The Unique Portrayal of Heroines in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife

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Heroines in traditional romantic comedies generally show their female charm dominated by the heroes, and docile. However, in Romantic Comedy vs. Screwball Comedy Gehring depicts the screwball comedy as “dripping with eccentrics starting with the archetype zany heroines.” Also, Gerhing says, “heroines assisted by the fact that only she knows a courtship is occurring. ” In other words, he means that heroines in screwball comedies always show their unique nuttiness and try to pursue what they desire as long as they realized that was something they want, which is quite different from the customary docile female in other romantic comedies. These traits are detailed in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife; heroines Lucy and Ellen pursue their happiness with apparently daffy behavior, encouragement and their love.

Heroines in screwball comedies always had much more positive reaction in the process of pursuing what they desired to, like “female catalyst.” For instance, in My Favorite Wife, Ellen rushed to the airport and tried to save her marriage with an old- fashioned dress, which is even tittered by others, as long as she was told that her husband Arden was about to spend a sweet moon with his new wife Bianca in the same hotel as they had. Both in Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth (1937), out of suspicious, Lucy decided to divorce with her husband Jerry; however, after Lucy saw Jerry’s fantastic series of behavior on Mr. Duvall’s private concert, she realized that she was still in love with Jerry. As a result, Lucy claimed as Jerry’s sister and tricked him and his new girlfriend on Barbara’s appointment to debunk Jerry’s falsehood and to lower the impression formed by Barbara’s family. For sure, both Ellen and Lucy get their husbands or...

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...d the bangle he gave the girl as a token of love, even a wonderful marriage with the girl. I can’t deny that the girl loves Tom deeply. Only she took out some encouragement, and she would get a happy ending.

To sum up, the anti-heroines show encouragement and nuttiness on the screen, which is only a way that they express their love, not the solemn pledge of love, no apparent declaration of love. No matter how eccentrics the beginning comes, as long as the heroines realized their love with their husbands was still remain, they would try to protect their marriage, to care more of their husbands’ feelings, and even to make troubles between their husbands and their rival in love. Just like Lucy’s lawyer told Lucy on the phone in The Awful Truth, “Marriage is always a beautiful thing.” All zany behavior taken by heroines was all about the love, to show and to pursue.

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