wk 2 film
Romantic Comedy Genre 2
Romantic Comedy Genre
Genre theory is a way to help one study films, and to classify films into different groups
so that viewers have an idea of what they will be watching before they even watch it. Genre is
like a glossary for movies. All films fall under at least one genre and most can be more narrowly
categorized into subgenres. For example, the romantic comedy genre can also overlap with
subgenres like the screwball comedy, teen comedy, or gross-out comedy (Goodykoontz &
Jacobs, 2014, table 4.1). This paper will focus on the romantic comedy genre, specifically the
screwball comedy, Knocked Up, to help movie viewers gain a better perpective on the elements
of this film, the specific conventions of this genre, as well as the how this film expands the
boundaries of romantic comedies. X
In her study of the romantic comedy genre, Katherina Glitre (2006) suggests that, “genre
expectations are based on convention—our mutal understanding that certain things happen in
certain ways in certain kinds of texts. Thus, one of our expectations when watching a romantic
comedy is that the film will end with the union of a couple,” (p. 10). This rings true for the
movie Knocked Up , which stars Seth Rogen as the obnoxious male protagonist, Ben, and
Katherine Heigl as Alison, the uptight, yet put-together female protagonist. Ben is a slob who
smokes marijuana and finds nude scenes in movies indexes them on a website he runs with his
friends. Alison is a beautiful television producer who has her life together and is looking to move
up in her career. When Ben and Alison meet at a nightclub, they end up intoxicated, and spend
the night together. After that night, Alison finds out she is pregnant and she informs Ben. They
both test out a relationship, but decide they are too different, so they split up. Ben ends up getting
his life together and Alison realizes she misses him and cannot raise their baby on her own. In
the end, they come back together before their baby is born. X This movie incorporates elements Romantic Comedy Genre 5
References
Denby, David. (2007, July 23). A Fine Romance. The New Yorker. Retrieved from
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/07/23/a-fine-romance
Glitre, K. (2006). Hollywood Romantic Comedy : States of the Union, 1934-1965. Manchester, GBR: Manchester University Press. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.) [Electronic
version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ 1. In this paragraph, the author clearly states the objective of the romantic comedy genre, identifies its
conventions, and describes how this film meets that objective by using those conventions.
2. Here, the author could better describe the conventions of the screwball comedy and how the film joins those
conventions with the conventions of the romantic comedy.
3. In this paragraph, the author clearly states the objective of the romantic comedy genre, identifies its
conventions, and describes how this film meets that objective by using those conventions.
4. Here, the author could better describe the conventions of the screwball comedy and how the film joins those
conventions with the conventions of the romantic comedy
5. This is an excellent use of an outside source to support the argument that Knocked Up breaks the mold of the
genre.
6. This is a strong insight into the changing tastes of audiences and how effective films anticipate, often
presciently, the stories audiences want to see.