Romance filmsinvolve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus onpassion,emotion,and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey throughdating,courtshipormarriage is featured.These films make the search for romantic love the main plot focus. Occasionally, romance lovers face obstacles such asfinances,physicalillness,various forms ofdiscrimination,psychological restraints or family resistance. As in all quite strong, deep and close romantic relationships, the tensions of day-to-day life,temptations(ofinfidelity), and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films.[1]
Romantic films often explore the essential themes oflove at first sight,young and mature love, unrequited love, obsession, sentimental love,spiritual love,forbidden love, platonic love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love, explosive and destructive love, andtragic love.Romantic films serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if the two leads finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience their "happily ever after", often implied by a reunion and final kiss. In romantic television series, the development of such romantic relationships may play out over many episodes or different characters may become intertwined in different romantic arcs.
Screenwriter and scholarEric R. Williamsidentifies Romance Films as one of eleven super-genres in hisscreenwriters' taxonomy,claiming that all feature length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres areaction,crime,fantasy,horror,science fiction,comedy,sports,thriller,warandwestern.[2]
Subgenres
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Chick flick
edit'Chick flick'is a term associated with romance films mostly targeted to a female audience.[3][4]Although many romance films may be targeted at women, it is not a defining characteristic of a romance film and a'chick flick'does not necessarily have a romance as a central theme, revolve around the romantic involvement of characters or even include a romantic relationship. As such, the terms cannot be used interchangeably. Films of this genre includeGilda,The Red Shoes,Sense and Sensibility,Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,Dirty Dancing,The Notebook,Dear John,A Walk to Remember,Thelma & Louise,Fifty Shades of Grey,Sleepless in Seattle,You've Got MailandRomeo + Juliet.
Historical romance
editAlso known as epic romance, this is a romantic story with a historical period setting, normally with a turbulent backdrop of war, revolution, or tragedy. This includes films such asGone with the Wind,Doctor Zhivago,Reds,Titanic,A Very Long Engagement,Atonement,Portrait of a Lady on Fire,andCold War.
Paranormal romance
editParanormal romanceis a popular genre of film which features romantic relationships between humans and supernatural creatures.[5]Popular tropes includevampirism,time travel,ghostsand psychic or telekinetic abilities – i.e. things that cannot be explained by science.[6]The genre originated in literature and moved on to the screen in the early 2000s, following the success of the Twilight Saga adaptations fromStephenie Meyer's books.[7]By 2007–08, film studios were producing various paranormal romance films, many adapted from novels.[7]
Examples of paranormal romance films includeThe Exterminating Angel,The Twilight Saga,Warm Bodies,Vampire Academy,I Am Dragon,andThe Shape of Water.[citation needed]
Romantic comedy
editRomantic comediesare films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. Humour in such films tends to be of a verbal, low-key variety or situational, as opposed to slapstick.[8]Films within this genre includeCity Lights,A Night at the Opera,It Happened One Night,His Girl Friday,My Wife's Goblin,The Philadelphia Story,Intolerable Cruelty,Roman Holiday,Good Morning, My Dear Wife,The Big Sick,Enough Said,Lost In Translation,To All the Boys I've Loved Before,Four Weddings and a Funeral,Dave,Say Anything...,Moonstruck,In Summer We Must Love,As Good as It Gets,Something's Gotta Give,When Harry Met Sally...,Annie Hall,Manhattan,The ApartmentandPablo and Carolina.
Romantic drama
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Romantic dramasusually revolve around an obstacle that prevents deep and true love between two people. Music is often employed to indicate the emotional mood, creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The conclusion of a romantic drama typically does not indicate whether a final romantic union between the two main characters will occur.
Some examples of romantic drama films and shows before 2000 areMan's Way with Women,Casablanca,María Candelaria,Pride & Prejudice,Appointment with Happiness,Wakeful Eyes,Among the Ruins,The River of Love,Dearer than my Life,Love Story,Paris and Love,Featureless Men,Coming Home,Daughters of the Dust,Like Water for Chocolate,Sommersby,The Bridges of Madison County,The English Patient,Shakespeare in Love,An Officer and a Gentleman,SaptapadiandCinema Paradiso.
21st century examples includeKabhi Alvida Naa Kehna,Sideways,Memoirs of a Geisha,Slumdog Millionaire,Up in the Air,The Artist,Gloria Bell,andMalcolm & Marie.
DirectorRichard Linklaterhelmed the prominentBeforetrilogy, consisting ofBefore Sunrise,Before Sunset,andBefore Midnight.
Kasautii Zindagii Kayis a popular Indian romantic drama television series of the 2000s.
