Romantic Comedies- standardization and selective tradition (Bruna Oliveira)

Romantic comedies, or rom-coms, are a genre of movie that is present in our daily lives. Although we all know how the movie is going to end, most of us just love to watch it. Therefore it is important to understand where they come from and why they are profitable.

This genre traces back to the Shakespearean tradition (Rivers, 2010). The influences of Shakespeare work can be seen in many famous romantic comedies such as: She's the man (2006), which was inspired by Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, or 10 things I hate about you (1999), inspired by The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare as well. Therefore, romantic comedies are mostly adapted or inspired in these same stories. Thus, they play a big role in mass culture and subsequently what we know today as popular culture.

One of the most recent Netflix movies, Holidate, is a classic example of romantic comedy in which the girl does not want to be with the boy but ends up falling in love.

There is no doubt these rom coms are linked to artistic notions of culture because as Williams mentions, there is a selective tradition in these works (Williams, 1961). In other words, there is a cultural baggage from Shakespeare and other authors that our society has so screenwriters and directors are able to make films such as those. As Williams states, it is essential to reunite art with the common experience of people (Williams, 1961).Yet, there is also a capitalist interest in film art (Horkheimer & Adorno, 1940), especially in romantic comedies. That is because, as Adorno and Horkheimer (1940) claim, the entertainment industry is a capitalist industry and this genre of movies sell. So the industry comes from the mass and that is what they call standardization of culture (1940). In other words, in romantic comedies the plots and even posters are usually the same with a tension between the man and the woman, who will obviously end up together at the end. Holidate as I have mentioned is a good example because it is entertaining and most of us are still going to watch it although we know it is just more of the same we have already seen.

Therefore, I believe this topic is very interesting to reflect about, because it becomes evident that rom coms are not only film art but also commercial culture, which is profitable. So although there is an art of filmmaking, soundtrack, plot, acting, photography and costumes, there are also the cultural commodities that Adorno and Horkheimer (1940) talk about. Although, there are new romantic comedies being created everyday there is no drastic difference between them. Adorno and Horkheimer (1940) criticize this because they claim that through emotional stimuli, the culture industry removes intellect from the formula. That is to say, we do not have to think a lot while watching this genre.

References:

Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. (1940). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.

Rivers, K. (2010). "Not for an age, but for all time": Shakespeare's Romantic Comedies on Film.

Williams, R. (1961). The Analysis of Culture.