Lyrics (2007) is to write a new hit song in a week for a reigning idol in order to rescue his declining career. He cooperates with a washed-up musician Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), and during the creative process, they develop a deep relationship. The goal of creating a hit song sets the background of the narrative, accelerates the pace of story and adds originality to the film.
Narrative
Mortimer (2010) indicated that the narrative of romantic comedy is generally a boy meeting a girl, falling in love with each other but facing several obstacles; however the couple will strive to overcome all the difficulties and be together at the end. Admittedly, romantic comedies usually share certain plots in their narrative structure such as “meet the cute” or “happy ending” as their genre formula. Although this kind of narrative structure can be traced back to Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, each film constructs these plots in a distinctive manner and these plots are still compelling to audiences, reflected in their success at the box office. While You Were Sleeping (1995) and Pretty Woman (1990) will be examined as two examples to demonstrate the underpinning narrative structure which is covered by different themes in the romantic comedy genre.
At the beginning of While You Were Sleeping, Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a lonely fare collector on the Chicago elevated railway, has a secret crush on a good-looking commuter Peter (Peter Gallagher). On Christmas Day, Peter is mugged and thrown on to the tracks; Lucy saves Peter’s life from an oncoming train. While he is in a coma, Peter’s family assumes she is his fiancée. Lucy does not have the courage to tell them the truth because she is embarrassed and, more importantly, because she quickly comes to love being a part of Peter’s big and loving family. Later on, Lucy spends a belated Christmas with them and meets Peter’s younger brother Jack (Bill Pullman). After spending some time together getting to know each other, they fall in love. However, Jack cannot reveal his feelings for Lucy because she is already engaged to his brother and Lucy cannot bring herself to hurt Peter’s family by revealing the truth. The rest of the narrative conforms to the conventions of this genre; at the end of the film Lucy and Jack are happily married and in their wedding outfits at the back of a train departing from the station. This film’s narrative makes use of Peter as the conventional “wrong person” character in romantic comedy. Steve Neale (1992) has pointed out that
“The wrong person provokes the learning process, which the protagonist must undergo in order to realize a successful relationship” (Cited Grindon 2011, p.14).
Furthermore, the “wrong person” inevitably provides obstacles for the primary lovers in their quest for courtship.
Pretty Woman (1990) has much in common with While You Were Sleeping (1995) in narrative structure, even though they portray different kind of themes in the romantic comedy genre. This film is about Edward, a successful, wealthy businessman who hires a beautiful and unlikely prostitute, Vivian Ward, to be his escort for several business and social functions. While he teaches her the behaviour of the upper classes and their pastimes of eating at expensive restaurants and going to the opera, she teaches him how to relax and encourages him not to be ruthless in business deals. Moreover, during the course of one week, their relationship develops into more than that of employer/employee. Predictably, the differences in class between the two lovers create barriers, which almost lead to separation. Nevertheless, the film shares the conventions of romantic comedies: after a series of misunderstandings the ending of the film infers that they get married (Dixon 2000).
The narratives of both films obey the following basic structure, adapted from Leger Grindon’s (2011) model.
1. Unfulfilled Desire. The film often begins with displaying an unsatisfactory status for the protagonists. At the beginning of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) , Sam (Tom Hanks) loses his wife. In The Holiday, Amanda (Cameron Diaz) finds her boyfriend cheated on her and Iris (Kate Winslet) learns that the man she has a crush on is engaged to her colleague.
2. Meet the cute. This conventional plot provides a chance for two potential romantic partners, who may have different temperaments and come from different situations and social classes, to encounter each other in unusual or comic circumstances.
3. Happy together. As mentioned above, Lucy and Jack in While You Were Sleeping (1995) have a great time while he walks her back home in the beautiful night scenes in Chicago. Vivian in Pretty Woman also says to Edward: “In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.”
4. Obstacles arise. Generally, the obstacles in romantic comedy can be divided into two groups: external obstacles including parental disapproval as in Meet the Parents, difference in social class as in Notting Hill and a promise made to another as in My Best Friend’s Wedding; internal obstacles include self-doubt and uncertainties.
