Hollywood Romantic Comedy - (New Approaches to Film Genre) by Leger Grindon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The most up-to-date study of the Hollywood romantic comedy film, from the development of sound to the twenty-first century, this book examines the history and conventions of the genre and surveys the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films.

• Provides a detailed interpretation of important romantic comedy films from as early as 1932 to movies made in the twenty-first century
• Presents a full analysis of the range of romantic comedy conventions, including dramatic conflicts, characters, plots, settings, and the function of humor
• Develops a survey of romantic comedy movies and builds a canon of key films from Hollywood's classical era right up to the present day
• Chapters work as discrete studies as well as within the larger context of the book

From the Back Cover

Though rarely explored in analytical detail, the romantic comedy remains a stalwart contributor to Hollywood entertainment. This book offers a comprehensive history of the Hollywood romantic comedy film, from the coming of sound to the twenty-first century, examining the conventions of the genre and surveying the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films.

Hollywood's romantic comedies can be seen as a series of productions whose form and meaning change in response to conditions in the film industry, courtship culture, and society at large. This book provides an essential overview of the continuities within the genre as well as its historical evolution. A full analysis is provided of the range of romantic comedy conventions, including dramatic conflicts, characters, plots, settings, and the function of humor. In doing so, Leger Grindon develops a survey of historical cycles and clusters and builds a canon of key films from Hollywood's classical era right up to the present day, which are analyzed in detail in the second part of the book. Films analyzed include Trouble in Paradise, His Girl Friday, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Adam's Rib, Some Like It Hot, The Graduate, Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, There's Something About Mary, and Waitress.

Review Quotes

"Grindon's contribution to the romantic comedy film bibliography is a valuable addition to the limited number of similar scholarly endeavors, and it seems well-designed for classroom use--not just for teaching the particular films he discusses, but also for teaching methodology. The romantic comedy genre has rarely received the sort of academic recognition it deserves, but students, film scholars, romance scholars, and rom-com enthusiasts all over the world will find The Hollywood Romantic Comedya fine introduction to this culturally and politically significant film genre." (Journal of Popular Romance Studies, 1 October 2012)

"The romantic comedy genre has rarely received the sort of academic recognition it deserves, but students, film scholars, romance scholars, and rom-com enthusiasts all over the world will find The Hollywood Romantic Comedy a fine introduction to this culturally and politically significant film genre." (Journal of Popular Romance Studies, 15 October 2012)

"Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers." (Choice, 1 September 2011)

About the Author

Leger Grindon is Professor of Film and Media Culture at Middlebury College, USA. He has written widely on film and is the author of Shadows on the Past: Studies in the Historical Fiction Film (1994) and Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema (2011).