Passionate Love and Popular Cinema: Romance and Film Genre

182 Pages·2014·1.098 MB·English

by  Erica Todd (auth.)

Passionate Love and
Popular Cinema
Romance and Film Genre
Erica Todd
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© Erica Todd 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-45183-8 ISBN 978-1-137-29538-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137295385
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For Ro, Mark and Matt
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Contents
Acknowledgements i x
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction: Depicting Love in Cinema 1
Cultural assumptions about love 3
Popular concepts of love 5
Differentiating passionate love and companionate love 6
Genre and romance 8
Presenting passion in cinema 1 2
1 Passionate Love in Hollywood and
the Romantic Drama Genre 1 4
Considering the Hollywood romantic drama 1 5
Adventurer hero, sheltered heroine and their suffering 1 9
Exotic settings 21
Physically fleeting relationships 2 4
Symbolically eternal love 29
Intricacies of the romantic drama 32
2 Passionate Love in Early Hollywood Romantic Dramas 34
Bringing the passionate archetype to screen 3 6
Early social and political influences 38
Shaping gendered conventions through
actors and characters 44
Methods of portraying passionate love as exotic 50
The duality of memory and nostalgia 52
3 Passionate Love in Hollywood Romantic
Dramas 1950s–1970s 5 6
Passionate love on a grand scale 57
Passion, sex and female agency 61
Irrationality, youth and evolving character types 66
Emphasis on romantic music themes 70
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4 Passionate Love in Contemporary Hollywood
Romantic Dramas 7 3
Glamorisation of the past and contemporary progress 75
The heroine’s image and mother–daughter relationships 80
The male romantic hero and star personae 83
Amplified significance of musical themes 88
The ‘happy ending’ mentality 91
Conclusion: The Changing Landscape
of Passionate Love in Cinema 9 6
The changing landscape of passionate love in Hollywood 97
Beyond Hollywood: the passionate love story abroad 1 01
Notes 108
Bibliography 144
Filmography 1 60
Index 1 67
Acknowledgements
This project has been several years in the making from doctoral
project to monograph. I am appreciative to all of my friends, family
and colleagues who have provided invaluable support through the
course of the research.
I would like to thank Hilary Radner for her guidance and advice. I
have enjoyed our lengthy discussions about my research and about
the topic of film in general. I am also immensely appreciative of
Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott, Walter Metz, Raphaëlle Moine, Cecilia
Novero and Ellen Pullar for their feedback.
I am grateful to the Division of Humanities and the Department
of Media, Film and Communication at the University of Otago
who provided financial support that allowed me to undertake and
present my research. The administrative staff at the Department of
Media, Film and Communication at the University of Otago and the
Margaret Herrick Library also provided valuable advice.
I want to thank all of my former colleagues at the University of
Otago for their collegial support and lively academic discussion,
in particular Clément Da Gama, Teri Higgins, Gabrielle Hine, Sally
Milner, Jo Murphy, Ellen Pullar and Bronwyn Polaschek. I also want
to acknowledge my friends and family who offered their support and
enthusiasm, particularly Ro, Mark and Matt.
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