5. The journey. In order to pursue “true love”, the protagonists experience a transformation to overcome both external and internal obstacles. A character who is a confidant often appears in this section. The main characters tend to share their inner feelings with the confidant who might be a friend, roommate or family member. The role of confidant demonstrates the transformation journey of protagonists from a different perspective and also creates an emotional communication path between protagonist and audience (Dixon 2000). For instance, Lucy in While You Were Sleeping (1995) confides in her employer several times about her struggle and confusion. Vivian in Pretty Woman (1990) shares her happiness with her friend Kit.
6. The happy ending. This is a well-established generic convention of romantic comedy. Similar to ending with marriage, the last-minute union also often occurs at the end of the film. The films mentioned all exemplify this typical narrative structure of romantic comedy.
Apart from generic conventions in setting, characters and narratives, there are many other conventions of romantic comedy which producers should consider, such as lighting, editing style and soundtrack. The study of convention patterns enables producers to work out what kind of narrative is compelling to the audience in order to guarantee box office success and provide producers with references for the creation of original narratives. Nevertheless, new narratives and elements should be discovered by filmmakers to keep their own narrative fresh and original.
As mentioned above, in the film industry, producers tend to associate their films with several genres in order to appeal to more than one sector of the audience. In the same way that filmmakers created the genre of romantic comedy, nowadays they strive to involve fresh elements from the prevailing culture in the romantic comedy genre to generate sub-genres. For example Midnight in Paris (2011) is a rom-com fantasy, Mama Mia (2008) is a musical rom-com and Warm Bodies (2013) is the popular hybrid genre zombie rom-com, which appeals to the adolescent audience. The other way to keep the romantic comedy film fresh is to break the formula of their conventional narrative. Think Like a Man (2012) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012) are romantic comedies without a “meet the cute” plot. Instead of demonstrating ways to fall in love, these two films focus on discussing how couples can stay in love. Producers of romantic comedy should engage elements from social culture in their original narrative in order to avoid repetition.
4. Conclusion
This exploration of conventions in the romantic comedy genre offers a framework for the foundations of narrative structures for producers to create their own romantic comedy film and also indicates ways to add originality in characterizations and the entire narrative. The study of romantic comedy conventions not only provides benefits for producers when developing a script, creating the right production team and selecting ideal locations for shooting but also helps producers to target their audience and create strategies for marketing the film. In other words, an understanding of the conventions of romantic comedy plays a vital role in decision-making for producers and it influences every part of the process in filmmaking. Therefore, frequently researching the generic conventions and considering genre trends are essential responsibilities for a producer in order to create compelling productions to meet audience expectations and achieve success at the box office.
References
Bukszpan,D., 2010. The 15 Most Profitable Movies of All Time. Available from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/39083257. [Accessed 5th Jun 2013].
Genre is a concept, which plays a significant role in film study and the film industry.
Ryall defined genre as, “Patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual art products, and which supervise both their construction by artist and their reading by audiences” (Ryall cited in Lacey 2000, p.132).
In other words, genre is a communication system between filmmakers and spectators. On the one hand, genre is a tool which facilitates producers to engage their target audience and provides filmmakers with a framework to structure their narrative, to ensure their films meet the spectator’s expectations. On the other hand, genre is a shortcut for audiences to choose certain types of film they may find interesting and helps them to absorb more easily the text in films. A deep understanding of genre benefits producers, as they can generate clear strategies both in creating original narratives and orienting the audience. This essay focuses on romantic comedy in order to explore crucial issues within the study of genre.
There are three main reasons to pay close attention to the romantic comedy genre as a model to explore how the understanding of genre can benefit producers. Firstly, from the early years romantic comedy has been a popular genre with audiences and has remained so ever since, from films such as Trouble in Paradise (1932) to The Proposal (2009). This genre enjoys considerable box-office success, which provides a reliable source of income for cinemas around the world. Secondly, in general romantic comedy is a relatively inexpensive genre, capable of producing healthy profits at low cost (King 2002). For example, CNBC released a list of the 15 most profitable movies of all time in 2010, based on worldwide box office receipts. There’s Something About Mary (1998), Pretty Woman (1990) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) are modest budget romantic comedy films, which occupy three positions in the list. In particular, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a small independent film, outperformed some acknowledged blockbusters, was number one on the list and returned over sixty-one times its investment (Bukszpan 2010). Thirdly, romantic comedies are often viewed as a "guilty pleasure" (McDonald 2007) as these films employ formulaic storytelling which provides a simple option for easy, uncomplicated viewing. However, Leger Grindon provides this description of the genre:
“It has a pedigree that includes William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde. Moreover, these films reward study because they deal with dramatic conflicts central to human experience. From those conflicts arise the familiar conventions that form the foundation for the romantic comedy and portray our social manners surrounding love and romance, intimacy and friendship, sexual choice and orientation” (Grindon 2011, p.8).
