Changing masculinities in Hollywood styled romantic comedies Essay

Changing masculinities in Hollywood styled romantic comedies - Essay Example Where males in older romantic comedies were portrayed as cool emotionally and in control of their environment, males in current and modern romantic comedies are more often highly flawed and emotionally vulnerable. The changing image of the male figure in romantic comedies has developed a less competent male figure that is at the mercy of the storyline, where in older films the male figure was far more commanding and in control of the events. Romantic comedies have been in film for as long as stories for film have been written. Grindon (2011, p. 12) calls the romantic comedy the â€Å"most enduring and flexible† of the film genres, its inclusion in the film releases of each year standard and expected. Grindon (2011, p. 3) describes the romantic comedy as â€Å"striv(ing) to excite sexual desire and mimic its pleasure mediated through the devices of cinematic storytelling and experienced as laughter†. ... The male image has undergone a great deal of change in contrast to the female image, his position in building the relationship very different than one might have seen in the 1950s or 1960s. The following paper will explore the nature of the romantic comedy while developing a profile of both the stereotyped female and male, with a close look at the changes seen in the masculine identity throughout the history of film. The theory on the differentiation of the male and female identity is explored, as well as the ideas of the nature of male integrity in contrast with the duplicitous nature of the female. The relatively stagnant nature of the female lead stereotype in a romantic comedy is put into contrast with the evolution of the male identity in the romantic comedy genre. While there are few absolutes in any film genre as the idea is to try to create something unique, repetition of stereotypes keeps familiarity for the audiences, while commenting on the relationships of the genders. In this relatively unique instance, the nature of the stereotypes for the male figure in a genre has gone through radical changes, leaving the male identity in these films as something very different than it was when the industry of film began. Background The Hierarchy of Knowledge One of the elements of the romantic comedy structure is that of the hierarchy of knowledge. A standard in romantic comedies is that either the male or the female has the privilege of the hierarchy of knowledge, knowing more about what is transpiring than the other. Typically it is the female in the film who has the advantage of knowledge. The male can be seen as the victim of circumstances that he has less control over. McDonald (2007, p. 22) uses the film Sunday in New York