Genres and Genre Film

A genre is a type or category of film that can be easily identified by specific elements of its plot, mise en scene, setting, style, and character types. (GoodyKoontz, & Jacobs, 2014). Romantic comedies are my favorite genre of movie. Romantic comedies seem to be the least flexible of all the genres of movies. The plot in a romantic comedy involves a romance that leads to comic situations. Romantic comedies are usually more geared towards the female audience. The romantic comedy genre has spawned subgenres such as sex comedy, or screwball comedy. Typically with a romantic comedy the audience expects a happy ending, no matter how it is achieved. (GoodyKoontz & Jacobs, 2014).

The movie I chose to write about is “Knocked Up”. This movie is a romantic comedy that was made in 2007. This movie is considered a romantic comedy because of the jokes being told and also played on each other, and family and love also plays a huge part in this movie. This movie is about Ben (Seth Rogan) and Alison (Katherine Heigl). Ben is a laid back, pot smoking, kind of guy who is living off the money he gets from an injury, and Alison is a career minded women who has just received a promotion with E! Television. Alison goes to a nightclub with her older sister to celebrate her promotion and this is where she meets Ben.

After a long night of drinking and dancing they leave with each other and end up at Alison’s pool house. They have unprotected sex, and the next morning when they wake up they realize they have nothing in common and go their separate ways. A few weeks later Alison discovers she is pregnant, and Alison’s mother tries to persuade her to have an abortion, but Alison refuses. Ben and Alison try to work things out and be together, but they run into a few issues Ben wants to continue to act like a child and have no responsibilities. After being separate for a while they reunite and they make a plan to be great parents to their unborn child. When Alison goes into labor she and Ben finally are on the same page. After the baby is born they decide to raise the baby together and are a happy family.

One of the convections of romantic comedies movies is the contrived encounter between two potential romantic partners in an unusual or comedic circumstance. When it comes to romantic comedies the attraction between the two main characters must be established right away. The subject matter of romantic comedies has obstacles that the two potential love interest must face before they can fulfill, acknowledge or consummate their love. And most importantly the audience must care enough about the two main characters relationship enough to finish the movie. (Film Blog, 2014).

In conclusion, romantic comedies are predominately aimed to humor life’s challenges and to entertain audiences, conventions and codes are somewhat strictly used in romantic comedies. This genre of film has been around for many, many decades and it will forever be one of the most popular genres with today’s society.

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/knocked_up/
http://www.filmbug.com/dictionary/romantic-comedies.php