MEDIA AESTHETICS

ASSIGNMENT

FILM GENRE
ROMANCE

MOZHIARASI.A
200672719
ROMANCE
While most films have some aspect of romance between
characters (at least as a subplot) a romance film can be loosely
defined as any film in which the central plot (the premise of the
story) revolves around the romantic involvement of the
story's protagonists. Common themes include the characters
making decisions based on a newly-found romantic attraction. The
questions, "What am I living for?" or "Why am I with my current
partner?" often arise.
The appeal of these films is in the dramatic reality of
the emotions expressed by the characters. The following is a list
of recent romantic films. The most successful romantic film is
the 1997 blockbuster, Titanic which grossed over $600 million in
America and $1.8 billion, worldwide.
Another prerequisite is that the film has a happy ending (or at
least bittersweet) and many would argue that no film with a sad
ending may be correctly defined as "romance;" however, this
second prerequisite is admittedly disputable and
many screenwriters and directors will push the boundaries of the
genre in this aspect.
EXAMPLES:

ROMANTIC DRAMA
CITY OF ANGELS:
City of Angels is a 1998 American romantic drama
film directed by Brad Silberling. The film stars Nicolas Cage and
Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is
a remake of Wim Wenders' 1987 German film Wings of Desire
(Der Himmel über Berlin), which was set in Berlin, West Germany.
PLOT:
In Los Angeles, Seth (Nicolas Cage) is one of
many Angels who watch over humans and protect them in unseen
ways. Seth's main responsibility is to appear to those who are
close to death and guide them to the next life. As part of this
task, Seth and one of his fellow angels, Cassiel (Andre Braugher),
like to ask people what their favorite thing in life was. But
despite their daily encounters, they appear to have trouble
understanding human beings and their ways.
While waiting to escort to the other world a man who will not
survive heart surgery, Seth is impressed by the vigorous efforts
of the surgeon, Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) to save the ill-fated
man's life and her sincere anguish at her failure to do so. (The
man is in fact standing with Seth watching Maggie try to save
him.) Seth soon becomes preoccupied with Maggie and decides to
become visible to her despite his obvious inability to give her
many convincing details about himself, such as what he does for a
living or even his last name. Despite this, they develop a
friendship which soon turns to mutual attraction, although Maggie
is already involved with one of her colleagues (Colm Feore) at the
hospital. Seth then meets Nathaniel Messinger (Dennis Franz),
one of Maggie's patients, who can sense Seth's presence and that
of other angels. Nathaniel soon relates to Seth that he, too, had
once been an angel but, by way of the free will granted to angels,
decided to become human through the process he refers to as
"falling". Seth begins to consider exercising this option so that he
can be with Maggie in a fully physical and emotional relationship.
When Maggie receives a marriage proposal from the fellow
surgeon she is seeing, she finds herself having to choose between
him and Seth.
Having realized that Seth is impervious to injury, Maggie finally
confronts him and demands to know who or what he really is, but
she is unable to accept the revelation and sends him away. Maggie
later talks about Seth with Nathaniel who gradually reveals his
own angelic origin. He explains to her why he himself chose to
become human and points out that Seth is thinking of doing the
same. Seth decides to become human through the symbolic
gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. Immediately
upon awakening from the jump, he starts to experience all of the
human feelings and sensations that he had never been able to
understand, beginning with physical injury and pain. Up until this
point, Seth's personality and emotions, like those of all the other
angels, have been very subdued, but that starts to change. Now
human, Seth has to find his way to the hospital to see Maggie,
but he's told that she has gone to her uncle's mountain cabin for
a break. Penniless and naive, he can't pay for the journey and
ends up getting mugged and having his boots taken from his feet
by a gang of roving predators. He eventually hitches a ride to
Lake Tahoe and appears, soaked and cold, at Maggie's doorstep.
Seeing the split lip and condensed breath coming from his mouth
in the cold air, Maggie realizes that he has given up his exalted
status for her love. She sees to his wounds and then they enjoy
warm, passionate lovemaking at last, in an explicit scene where
she asks Seth to describe what it feels like inside her.
The next morning, as Seth is in the shower, enjoying his first
sensation of running hot water on his body, Maggie rides her bike
to a local store to buy some pears for him. On her way back,
happy and fulfilled, she rides her bike with her eyes closed and
her arms wide open to the autumn sunlight and her bright future
with Seth. Her happiness is cut short by a truck that catches her
by surprise when it pulls out in front of her. Seth apparently
senses that Maggie is in trouble and runs to her aid. He arrives in
time for Maggie to tell him that she sees the angels who have
come to escort her away. Although Seth is no longer able to see
the angels, he knows they are there and begs Maggie not to look
at them. Maggie tells him that she's not afraid anymore and that
when they will ask her what her favorite thing in life used to be,
she will say it was Seth and swimming. Now grieving and alone,
Seth is visited by his former colleague and friend, the angel
Cassiel. Cassiel offers comfort and asks him whether he regrets
his decision to become human. Seth's answer is a resounding “no”:
Seth mourns for Maggie and begins a difficult adjustment to his
new life.
The final scene recalls an earlier one with Nathaniel. It shows
Seth at the beach where the angels meet every day at dawn and
at sunset to listen to the celestial music and commune with
eternity. With Cassiel and the rest of the angels watching, Seth
expresses his joy in being human and the fact that he has come
to terms with his new life by running into the water and playing in
the waves. In a rare moment of emotion, Cassiel is seen laughing
joyfully for his old friend.

