Genre Development

Genre Development

The romance genre has developed massively over time. A romance film can be defined as a film where the main story line involves the protagonists being in a romantic relationship.

The techniques in romance films haven’t changed that much over the years as the basics have stayed the same. The story always involves the lovers meeting and falling in love, there being an obstacle that stops them being together which they either overcome or not. The first film I looked at Casablanca, (1942). This used flashbacks to tell the story of how the two lovers came to be in the present situation. Brief encounter (1945) was one big flashback which was narrated by the heroine. The Way We Were (1973) has a flashback at the start of how the lovers had originally met. More recently 500 Days of Summer ( ) used flashbacks but in an unusual way,the story line was very jumbled and showed you the couple at different stages of their relationship in a mixed order. It seems that flashbacks are a technique that has been used in romance films throughout the history of cinema and has always been effective. Another technique used are montages. There was a montage in every film I watched, that is a section that was just accompanied by music and showed various shots to indicate the passing of time or the development of the relationship. Narration was also used in two of the films I watched, Brief Encounter(1945) and 500 Days of Summer(2009). Showing that although narration is not an overly common technique in romance films it is as effective now as it was in the 1940’s. Another technique that was used quite commonly,is 'pathetic fallacy". This is where the weather matches or enhances the atmosphere or mood in a scene. This technique was used frequently in the films I looked at , lots of kissing in the rain and meeting at night. Overall, I don’t think the techniques in romance films have really changed over time, all the films I looked used all the above techniques and also used close ups to show emotions and reactions, it is important to show the characters' emotions in a romance film. They all also used two shots to show the characters relationships. However, something that has changed over time are the story lines, they have become more complex, have more twists and are more dramatic. This is probably to satisfy the modern audience that gets bored easily and needs to be constantly entertained. For example,the story line of Brief Encounter, (1945) is very simple; they meet but are both married, so although they fall in love they can’t be together. On the other hand in 500 Days of Summer( 2009) the story line jumps all over the place leaving the audience wondering if they end up together and what is happening.

The sound in romance films has changed more over time. In the early films I watched the music is written as a score especially for the film. There is a lot of non-dieagetic sound used to enhance the mood of scenes, music played to make it seem more romantic. In contrast in the later films such as Pretty woman(1990) use popular music of the time.

The ideologies and themes of romance films have changed a lot over time. For a start the belief in true love and being happy forever with one person has completely gone. In the pas, once you were married and in love that was it, but in modern times with divorce rates being so high a lot romance films deal with the idea that the couple might not last forever or that they might not be faithful. For example, in Casablanca and Brief Encounter the lovers are both involved with other people and the idea of being unfaithful to a spouse is seen as a terrible action and they don’t in fact end up together. However, in a modern romance film the lovers might well cheat on their partners and realise they were not really happy with them, that they love someone else and consequently leave. This is most probably because the social political views of the audience have changed. In the The Way We Were,(1973) the lovers have a long and fairly happy marriage, but eventually they spilt and divorce. This could happen because the audience of this time were more acceptable of divorce. As a result of this change in attitude towards love and relationships the characters in later romance films are more fearful and do not 'jump' into the relationship straight away. For example in Pretty Woman(1990) you think the couple are not going to end up together because they are both unsure of the relationship but in the end they throw caution to the wind and get together. In contrast, in Brief Encounter, after only meeting each other a few times the couple realise they are deeply in love and express this love.

Another subjectthat has changed over time is sex. In the earlier films I looked at the characters barely kissed and when they did it was very dramatic. In Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the 60’s there was suggestions that that the characters had slept together but nothing was shown. In the films from the 70’s there were some sex scenes with nudity but nothing to graphic and they were very romantic. In An Officer and a Gentleman in the 80’s and Pretty Woman in the 90’s however, there were much more graphic sex scenes, there was the quite a lot of nudity and the scenes where a lot more passionate and sexual. This changes again in 500 Days of Summer which did not show much sex at all and what they did show was done in an almost comical, tongue in cheek way. This change, again may show as people are a lot more comfortable with the subject of sex now, it is not always necessary in a film and can be comical.I think that sex scenes can add to the story as they show the passion between the couple, but I personally think that it is more romantic when not a lot is shown, but implied.

In conclusion, the basic staples of a romance film haven’t really changed over time, the techniques are similar and the codes and conventions are similar. What has changed over time are the issues and themes in the stories. This is because the modern audience need more dramatic, more complex stories to be entertained. They have different views, morals and thoughts about love, so the outcome of the relationships in romance films can be different and the journey to love is often a lot rockier.