The secret life of romantic comedy [Paperback]

Winner of the Enrique Garc?a Diez book award for literary research (2009), The secret life of romantic comedy offers a new approach to one of the most popular and resilient genres in the history of Hollywood. Steering away from the rigidity and ideological determinism of traditional accounts of the genre, this book advocates a more flexible theory, which allows the student to explore the presence of the genre in unexpected places, extending the concept to encompass films that are not usually considered romantic comedies.

Combining theory with detailed analyses of a selection of films, including To Be or Not to Be (1942), Rear Window (1954), Kiss Me Stupid (1964), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Before Sunset (2004), the book aims to provide a practical framework for the exploration of a key area of contemporary experience - intimate matters - through one of its most powerful filmic representations: the genre of romantic comedy.

Original and entertaining, The secret life of romantic comedy is perfect for students and academics of film and film genre.

List 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 thrillslÃ-