In the current economic climate，compared with other genres such as sci-fi or action, producers are not only more likely to obtain commercial success with the romantic comedy genre, with its low cost and high profit, but also achieve aesthetic success which could build a reputation for them and benefit their career in the future.
The purpose of this essay is to consider whether romantic comedy is an established genre or an element of innumerable films and also analyze the factors which distinguish the genre from romantic melodrama and comedian comedy, in order to provide a precise definition of the romantic comedy genre. Moreover, using popular romantic comedy films as examples, generic conventions of setting, character and narrative will be explored and, with reference to evidence, emphasis will be placed on the importance of using conventions for producers to create their own narratives. In addition, the impact of fresh elements in the production of romantic comedies and several practical ways producers can add originality to narrative will be considered. Finally a brief conclusion will be drawn about the meaning of the study for producers in relation to the conventional patterns of the romantic comedy genre.
2．Definition of Romantic Comedy
In Hollywood cinema, most films are generically mixed. Rick Altman indicated that,
“Film producers often tried to sell major films by associating them with several genres at the same time in order to address and appeal to more than one audience sector” (Altman 1999 cited Deleyto 2011, p.6).
As a result, the elements of both romance and comedy are frequently combined within many film genres, making it difficult to define the romantic comedy genre precisely. Brian Henderson argued that romantic comedy is more likely to be considered as an element rather than a genre:
“A workable subset ‘romantic comedy’ might refer to those films in which romance and comedy are the primary components or those without other such components as crime, detection of crime, Western adventure, war, etc. But what is ‘primary’ in any given case, is difficult to determine where romance and comedy are pervasive. Moreover, even if crime, western, war, etc, films are eliminated, the remainder is vast and its modes of conjoining romance and comedy myriad” (Henderson 1987 cited Neale and Krutnik 1990, p.270).
However, containing elements of other genres such drama or action does not invalidate romantic comedy as a genre, just as a western might contain romantic and comedy elements. Steve Neale suggested that Henderson fails to consider the different functions of elements of comedy or romance in various genres and disputed Henderson’s conception of romantic comedy as too rigid.
“It is not the mere presence of elements which is significant, but how they are deployed” (Neale and Krutnik 1990, p.137).
Furthermore, a widely acceptable explanation of genre is, “a system of orientations, expectations and conventions that circulate between industry, text and subject” (Neale 1980, p.19). In the case of romantic comedy, the film industry orients the audience through titles like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and posters which frequently emphasize the central couple; Filmmakers utilize conventions from successful films in the genre as a guideline for the creation of narrative structure. Audiences select films with the expectation of familiar stories associated with courtship with a humorous approach. In this sense, admittedly, romantic comedy has already created a communication network among the film industry, filmmakers and audiences as a genre.
Picture 1. The poster emphasize the central couple
Humour establishes the tone and courtship provides the plot (Grindon, 2011); this roughly describes romantic comedy’s two fundamental features. However, in order to develop a clear definition of romantic comedy and to highlight the factors that distinguish the genre from others, the differences between romantic melodrama and romantic comedy, together with the differences between comedian comedy and romantic comedy, require discussion.
Regarding romantic melodrama, one key factor which draws the boundary between romantic comedy and romantic melodrama is the happy ending, which is an essential convention of the classical Hollywood romantic comedy (King, 2002).
“In the romantic melodrama, love often tends to be pitched against marriage, or frustrated by it, or both. The romantic comedy, however, leads inevitably towards (marital union), even if the path of courtship is rocky” (Neale and Krutnik 1990, p138).
Furthermore, compared with romantic melodrama, which focuses on representing the conflicts of a central female protagonist, the romantic comedy is concerned with illustrating the relationship between a woman and a man (Neale and Krutnik 1990). Sleepless in Seattle (1993) is an obvious example because this film demonstrates two protagonists in parallel space and shifting between hero and heroine until they meet at the end of the film (Grindon 2011).
