Hollywood romantic

             In the 1970‘s, Brian Henderson predicted that, due to 'changes within family structures and sexual relationships‘, and a 'loss of faith in the interest of romance as a subject‘, the romantic comedy would become outdated and therefore, supposedly, an 'impossibility‘ in today‘s cinema (FM3011 – Comedy
             Henderson, Austin: ). Indeed, there have been many alterations to our social structures since the classic Hollywood era, defined by Susan Hayward as 'the cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production from the 1930‘s to the 1960‘s‘ (Hayward, Routledge: 45). The feminist and gay movements of the 70‘s, a rise in divorce rates and the subsequent increase in the number of single parent families, have all played a part in significantly changing the shape of our society and our outlook on life. However I would argue with hindsight that, rather than causing the genre to be obsolete in the present day, these changes within society have merely forced the romantic comedy to 'change tack‘ somewhat, in order to conform to modern ideologies.
             Claude Levi-Strauss studied many cultures and myths and, according to him, these stories help to solve key issues within a culture, offering an imaginary resolution to any social discordance, which might arise. This theory can be applied to many sorts of myths or stories, including films, and I think it is a good place to start when replying to Henderson‘s claim that romantic comedy would no longer 'work‘.
             It is generally agreed, I would assume, that romantic comedy was, and still is an extremely popular genre. The reason for this great and continuing success might be attributed to, what Delia Ephron calls our 'thirst for romance, no matter how bleak things are.‘ She goes on to say that in fact, 'the bleaker they are, the more we crave it.‘ (Perhaps accounting for the...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
Hollywood romantic. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 13:18, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/78942.html