LOVE STORY:
Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written
by Erich Segal and directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well known
as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time
by the American Film Institute (#9 on the list), and was followed
by a sequel, Oliver's Story during 1978. Love Story starred Ryan
O'Neal, Ali MacGraw, and Ray Millandand is also the film debut
of Tommy Lee Jones with a minor role.
The novel also includes the double meaning of a love story
between Oliver and his father.

PLOT:
The film tells of Oliver Barrett IV, who comes from a family
of wealthy and well-respected Harvard Universitygraduates. At
Radcliffe library, the Harvard student meets and falls in love
with Jennifer Cavelleri, a working-class, quick-witted Radcliffe
College student. Upon graduation from college, the two decide to
marry against the wishes of Oliver's father, who thereupon
severs ties with his son.
Without his father's financial support, the couple struggles to
pay Oliver's way through Harvard Law School with Jenny working
as a private school teacher. They rent the top floor of a house
near the Law School at 119 Oxford Street, in the Agassiz
neighborhood of Cambridge, adjacent to a local laundromat.
Graduating third in his class at Harvard Law, Oliver takes a
position at a respectable New York law firm.
With Oliver's new income, the pair of 24-year-olds decide to
have a child. After failing, they consult a medical specialist, who
after repeated tests, informs Oliver that Jenny is ill and will soon
die. While this is not stated explicitly, she appears to
have leukemia.
As instructed by his doctor, Oliver attempts to live a "normal
life" without telling Jenny of her condition. Jenny nevertheless
discovers her ailment after confronting her doctor about her
recent illness. With their days together numbered, Jenny begins
costly cancer therapy, and Oliver soon becomes unable to afford
the multiplying hospital expenses. Desperate, he seeks financial
relief from his father. When the senior Barrett asks if he needs
the money because he got some girl "in trouble," Oliver says yes
instead of telling his father the truth about Jenny's condition.
From her hospital bed, Jenny speaks with her father about
funeral arrangements, and then asks for Oliver. She tells him to
avoid blaming himself, and asks him to embrace her tightly before
she dies. They lie together on the hospital bed.
The novel also includes the double meaning of a love story
between Oliver and his father, highlighted by the scene between
Oliver and his father at the end of the book. When Mr. Barrett
realizes that Jenny is ill and that his son borrowed the money for
her, he immediately sets out for New York. By the time he
reaches the hospital, Jenny is dead. Mr. Barrett apologizes to his
son, who replies with something Jenny once told him: "Love means
never having to say you're sorry."

ROMANTIC COMEDY FILM

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU:
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American romantic
comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath
Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David
Krumholtz and Larry Miller. A loose adaptation
ofShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set in a
modern Seattle, Washington, American high school, the
screenplay was written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten
Smith.
The film's title is a reference to a poem written by the film's
female lead to describe her bittersweet romance with the male
lead. The film was released March 31, 1999, and it was a breakout
success for stars Stiles and Ledger. The film marks the directing
debut of Junger.