In terms of comedian comedy, Northrop Frye is widely reputed to be one of the most significant and influential theorists of the genre in the twentieth century and his analysis about two basic types of comedy helps to clarify the distinctions between comedian comedy and romantic comedy.
“There are two ways of developing the form of comedy: one is to throw the main emphasis on the blocking characters; the other is to throw it forward on the scenes of discovery and reconciliation” (Deleyto 2011, p.19).
The following definition of films within the romantic comedy genre provides a conclusion to this analysis:
A romantic comedy is a film, which has as its central narrative motor a quest for love, which portrays this quest in a light-hearted way and almost always to a successful conclusion (Mcdonald 2007, p.8).
3．Generic conventions and new elements of Romantic Comedy
According to Philip (2004) the way to make money from a film is to produce a text the audience will want to consume. Therefore, producers should ensure that particular elements of the genre, which embody typical expectations of spectators, are included in their film in order to satisfy their audience and to achieve box office aims. However, as far as romantic comedy is concerned, David Shumway noted in his book that the love story is very familiar in our culture…’Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back’, and is a standard plot in all fictional media (Mcdonald 2007, p.2). It indicates a controversial issue within the romantic comedy genre, that some films are stale, formulaic and perceived as over-familiar. In his TED talks Andrew Stanton, who is the multi-Oscar winning writer and director with credits including Toy story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003) and Wall-E (2008), quoted playwright William Archer who said “Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainly.” In other words, it is important for filmmakers to consider the balance between conventions and new elements of their original creation. On the one hand, generic conventions enable producers to pick up and emphasize key elements from successful films in this genre, which probably attracts the audience. On the other hand, adding new elements to keep their narrative fresh and original is absolutely necessary. This essay will explore a number of conventions in the romantic comedy genre such as settings, characters and narratives by referring to well-known films; the importance of new elements in this genre will also be emphasized.
Settings
Romantic comedy is the kind of genre that tries to portray the everyday reality of human relationships by constructing a magical space. In other words, Romantic comedy films have settings which are based on ordinary life. However they also include ideal elements which enable protagonists to appear free from psychological repression and social inhibitions (Deleyto 2011). For this reason, innumerable romantic comedy films embody characters’ daily lives in diverse metropolises, such as New York city which plays a leading role in the genre (Grindon 2011), for instance from Woody Allen’s famous film Annie Hall (1977) to When Harry Met Sally(1989) and the more recent film Sex and the City (2008). Brian Henderson (1986) claims
“The romantic comedy has always been urban and urban-oriented, aggressively, smugly assuming the superiority of city over country” (cited Grindon 2011, p.20).
Flourishing cities like New York, Paris, London and Beijing welcome people from diverse cultures and are full of possibilities. Setting a film in a big city makes the events in the films more believable. Moreover, great public spaces, which may include friendly neighbourhoods and quiet parks create a suitable atmosphere for lovers, which cultivate the interaction between man and woman and promote the progress of the story. An obvious example is While You Were Sleeping (1995).
Video 1. While You Were Sleep (1995)
As the video clip shows, Jack (Bill Pullman) walks Lucy (Sandra Bullock) home at night in Chicago during the Christmas holiday. This romantic walk creates an isolated space for the two protagonists to get to know each other better and the chemistry starts to appear between them. This scene portrays the romantic tension between these two characters perfectly and it also sets the tone for the rest of story.
Deleyto (2011, p.31) suggested “romantic comedy traces a circular journey from the characters’ society to the countryside or foreign city and back to society.”
A change of location is generally used to represent the characters’ escape from the restrictions of the social order and redefines their inner desire during the course of the courtship. This journey between locations demonstrates the characters are on a moving stage and generally portrays the transformation of characters, which generally occurs in the middle of the narrative (Grindon, 2011). In contrast to the metropolis, which implies social order, the provincial or foreign city setting is an ideal space for characters to release pressure and express their inner desire. This kind of comparison appears in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy, The Holiday (2006), where the location changes play an important underpinning for the narrative structure.
Video 2. The Holiday (2006)
This film was filmed on location in both California and the English country village Shere, which is also the village location for several famous romantic comedy films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason (2004), and The Wedding Date (2005). The differences between these two locations demonstrate how the director, Nancy Meyars, illustrates the two polar opposite worlds to the audience.
Picture 2. The locations in The Holiday
The Holiday, illustrates that protagonists in romantic comedy always find something they were missing in their characters or their lives during the change between locations. They seek their new identity in a magical space and eventually find the aright positions in their social space.
