GENRE RESEARCH

By Uzair Babar

ROMANTIC COMEDYComedic entertainment consists of scenes full of humour and ironic sketches,

intended to make the audience laugh. However, romantic comedies include

light hearted, comical films which are usually based around the romanticism.

Usually romantic comedies are split in two sub-groups; the comedian-led film

which has one-liners and various sketches or the hilarious comedy films with a

well-structured narrative.

The ‘Romantic Comedy’ genre is very similar to Comedy but also popular

within the film industry. Targeted usually at couples and most women around

the ages from 25-35 but also teenagers from 13-18. A romantic comedy is a

sub-genre for comedy and has been tweaked where a romantic plot occurs but

is conveyed in a certain comedic way. For these kind of films, they are

frequently divided into three stages such as:

The masculine male and female meet in a loving way, but something breaks

them up. As the film goes on and shows their troubles/worries they soon realise

they were meant for each other and get back together towards the end

somehow or another.

CODES & CONVENTIONS OF ROMANIC COMEDIES

Mostly the romantic comedies finish with a positive, happy ending where as these days the

industries have started ending films realistically as it can create tension for the audience or

ends the way they saw it. But many think they can be exaggerated at times which makes the

comedy, instead the realism is used by some directors and producers, to show the audience

something they may have not imagined.

A romantic comedy without a doubt includes love and fate at times which help the plot in the

story and the characters. Some other themes that also can be linked are tragedy or loss, the

main character in these kind of films are seen to be opposite with the social status, families,

personality etc. both characters must be able to fight the problem somehow together but are

both likeable characters by the audience who some relate to during the film depending on their

behaviour or can sympathise with which links to their personal life.

Certain parts in the film are shown to use lighting and sound/music with a slow, steady lyricist

which can then reflect on the mood and atmosphere at the time. Dark lighting is never usually

used in romantic comedies because they are quite dull, boring and can be seen to make the

mood change. Hence the reason why some films have pop songs or hip hop to bond with the

audience as they would already heard or like the song which changes their mood again.

However, this must be linked with the scene and mood or the narrative of the film would

contrast one another.