Same-sex romantic dramas that tackle LGBT issues includeBrokeback Mountain,Blue is the Warmest Colour,Carol,Moonlight,andCall Me by Your Name.[9]
Romantic fantasy
editRomantic fantasiesdescribefantasystories using many of the elements and conventions of the romance genre. Some examples includeThe Lady Eve,Top Hat,The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg),Singin' in the Rain,Groundhog Day,Enchanted,Cinderella,Beauty and the Beast,Knowing,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,Midnight in Paris,Her,andThe Shape of Water.
Romantic musical
editRomantic musical(alternativelymusical romance) is a genre of film which features romantic relationships and whose story is partially explained through song and/or dance numbers. This genre originated on Broadway and moved to the silver screen thanks in part to the popularity of theRodgers and Hammersteinproductions.
Some examples includeSouth Pacific,West Side Storyand its2021 remake,Grease,High School Musical,Across the Universe,Moulin Rouge!,theMamma Mia!franchise,Sunshine on Leith,andLa La Land.
Romantic thriller
editRomantic thrilleris a genre of film which has a storyline combining elements of the romance film and thethriller genre.Some examples of romantic thriller films areDesire,To Catch a Thief,Vertigo,The Crying Game,The Bodyguard,Unfaithful,Wicker Park,The Phantom of the Opera,The Tourist,andThe Adjustment Bureau.[10]
Film types, macro genres and the filmmaker's voice
editThescreenwriters taxonomycreates additional categories beyond "subgenre" when discussing films, making the argument that all narrative Hollywood films can be delineated into comedies or dramas (identified as a "film type" ).[11]The taxonomy also identifies fifty "macro genres", which can be paired with theromancesuper genre.[12]Using this approach, films likeGone with the Wind(noted above) would be classified as a dramatic (type) historical/family (macro genres) romance (genre) rather than simply a historical romance; whileThe Notebookwould be identified at dramatic (type) disease (macro genre) romance (genre) rather than simply a romantic drama.[13]
Similarly, musicals are categorized as one option for a filmmaker's "voice" because the artistic choice to have the characters sing does not affect the story or the characters – it simply alters how the story and characters are conveyed.[14]Therefore, a romance film likeGreasewould be categorized as a dramatic (type), romance (super genre), high school / coming of age (macro genres), musical (voice) – rather than simply as a "musical romance".[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Romance films".Filmsite.org.Archivedfrom the original on 18 May 2013.Retrieved10 November2016.
- ^Williams, Eric R. (2017).The screenwriters taxonomy: a roadmap to collaborative storytelling.New York, NY: Routledge Studies in Media Theory and Practice.ISBN978-1-315-10864-3.OCLC993983488.P. 21
- ^Simpson, John, ed. (2009).Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, on CD-ROM Version 4.0.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-956383-8.
- ^Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2010).New Oxford American Dictionary, Third Edition.New York: Oxford University Press. p. 300.ISBN978-0-19-539288-3.
- ^Panse, S.; Rothermel, D. (24 April 2014).A Critique of Judgment in Film and Television.Springer.ISBN978-1-137-01418-4.
- ^Tobin-McClain, Lee (2000). "Paranormal Romance: Secretsof the Female Fantastic".Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.11(3 (43)): 294–306.ISSN0897-0521.JSTOR43308461.
- ^abCrawford, Joseph. (2014).The twilight of the Gothic. Vampire fiction and the rise of the paranormal romance.University of Wales Press.ISBN978-1-78316-064-8.OCLC894201495.
- ^"Romantic Comedy".AllRovi.Archived fromthe originalon 11 August 2011.Retrieved10 November2016.
- ^Dixon, Wheeler W. (2000),Film genre 2000: new critical essays,The SUNY series, cultural studies in cinema/video, SUNY Press, p. 238,ISBN0-7914-4514-3
- ^"Wicker Park (2004)".AllRovi. Archived fromthe originalon 27 October 2011.Retrieved10 November2016.
- ^Williams, Eric R. (2019). "Episode #3: Comedy and Tragedy: Age Does Not Protect You." InFalling in Love with Romance Movies.Audible Original.
- ^Williams, Eric R. "Macro Genres and Micro Genres." InThe Screenwriters Taxonomy: A Roadmap to Collaborative Storytelling.New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. p. 47–55.
- ^Williams, Eric R. (2019). "Episode #9: Other Genres: Where There is Love." InFalling in Love with Romance Movies.Audible Original.
- ^Williams, Eric R. (2018). "Episode #24: Filmmaker's Voice and Audience Choice". InHow to View and Appreciate Great Movies.The Great Courses / Audible.
- ^Williams, Eric R. (2019). "Episode #6: Voices: Though the Stars Walk Backward." InFalling in Love with Romance Movies.Audible Original.