So what would a feminist Rom Com look like?

[Scarletohello]

So we've had Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pretty Woman, Bridget Jones Diary, even Bridesmaids but I am struggling to envisage what a feminist rom com would be like.

Any ideas..??

[Kimaroo]

Gregory's Girl was quite different for it's time and quite enjoyable. Girl plays football, not interested in boys, boy hangs around football pitch, boy tries to get interested in sport, tries to understand what makes girl tick, listens to his girl 'friend' for advice. Can't actually remember how it ends though!

In my head I'm just trying to analyse Susan from Coupling. Strong, good career, and didn't take any crap. Knew what she wanted from her relationship with Steve. But then why would she have gone out with shallow MCP Patrick? So maybe just a caricature really, not a good example after all. And came across as bullying sometimes.

[ezinma]

Ugh. I meant Girl meets boy, rather than The accidental, which would make a thoroughly depressing comedy!

[ezinma]

I think a feminist romcom would focus less on courtship — "getting" or "landing" the object of desire — and more on the building and rebuilding of a precarious but longed-for romantic relationship. There would certainly be no stalking or entrapment, and none of those 'zany' best friend characters who represent a version of femininity that is not thin, middle-class and white, and is therefore of peripheral, comic interest. I don't think it matters what gender the lovers are.

I haven't seen the film of Desert hearts, but the book (by Jane Rule) was powerful and romantic. Another feminist author who writes sweet, eccentric romances is Ali Smith — The accidental would make a charming romcom.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

Flipping through ny dvds reminded me of 'Don't tell mom the babysitters dead' which most people seem to have forgotten but is great.

[MrsFionaCharming]

In the original script of Bend it Like Beckham, Jess and Jules were suppose to end up as a couple. Since they have a lot more screen time that Jess and Joe do in the final film, it may have pushed it into the RomCom category?

[alsmutko]

Petula - obvs - I doubt the Barbie film is particularly feminist. Though I've not seen it so I could be wrong!

[PetulaGordino]

*bechdel

[PetulaGordino]

bechel test is no guarantee of a feminist film either

[alsmutko]

Ah they don't make em like they used to do they? The Philadelphia Story - I'm with CKDexter - one of my fave films with two of my fave actors (and dog actor). Not really feminist but as many of the films in those days - great roles for women. Interesting theory re the Hays Code.
And The Thin Man - what an adorable couple. Wouldn't be allowed these days - all that drinking and all.
Still, feminist rom-coms these days? Not really possible IMHO - perhaps coms without the roms - Nine to Five?
No-one's mentioned the Bechdel Test yet bechdeltest.com/
Although passing the Bechdel test is no guarantee of a good film. I note that 'Barbie: The Pearl Princess' passes. Whatever that is.

[GranitaMargarita]

I was just watching His Girl Friday at the weekend - I think I'm right in saying that the female role was originally a male role in the stage play (i.e. it was an editor trying to get his star journalist to stay, without the additional complication of the journalist being his ex-wife). Rosalind Russell felt she didn't have enough good lines, so she hired her own writer and then added her own lines into the script.

Having said that, I think it's one of the closest I've seen to a feminist rom-com:

Woman has job and colleagues
Woman gets disillusioned with job (as well she might)
Woman decides to marry nice but dull man and give up job
Woman realises that the job is worthwhile and that she enjoys it most of the time.
Woman does not marry nice but dull man.

[thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter]

What's up doc? comedy with Barbara Streisand?

Haven't seen it in years though.

[CKDexterHaven]

I have to say, if I've ever had a crazy moment and thought about getting married, I've always hoped it would turn out like Nick and Nora from The Thin Man films, rather than something that comes from the brain of Richard Curtis.

[SunshineandGin]

The problem with a feminist rom com being marketed to a wide audience would I imagine be that a large part of the audience simply wouldn't understand the nuances of why the relationship works and can be both romantic and comedic without either part of the couple conforming to the recognised stereotypes.

Romance does not always equal flowers and chocolate...

[eatscakefornoreasonwhatsoever]

How about music and lyrics? I like the relationship between Hugh Grant and
Because they challenge each other and work together to become more than the sum of their parts. I like that their partnership is based on a joint creative and professional venture, not just that they fancy each other. I also like the relationship between the sisters.

Feel free to challenge me though. I mostly watch Astaire and Rogers movies :)

[FishWithABicycle]

Would Sliding Doors count as feminist? I think the female characters are generally shown as rounded human beings with a lot more going on in their lives than their romances, anyway. The men are somewhat more 2-dimensional.

[CKDexterHaven]

Oh dear, I read Romancing the Stone as being about the kind of spinsterish, romance-loving, cat-keeping, chocolate-eating woman men have so much contempt for being rescued from frumpiness and delivered into hotness by the good-shag she has been needing for so long.

I still enjoyed it though. If we could only like feminist films we'd have nothing to watch because they hardly bloomin' exist.

[chockbic]

Gosh that's a difficult one without either being rescued or a rampant sex beast.

[FairPhyllis]

It is an underappreciated gem imo.

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

(Romancing the Stone)

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

I've never watched that, it sounds good.

[BikeRunSki]

I've just seen (most of) The Five Year Engagement. Might count.
Quirky successful young San Franscisco couple move to Minnesota for her career. He gives up his career to go too.
Her career flourishes. She abandons ideas of babies.
He gets really bored.
The break up.
She pursues career.

..., I didn't see the end as the dc got back .....

[FairPhyllis]

I think that some of the 80s rom coms were a lot better than recent films for showing romantic relationships (the rom com has been in significant decline as a genre imo as films have become dominated by effects and largely made for 14 year old boys).

For example, I'd actually nominate Romancing the Stone as a good example of how to do rom com (it was written by a woman who sadly died shortly after it came out).

The female protagonist (Joan, played by Kathleen Turner) is a romance novelist who spends her fairly sheltered life dreaming over an idealised adventure hero she has created. When she actually ends up in an adventure and meets an "adventurer" of the type she writes about, he's extremely unromantic and uncooperative and nothing goes to plan.

She is a damsel to start with, but in a believable way - she's obviously totally unequipped for the particular situation she gets into - and the film is really about how she changes and becomes a more robust and courageous person. There are also key points where her particular background as a novelist saves the day and earns respect from the Michael Douglas character. It's all from her pov and the thing driving the plot is not the goal of a relationship but the quest to get the jewel and rescue her sister. The tone of it is a lot more like screwball comedy too.

The film is interesting because it takes apart Joan's idea of romance and shows it for what it is - totally unrealistic, dangerous and even manipulative - a key strand is that you're not sure right up to the end whether the romance with the Michael Douglas character is happening because he's falling for her or whether he's just another person double-crossing her to get his hands on the jewel.

[TheWanderingUterus]

What about First Wives Club (Brenda and Morty) or Practical Magic?

[CKDexterHaven]

In reply to HoVis, I saw an interview with Shirley Maclaine recently where she said something I have always thought. In her opinion the Hays Code meant that film-makers couldn't just introduce women as sex objects or the love interest and because of that female characters in that era had to have interesting things to do and say. When the Hays Code was abolished women went back to being the girlfriend with about five lines and no clothes on.

I've seen a lot of men in the industry say that the greatest era for film was the 1960s and 70s. I would say, for women, it was probably the 30s, 40s and 50s. A lot of the actresses back then were far bigger stars than their male contemporaries and got paid accordingly too.

[weatherall]

Oops should have read the thread!

The romance between Winona Ryder and jared Leto in girl, interrupted was quite feminist. It wasn't the focus of the film or her life. She broke up with him to help herself.