Characters
Frequently in romantic comedies the witty leading man, who is often played by actors such as Hugh Grant or Tom Hanks, and spunky female protagonists, who are played by actors like Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan, can be easily recalled by the audience. Choosing suitable actors for a romantic comedy film is a key issue for producers. This genre fulfills cultural wishes, therefore the main couple in romantic comedies must be likeable to the audience and, even more importantly, the characters of these films should be down to earth, convincing and real to audience, even if they are comic creations. A good example to support this perspective is the popular films Bridget Jones' Diary (2001) and Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason (2004). These two films illustrate stories about an overweight British woman on her journey to lose weight and find true love.
Picture 3. Renee Zellwegar in "Bridget Jones"
Renee Zellweger made headlines in the starring role in both of these films. She gained the extra thirty pounds to reach the average weight and size of most women. These two films achieved box office success and made a point of straying from the traditional Hollywood production, in which the leading actress is extremely thin and fits the stereotypical image of beauty. This example indicates that the primary couple in romantic comedy should be characterized as humorous, credible and believable, but also flawed which makes the characters more realistic and appealing to the audience. Furthermore, the hero and heroine in romantic comedies should have special qualities, which make them stand out from the crowd in order to attract and bond with their spouse, such as Tom Cruise’s famous dialogue “You complete me” in Jerry Maguire (1996). In relation to heroines, Brian Henderson suggests, “there can be no romantic comedy without strong heroines”.(Mcdonald 2007, p.12). Typically, a romantic comedy heroine is independent, unconventional and has the courage to pursue true love no matter how many obstacles she may have to overcome. Moreover, apart from seeking genuine fellowship, the character is given a second goal which provides space for the creation of original narratives. For instance, Alex Fletcher’s (Hugh Grant) mission in Music and Lyrics (2007) is to write a new hit song in a week for a reigning idol in order to rescue his declining career. He cooperates with a washed-up musician Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), and during the creative process, they develop a deep relationship. The goal of creating a hit song sets the background of the narrative, accelerates the pace of story and adds originality to the film.
Narrative
Mortimer (2010) indicated that the narrative of romantic comedy is generally a boy meeting a girl, falling in love with each other but facing several obstacles; however the couple will strive to overcome all the difficulties and be together at the end. Admittedly, romantic comedies usually share certain plots in their narrative structure such as “meet the cute” or “happy ending” as their genre formula. Although this kind of narrative structure can be traced back to Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, each film constructs these plots in a distinctive manner and these plots are still compelling to audiences, reflected in their success at the box office. While You Were Sleeping (1995) and Pretty Woman (1990) will be examined as two examples to demonstrate the underpinning narrative structure which is covered by different themes in the romantic comedy genre.
At the beginning of While You Were Sleeping, Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a lonely fare collector on the Chicago elevated railway, has a secret crush on a good-looking commuter Peter (Peter Gallagher). On Christmas Day, Peter is mugged and thrown on to the tracks; Lucy saves Peter’s life from an oncoming train. While he is in a coma, Peter’s family assumes she is his fiancée. Lucy does not have the courage to tell them the truth because she is embarrassed and, more importantly, because she quickly comes to love being a part of Peter’s big and loving family. Later on, Lucy spends a belated Christmas with them and meets Peter’s younger brother Jack (Bill Pullman). After spending some time together getting to know each other, they fall in love. However, Jack cannot reveal his feelings for Lucy because she is already engaged to his brother and Lucy cannot bring herself to hurt Peter’s family by revealing the truth. The rest of the narrative conforms to the conventions of this genre; at the end of the film Lucy and Jack are happily married and in their wedding outfits at the back of a train departing from the station. This film’s narrative makes use of Peter as the conventional “wrong person” character in romantic comedy. Steve Neale (1992) has pointed out that
“The wrong person provokes the learning process, which the protagonist must undergo in order to realize a successful relationship” (Cited Grindon 2011, p.14).
Furthermore, the “wrong person” inevitably provides obstacles for the primary lovers in their quest for courtship.