PLOT:
New student at Padua Stadium High School, Cameron James
is given a tour of the school by Michael Eckman, an A.V. geek.
During the tour; Cameron notices the beautiful and popular,
Bianca Stratford and he is immediately smitten with her. Michael
warns Cameron that Bianca is shallow, conceited and she is not
allowed to date. However - Michael does inform Cameron that
Bianca is looking for a French tutor.
At the Stratford residence; Bianca’s outcast older sister, Kat is
in conflict with their overprotective father, who wants Kat to
attend college nearby despite her acceptance to Sarah Lawrence
College. Bianca is also fighting with their father regarding his
strict no-dating rule. However - Kat's aversion to dating prompts
their father to come up with a new rule: Bianca can only date if
Kat is also dating.
Cameron starts tutoring Bianca and she informs him of her
father’s rule after Cameron makes many failed attempts to ask
her out on a date. This motivates Cameron and Michael to set out
to find a boy that is willing to date Kat.
Cameron suggests Patrick Verona, another outcast who is just as
ill-tempered as Kat. Cameron tries asking Patrick for his
assistance, but Patrick scares him off. Michael poses the idea to
Joey, who is attempting to date Bianca to pay Patrick to take Kat
out. Patrick agrees, however - Kat wants nothing to do with
Patrick. Eventually, he wins her over with a performance of Can't
Take My Eyes of You. They become a couple, while Kat remains
unaware of the money that Patrick received to originally date her.
Meanwhile, Cameron continues to pursue Bianca; who remains
interested in Joey, she is unaware of his intentions to use her for
sex.
Bianca tries to convince her father to let her attend the prom
with Joey, but he refuses because Kat is not going to the prom.
When Bianca confronts Kat, it is revealed that Kat previously
dated Joey and they slept together once. She tells Bianca that
her feelings of isolation from her fellow students ultimately
stemmed from the incident with Joey.
Bianca and Kat end up going to the prom with Cameron and
Patrick, respectively. Joey is furious to learn that Bianca has
gone to the prom with Cameron, and confronts Patrick about the
"arrangement" in front of Kat. Kat is very angry at Patrick when
she discovers the truth and she leaves the prom. Joey
subsequently confronts Cameron about manipulating the "deal"
for himself and starts violently attacking him, but Bianca punches
Joey numerous times for using her, hurting Kat's feelings, and
punching Cameron. Bianca and Cameron share a kiss and leave
Joey lying on the floor in pain.
The next morning, Kat and Bianca's relationship appears to have
improved drastically as Bianca attempts to comfort her older
sister. Their father allows Kat to go to Sarah Lawrence, Kat is
extremely grateful and hugs him with happiness. Later - at
school; Kat reads a poem which she wrote for English class, titled
"10 Things I Hate About You", revealing her true feelings for
Patrick. He is shown to be touched by her revelation. After
school, Kat finds a guitar in her car that Patrick bought her with
the money that Joey paid him, and he admits that he messed up
his and Joey's deal by falling for her. Kat forgives Patrick and
the two reconcile with a kiss.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:
While You Were Sleeping is a 1995 romantic comedy
film directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Daniel G.
Sullivan and Frederic Lebow. It stars Sandra Bullock as a Chicago
railroad clerk and Bill Pullman as the brother of a man whose life
she saves, along with Peter Gallagher as the brother who is saved,
and Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns, Micole Mercurio, and Jack
Warden as members of the brothers' family.

PLOT:
Lucy Moderatz (Bullock) is a lonely fare collector on
the Chicago elevated railway who has a secret crush on a
handsome commuter named Peter Callaghan (Gallagher).
On Christmas day, Lucy rescues Peter from an oncoming train
after two muggers push him onto the tracks. Peter falls into a
coma, and Lucy accompanies him to the hospital, where a nurse
overhears her fantasizing aloud, "I was going to marry him."
Misinterpreting her, the nurse tells Peter's family that Lucy is
his fiancée, which makes Peter's family happy. At first, Lucy is
too caught up in the panic to explain the truth, and afterward she
is too embarrassed and afraid to hurt their feelings.
With no family and few friends, Lucy becomes so captivated with
the quirky Callaghans and their unconditional love for her that
she cannot bring herself to hurt them by revealing that Peter
doesn't even know her. Not knowing how to tell them the truth,
Lucy confides in to the unconscious Peter in the hospital.
Peter's godfather Saul (Warden), overhears. Lucy spends a
delayed Christmas with the family, where Saul tells Lucy not to
tell them her secret. The next morning she meets Peter's
younger brother Jack (Pullman), who has taken over his father's
furniture-moving business. Jack is suspicious of Lucy at first, but
then falls in love with her as they spend time together.
After New Years, Peter wakes up. He has no memory of Lucy, but
by this time the rest of his family has become so convinced of
the engagement story that they assume Peter must have amnesia.
Peter and Lucy spend time together, but she has already fallen in
love with Jack. Saul persuades Peter to propose to Lucy "again",
and Lucy agrees despite her feelings for Jack. When Jack visits
Lucy the day before the wedding, she calls him and he turns
around excitedly. She then gives him a chance to change her
mind, asking him "Can you give me any reason why I shouldn't
marry your brother?", but he sadly says no.
On the day of the wedding, just as the priest begins the
ceremony, Lucy finally painfully confesses everything, and tells
the family she is in love with Jack, not Peter. Peter's real
fiancée, who happens to be married, also arrives to stop the
wedding. As the family argues, Lucy leaves, unsure of her future.
Some time later, as Lucy collects tokens from passengers at the
train station, Jack places an engagement ring in the token tray of
her booth. With the entire Callaghan family watching, he walks
into the booth and proposes to her. In the last scenes of the film,
Jack and Lucy kiss at the end of their wedding, then leave on a
train for their honeymoon. Lucy narrates that Jack fulfilled her
dream of going to Italy, and explains that, when Peter asked when
she fell in love with Jack, she replied, "It was while you were
sleeping."
 EPIC ROMANCE
TITANIC:
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film
directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron.
A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it
stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as
Rose DeWitt Bukater, members of different social classes who
fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.
Although the central roles and love story are fictitious, some
characters are based on genuine historical figures. Gloria
Stuart portrays the elderly Rose, who narrates the film in a
modern-day framing device, and Billy Zane plays Cal Hockley, the
overbearing fiancé of the younger Rose. Cameron saw the love
story as a way to engage the audience with the real-life tragedy.
Production on the film began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage
of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on
board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron had used as
a base when filming the actual wreck. A reconstruction of
the Titanic was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California,
and scale models and computer-generated imagery were also used
to recreate the sinking. The film was partially funded
by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox – respectively, its
American and international distributor – and at the time, it was
the most expensive film ever made, with an estimated budget of
US$200 million.
The film was originally scheduled to open on July 2, 1997,
however, post-production delays pushed back its release to
December 19 instead. Titanic was an enormous critical and
commercial success. It was nominated for fourteen Academy
Awards. Eventually winning eleven, including best Picture and Best
Director. It became the highest-grossing film of all time, with a
worldwide gross of over $1.8 billion, and remained so for twelve
years until Cameron's next directorial effort, Avatar surpassed it
in 2010. Titanic also has been ranked as the sixth best epic film
of all time in AFI's 10 Top 10 by the American Film
Institute. The film is due for theatrical re-release in 2012 after
Cameron completes its conversion into 3-D

