Description
Book SynopsisThe secret life of romantic comedy offers a fresh approach to one of the most popular Hollywood genres in recent years and analyses the cultural impact of generic conventions in the construction of issues of intimacy and sexuality.
Table of ContentsList of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The theory of romantic comedy
Romantic comedy and laughter
Happy endings, forgotten middles and the ideology of romantic comedy
The space of romantic comedy
The Sydney issue
Genres and films
2. Comic negotiations
I. Laughter, love and World War II: *To be or not to be*
Love and the invasion of Poland
A table for three: the love triangle
Lubitsch meets screwball royalty
That great, great Polish actor
Performing love, performing war
II. Romantic comedy in no man’s land: Kiss me, stupid
Romantic comedy in the 1950s
Satire and comedy
Moral standards and character identification
Climaxing in Climax
Bang, bang
Comic combinations
3. Romantic comedy on the dark side
I. The other thrills of *Rear window*
Look at me
Society calling
It started with a kiss
The neverending story
II. The space of comedy and beyond: *Crimes and misdemeanors*
Love, faith and the comic space
Inside the Statue of Liberty or love in the time of cholera
Splitting genres
The fisher king and the future generations
4. Contemporary romantic comedy and the discourse of independence
Love in real time: *Before sunset*
The realities of love
Walking and talking
Sex and the city
Bibliography
Index