Picture 4. While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Pretty Woman (1990) has much in common with While You Were Sleeping (1995) in narrative structure, even though they portray different kind of themes in the romantic comedy genre. This film is about Edward, a successful, wealthy businessman who hires a beautiful and unlikely prostitute, Vivian Ward, to be his escort for several business and social functions. While he teaches her the behaviour of the upper classes and their pastimes of eating at expensive restaurants and going to the opera, she teaches him how to relax and encourages him not to be ruthless in business deals. Moreover, during the course of one week, their relationship develops into more than that of employer/employee. Predictably, the differences in class between the two lovers create barriers, which almost lead to separation. Nevertheless, the film shares the conventions of romantic comedies: after a series of misunderstandings the ending of the film infers that they get married (Dixon 2000).
Picture 5. Pretty Woman (1990)
The narratives of both films obey the following basic structure, adapted from Leger Grindon’s (2011) model.
1. Unfulfilled Desire. The film often begins with displaying an unsatisfactory status for the protagonists. At the beginning of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) , Sam (Tom Hanks) loses his wife. In The Holiday, Amanda (Cameron Diaz) finds her boyfriend cheated on her and Iris (Kate Winslet) learns that the man she has a crush on is engaged to her colleague.
2. Meet the cute. This conventional plot provides a chance for two potential romantic partners, who may have different temperaments and come from different situations and social classes, to encounter each other in unusual or comic circumstances.
3. Happy together. As mentioned above, Lucy and Jack in While You Were Sleeping (1995) have a great time while he walks her back home in the beautiful night scenes in Chicago. Vivian in Pretty Woman also says to Edward: “In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.”
4. Obstacles arise. Generally, the obstacles in romantic comedy can be divided into two groups: external obstacles including parental disapproval as in Meet the Parents, difference in social class as in Notting Hill and a promise made to another as in My Best Friend’s Wedding; internal obstacles include self-doubt and uncertainties.
5. The journey. In order to pursue “true love”, the protagonists experience a transformation to overcome both external and internal obstacles. A character who is a confidant often appears in this section. The main characters tend to share their inner feelings with the confidant who might be a friend, roommate or family member. The role of confidant demonstrates the transformation journey of protagonists from a different perspective and also creates an emotional communication path between protagonist and audience (Dixon 2000). For instance, Lucy in While You Were Sleeping (1995) confides in her employer several times about her struggle and confusion. Vivian in Pretty Woman (1990) shares her happiness with her friend Kit.
6. The happy ending. This is a well-established generic convention of romantic comedy. Similar to ending with marriage, the last-minute union also often occurs at the end of the film. The films mentioned all exemplify this typical narrative structure of romantic comedy.
Apart from generic conventions in setting, characters and narratives, there are many other conventions of romantic comedy which producers should consider, such as lighting, editing style and soundtrack. The study of convention patterns enables producers to work out what kind of narrative is compelling to the audience in order to guarantee box office success and provide producers with references for the creation of original narratives. Nevertheless, new narratives and elements should be discovered by filmmakers to keep their own narrative fresh and original.
As mentioned above, in the film industry, producers tend to associate their films with several genres in order to appeal to more than one sector of the audience. In the same way that filmmakers created the genre of romantic comedy, nowadays they strive to involve fresh elements from the prevailing culture in the romantic comedy genre to generate sub-genres. For example Midnight in Paris (2011) is a rom-com fantasy, Mama Mia (2008) is a musical rom-com and Warm Bodies (2013) is the popular hybrid genre zombie rom-com, which appeals to the adolescent audience. The other way to keep the romantic comedy film fresh is to break the formula of their conventional narrative. Think Like a Man (2012) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012) are romantic comedies without a “meet the cute” plot. Instead of demonstrating ways to fall in love, these two films focus on discussing how couples can stay in love. Producers of romantic comedy should engage elements from social culture in their original narrative in order to avoid repetition.
4. Conclusion
This exploration of conventions in the romantic comedy genre offers a framework for the foundations of narrative structures for producers to create their own romantic comedy film and also indicates ways to add originality in characterizations and the entire narrative. The study of romantic comedy conventions not only provides benefits for producers when developing a script, creating the right production team and selecting ideal locations for shooting but also helps producers to target their audience and create strategies for marketing the film. In other words, an understanding of the conventions of romantic comedy plays a vital role in decision-making for producers and it influences every part of the process in filmmaking. Therefore, frequently researching the generic conventions and considering genre trends are essential responsibilities for a producer in order to create compelling productions to meet audience expectations and achieve success at the box office.
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