Screen Studies: Romantic Comedy

The secret life of romantic comedy offers a new approach to one of the most popular and resilient genres in the history of Hollywood. Steering away from the rigidity and ideological determinism of traditional accounts of the genre, this book advocates a more flexible theory, which allows the student to explore the presence of the genre in unexpected places, extending the concept to encompass films that are not usually considered romantic comedies.

The most up-to-date study of the Hollywood romantic comedy film, from the development of sound to the twenty-first century, this book examines the history and conventions of the genre and surveys the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films. Provides a detailed interpretation of important romantic comedy films from as early as 1932 to movies made in the twenty-first century.

Romantic Comedy offers an introduction to the analysis of a popular but overlooked film genre. The book provides an overview of Hollywood's romantic comedy conventions, examining iconography, narrative patterns, and ideology.

Romantic comedy has long been a mainstay of the movies yet rom-coms have often struggled to be taken seriously. This original anthology from an international collection of contributors updates, revisits and reflects on today's romantic comedies. It considers the films and issues that illustrate the breathtaking diversity of the genre, from the queer pleasures of "Miss Congeniality" and the rom-com persona of J-Lo and Bill Murray, to high school prom-coms and indie romantic comedies.

This book takes a closer look at the precise meanings of the terms screwball and romantic. Film fans and scholars alike tend to lump film with laughter and love under a screwball/romantic umbrella and use the terms screwball and romantic interchangeably. In reality, there is a distinction; the screwball variety places its emphasis on "funny," while the more traditional romantic comedy accents "love."

Episode 5: The Romantic Comedy

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.

Take two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one Producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly.

Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.

This contemporary romantic comedy, based on a global bestseller, follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family.