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Screwball Comedy:
notes & two definitional essays general notes on romantic comedy & screwball notes on essays by Tina Olsin Lent and Wes Gehring |
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| Notes on romantic comedy & screwball: (From AFI/CPB documentary "Romantic Comedy" and elsewhere.) Romantic comedy is one of the most popular Hollywood genres. - A highly conventional genre: audiences like to see the same pattern over and over: boy meets girl ('meeting cute'), complications ensue, love conquers all. - Specific examples differ in how they work out complications, and in how they adapt to various star personas. (Romantic comedy has been a star-driven genre). Screwball comedy: the term 'screwball': from baseball for a pitch whose direction is unpredictable; also slang for 'crazy' historical context, approximately 1934-1944: - the Great Depression, unrest in Europe followed by war, the second decade after women could vote - screwball comedies generally ignore economic & political issues - characters are mostly wealthy & high society - New York writers went west to write for movies, resulting in sophisticated dialogue - the Production Code required indirection, displacement in treating sexuality - the 'battle of the sexes': physical hijinks and verbal sparring replace overt lovemaking Gender issues: - the woman character is generally stronger, takes initiative - - lead actress often had top billing - - 'madcap heiress' type - male character often of lower social status, though not poor |
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| [Ideas from the Gehring essay are not covered on the exam, but may be used in papers.] Wes D. Gehring, Screwball Comedy within American Humor: Defining a Genre from Screwball Comedy: a Genre of Madcap Romance Characteristics of the screwball comedy hero: 1. Leisure life, often in high society - Character types: madcap heiress, idle rich, absent-minded professor, newspaper reporter, etc. 2. Childlike nature - Dog (or other pets) as corollary of childhood, or as surrogate child - Male lead may be screwy or its opposite, rigid and unspontaneous 3. Urban environment - Cities as places of irrationality; fear of cities turned into fun - Interludes & conclusions often occur in the country (pastoral environment or Northrop Fryes green world) 4. Apolitical outlook Screwball hero is too busy coping with an irrational world to consider political solutions 5. Basic frustration, especially in relationships with women Screwball heroines dominate men - motif: reversal of sex roles Males frustration related to his attempts to live in a rational way; whereas screwball women are more attuned to irrationality - Screwball heroines have a predatory quality, and may anticipate the non-comic 'spider women' of film noir When the male figure dominates in a screwball comedy, there is generally a second, weak male character to balance him |
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