" `Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl'... organises, indeed
constitutes, the classical American cinema as a whole."
-Raymond Bellour (Bellour, 1974, 16)
"You don't want to be in love - you want to be in love in a movie."
-Becky, Sleepless in Seattle
"Reality and love are almost contradictory to me."
-Céline, Before Sunset
This essay is primarily concerned with the concept of the Hollywood romance happy ending. On a broader scale, it is also concerned with addressing the relationship of these endings to something which (I think it is fair to say) most believe Hollywood seldom attempts to do: depict romantic love `realistically'. Ask most if they consider, for example, Hollywood's current romantic comedies to be `realistic' representations of love and even those who enjoy the genre will be forced to answer - perhaps regretfully - in the negative. We all know that the typical `Dream Factory' image of love is, at least in this genre, idealistic wish-fulfilment. It is what has become popularly known as `movie love'.
What is it that makes the love in romantic comedies `movie love' and not `real love'? Essentially, all that separates the romantic comedy's depiction of romantic relationships from that of other genres is its guaranteed happy ending. As with the relationship between comedy and tragedy in general, the central plots of romantic melodrama and romantic comedy in fact often have very few dissimilarities other than tone (for example, the tropes of the undesirable existing / intended partner and the unfortunate miscommunication are absolute staples of both genres); their endings, however, remain polar opposites. I would argue that it is, in fact, only the happy ending (and the certainty on...
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...ed to be more associated with art than with real life. This stretches back to any number of naturalist novels or plays whose protagonists spend their days immersed in tales of romance only to find that real life does not live up to their ideals (Madame Bovary being an obvious example). It in fact goes back even further, at least to Shakespeare and his use of existing literary and classical romances as starting points for - and as references within - his own love stories (A Midsummer Night's Dream springs immediately to mind). I would go so far as to say that, perhaps more than any other narrative trope, a couple falling in love is universally evocative of the world of art and fiction, whether it be Shakespeare or Barbara Cartland.
And yet, of course, it does happen in the real world. How then does one represent this real love `realistically' in art, particularly in
True love is the love that everyone fantasizes about. It is the love that is unconditional and everlasting. Love is very hard to define since everybody's concept of love is different. However, in order to achieve a good relationship, people must have a well balanced power structure in their relationship, and good understanding and communication between them. In the stories, "The Yellow Wallpaper,'; "Hills Like White Elephants,'; and "A Doll's House,'; one could see the lopsided relationship between the males and females. In these stories the males predominates the females, and the characters seem to lack understanding, and communication toward another, which causes problems in their relationships.
True love is a bond shared by few and dreamed of by everyone. The appearance of a relationship may not accurately depict the true reality of the situation. The bond between Claudio and Hero appears far stronger than that of Beatrice and Benedict, yet events of the play provide evidence for the converse. In Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, the masked emotions of two couples are evoked through subterfuge.
Love is something that humans have sought and desired for a long time and to us it seems as if love has been around since our dawning. We express this love in many different forms. We express love through writing, gift giving, art, and cinematic productions. But at what point does the expression of love lose its value? The Best of Me and Before Sunrise are examples of how one can go about expressing the meaning of love. They are both cinematic productions laced with the woes of love, but the way these two stories unfold before the viewer are subtly and, to some, even strikingly different. Before Sunrise veers off the well beaten path of clichéd love stories and rides on newfangled roads whereas The Best of Me stays in line with what is usually churned out in adaptation to a Nicholas Sparks novels. There was a large difference within budgeting for these two movies. $2,500,000 was put in place as the budget for
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two characters who, throughout history, have been heralded as the world’s greatest lovers and who have been set up as yardsticks against which future lovers must be measured. The tragic courtship between Romeo and Juliet has become so idealized and revered that even the Oxford English Dictionary lists this definition under the word ‘Romeo’:
...o not believe it anesthetizes the emotional life of the viewer: it romanticizes life. Women take away from the experiences that sex in a relationship is perfect, communication with the partner is perfect and if there is a disagreement or misunderstanding, it is grounds for a breakup. How damaging are these expectations to a new relationship? During a literature review, I found several researchers concluded that these expectations cultivated from romantic comedies contribute to increased divorces in society (Segrin & Nabi 2002).
