Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedies will sometimes consist of a 'boy meets girl' scenario and the story will contain  a lot of high emotions such as the protagonist falling in love or getting their heart broken after losing someone they love. Some films use a voice-over to introduce the narrative. An example of a film which uses this technique is 'Love Actually'. Some of the props which are used are, wedding bells, flowers, roses which all symbolize love and relationships. The genre is commonly targeted at  female audience because this subject traditionally connects to them more then it does with men. Typically, at the end of every romantic 'fairy tale' there's a 'happy ever after' and there are also hints throughout the film that there will be a happy ending. The codes and conventions in the opening scene of a romantic comedy will be introducing the audience to the protagonist and their current situation, that meaning where they are with their love life e.g. breaking up/getting married and also if they are high class middle or low class. The codes and conventions which I am going to be using in my opening scene will be introducing the audience to the protagonist Kevin and showing us his current situation in his love life which, sadly, is breaking up with his girlfriend again and again over the years.

 Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov suggested that there are five stages to a conventional narrative:

1. A stage of equilibrium at the start. (Things are stable and balanced in the lives of the characters.)

2.A disruption of the equilibrium by some action or conflict. (Something happens which throws things out of balance.)

3. Theres a recognition that there has been a disruption. ( The characters realize something is wrong and they need to take action to fix it.)

4. There is an attempt to restore the disruption. (the characters take action to fix what has gone wrong.)

5. Equilibrium is reinstated. (The problem is fixed and the balance is returned to the characters lives.)

With the genre I am studying, rom-coms, Todorov's theory can be applied to most of the films in this genre. A rom-com that follows this theory would be '50 first dates'. it starts off with stage one of Todorov's theory.

1. Henry (Adam Sandler) meets Lucy Whitemoore (Drew Barrymore)  an art teacher in a cafe one morning and they really hit it off and agree to meet up in the cafe the next morning. (equilibrium at the start).

2. The next day they meet each other in the same cafe and Lucy doesn't recall ever meeting Henry and then the cafe owner pulls Henry aside and explains that she suffers from anterograde amnesia (memory loss) as a result of a car accident a year earlier. She believes every day to be October 13, 2002 and her father and brother try to re-enact the activities of October 13, her dads birthday in order to make sure she doesn't learn about her accident. (Disruption of the equilibrium by some action or event.)

3. Henry realizes that he is falling in love with Lucy and he begins to make new ways of meeting Lucy in the cafe every day hoping that one day she will regain her memories and come to terms with her feelings for Henry.  Henry and Lucy's family cant go on as if nothing has happened and decide to leave video tapes explaining what has happened and explaining about the accident and Henry. They go on lots of dates and Lucy begins to reciprocate her feelings and even accepts his marriage proposal. In order to restore the disruption Henry cancels his sailing trip around the Arctic to spend the rest of his life with her. Lucy wakes up and over hears Henry telling her father about this and not wanting to be the person to hold Henry back she ends the relationship and commits herself to a specialist unit in a hospital leaving Henry heartbroken and after saying goodbye to Lucy's father and brother he sets sail. (There's a recognition that there has been a disruption)

4. Shortly after leaving, Henry realizes that Lucy's father had hinted that Lucy does remember Henry and goes back to the hospital, but Lucy explains that she can't remember him, but she has painted pictures of him whilst in hospital so there is evidence that she does remember him and the couple reunite. (There is an attempt to restore the disruption.)

5. Several years later Lucy wakes up with a tape next to her reading good morning Lucy  she watches and cries as it shows her accident and everything that happened including scenes from Henry and Lucy's wedding. She looks out of the window to reveal that she is on a boat in the arctic with Henry and her young daughter sailing the ship along side with her dad and brother. (Equilibrium is reinstated.)

My opening scene will follow the same theory but skip the first point where there is a balance of equilibrium because it starts off showing the audience,Kevin, losing all his girlfriends, but the story will carry on to follow the theory from point two.