BUI301F2022/Verbal Humor
From Screenpedia
Narrative
- “Stanley Cavell: "the comedy of remarriage" (from Pursuits of Happiness)
- “...the couple as separated in the initial stages, only to be reunited by the end of the film after discovering that they still love each other"
- "...the couple experiencing love at first sight yet being unable to be together, due to factors beyond their control.
- "...unrequited love.
- "...the couple who are at war with each other from the start”
Tropes
- “mistaken identity, disguise and masquerade, intimate tete-a-tetes (often meals), public humiliation, brides bolting from the altar, a race against time, confiding in friends and the 'meet-cute'."
- What are our films' "meets cute" and how are they "prophetic"?
The screwball heroine
- “crazy and unpredictable, she is capable of throwing a man's life into complete chaos, and has excessive energies and exuberance. In this respect she is a threat to society and needs to be contained by the restraints of marriage."
- How is the threat of the independent woman contained? Is that containment what you take away from The Lady Eve or Always?
Texts & resources
- Claire Mortimer, Romantic Comedy (New York: Routledge, 2010).