The most complicated human emotion is love. For instance, in Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s dream, and the movie The Princess Bride, love can be expressed in different ways. Shakespeare used his unique language in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to express the knowledge of the “incalculable paradoxes of love” as the founder of archetypal theory, Carl Jung said. In Belsey’s perspective, it reflects the paradoxes of love in true love in The Princess Bride. . “…that it is absurd, irrational, a delusion, or, perhaps, on the other hand, a transfiguration.”(A Modern Perspective 182) The theme of love in The Princess Bride is not as indestructible and admirable as the audience might think. Nonetheless, love was not the only emotion expressed in
Shakespeare 's plays often include love in some major way. In some plays love can even be the themes of his plays, teaching us that love has a strong effect on people. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the main conflict in this play is about how the two lead male characters fell in love with the same girl, how fairs make the conflict worse overall. Shakespeare makes use of love to create great comedical effects in the play to make an interesting. Shakespeare also use Romance in Romeo and Juliet too, but, in this play, he use it to cause the serious source of conflict. He uses the ”star-crossed” lovers concept to make the protagonist fall in love with each other, even though they knew that they could never be together. In the end, every important character kills themselves because they cannot live without their lover. He teaches us that true love s just as dangerous as it is
Romantic comedy, another traditional sort of comedy, is subtler. Its main characters are generally lovers, and its plot unfolds their ultimately successful strivings to be united. Unlike satiric comedy, romantic comedy portrays its characters not with withering contempt but with kindly indulgence.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
Many of Shakespeare's plays show a strong theme of love. Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing deal primarily with the issue of true and false love. Romeo and Juliet, tragic play, is about two lovers who struggle, sacrifice, and defy their families and society for the sake of love that changes them completely. Although the end of Romeo and Juliet's story is death both of the lovers, their love turns to be immortal. Much Ado About Nothing, comedy play, is about two lovers who their relationship starts as child like and develops to be true love that motives the lovers to sacrifice in order to keep their love. The two plays deal also with the idea of false love. Romeo, the hero of Romeo and Juliet, thinks that he loves Rosaline, but when he meets Juliet, the heroin of Romeo and Juliet, he falls in love with her, forgetting his love to Rosaline. In Much Ado About Nothing, the relationship between Claudio and Hero's, main characters in the play, is based on wealth and appearance attraction. Conventional love is another kind of that is shown in Romeo and Juliet, where it develops in social situations without any consideration to emotions.
Love has been expressed since the beginning of time; since Adam and Eve. Each culture expresses its love in its own special way. Though out history, though, it’s aspect has always been the same. Love has been a major characteristic of literature also. One of the most famous works in literary history is, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This story deals with the love of a man and a woman who’s families have been sworn enemies. There love surpassed the hatred in which the families endured for generations. In the end they both ended up killing their selves, for one could not live without the other. This story is a perfect example of true love.
Every day it’s possible to find something related to romance. There are so many “epic” stories that have gone down in history but a lot of them were infatuation mistaken for true love. Infatuation is a lot like love so it’s difficult to pick the two apart. They both are strong intense feelings and make you feel the same emotions but infatuation typically takes off very fast and is short lived. It’s more of an obsession based off of physical attraction and leads to absurd, impulsive decisions. A lot of the qualities of this fixation describe Romeo and Juliet’s marriage. “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, I drink to thee!” (IV.iv.58) in this scene Juliet drank poison so she could fake her death to be with her lover which is an insane choice. When in love crazy things can be done but with infatuation a person will do anything to feel the euphoria again without even giving the consequences much thought. This is alike what Juliet did because she didn’t have any second thoughts until the very last minute before drinking the poison. “The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand / And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. / Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” (I.V.50-53) this was when he first saw her. As previously stated infatuation can be based off of physical attraction and this was when Romeo first saw her; he hadn’t even talked to
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
Johnson R. Kimberly, and Holmes M. Bjarne. "Contradictory Messages: A Content Analysis of Hollywood-Produced Romantic Comedy Feature Films." Communication Quarterly 57 (2009): 1-22. Print.
Love is not a god as the fine philosophers of Greece once suggested. Love is something far more powerful and universal, for not all people believe in gods, yet people cannot refuse the existence of love. Instead, love is a condition of the human body that cannot be denied. True love is obstinate; in the way that music pours into the ears of an audience, love pouring into the heart of a man cannot be stopped, denied, or set off course. Love is a natural instinct. You cannot artificially make love where there is none or where it does not belong. Yet, the condition of being in love grows independent of all rationale. It grows places where an observer may not understand its existence. Attempting to fight love in such a situation leaves even powerful and noble families, such as the Capulets and Montagues, suddenly powerless. When love takes control of two souls, it takes the lovers on a journey. The journey is the growth of love throughout its many progressive stages. In this way, the growth of love between two people is analogous to the growth and development of a painted masterpiece. A work of art and a bond of love both have distinct stages and characteristics. A painting initially begins with a vision in the mind of the artist. This vision is a perfect vision that the artist will strive to replicate on her canvas. Similarly, love often begins on a visual level based on the physical attractions between two people. The vision of the painter is soon transformed into quick, loose sketches. The pencil freely marks the page; the artist has no control over where it goes, he merely paints. Similarly, lovers have no control over their new feeling of love that has taken over their bodies and rendered them helpless. After an artist has loos...