PLOT:
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore
the wreck of the RMS Titanic, searching for a necklace called
the Heart of the Ocean. They believe the necklace is in Caledon
"Cal" Hockley's safe, which they recover. Instead of the diamond,
they find a sketch of a nude woman wearing it, dated April 14,
1912, the night the Titanic hit the iceberg. Rose Dawson Calvert
learns of the drawing, contacts Lovett, and tells him that she is
the woman depicted. She and her granddaughter Elizabeth
"Lizzy" Calvert visit Lovett and his team on his salvage ship. When
asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls
her memories aboard the Titanic, revealing that she is Rose
DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking.
In 1912, the upper class Rose boards the ship in Southampton,
England with her fiancé Caledon "Cal" Hockley, the son of
a Pittsburgh steel tycoon, and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater.
Cal and Ruth stress the importance of Rose's engagement,
because the marriage will solve the DeWitt Bukaters' financial
problems. Distraught by her engagement to Cal and the pressure
her mother is putting on her, Rose considers suicide by jumping
off the stern of the ship. Before she leaps, a drifter and artist
named Jack Dawson intervenes and persuades her not to jump.
Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship.
Cal and Ruth forbid that Rose see Jack. She defies them, meets
Jack at the bow of the ship, and decides that she prefers him to
Cal. They go to Rose's stateroom and she asks Jack to sketch her
wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean, an engagement
present from Cal. Afterwards, the two flee Cal's bodyguard into
the ship's cargo hold, where they make love, and then to the
ship's forward well deck. There they witness the ship's collision
with an iceberg and overhear the ship's officers and designer
discussing its seriousness; Rose tells Jack they should warn her
mother and Cal.
Cal discovers Jack's drawing and finds a note in his safe instead
of the necklace, so he frames Jack for stealing the Heart of the
Ocean. Jack is arrested, taken down to the Master-at-arms's
office and handcuffed to a pipe. Rose runs away from Cal and her
mother (who has boarded a lifeboat) to break Jack free with an
axe.
Jack and Rose struggle back to the deck where Cal and Jack
persuade her to board a lifeboat, Cal claiming that he has made
an arrangement that will allow both men to get off safely. After
she boards, Cal doublecrosses Jack. Realizing that she cannot
leave Jack, Rose reunites with him back on the Titanic.
Infuriated, Cal takes a pistol and chases them into the flooding
first-class dining saloon. When he runs out of ammunition he
returns to the boat deck and boards a lifeboat by pretending to
look after an abandoned child. As Jack and Rose return to the top
deck, people everywhere are falling to their deaths and the
lifeboats have all departed. The two take refuge on the stern as
the ship sinks bow first until they are washed overboard. Jack
helps Rose onto a nearby wall panel that will only support one
person’s weight. As he hangs onto the panel, he assures her that
she will not die there; she will instead die an old woman, warm in
her bed. Jack eventually dies from hypothermia.
When a rescue boat returns to the site of the sinking, Rose blows
a whistle taken from a nearby dead officer, and is taken by
the RMS Carpathia to New York, where she gives her name as
Rose Dawson. Hidden, she avoids Cal for the last time
on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her.
Her story complete, Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett's
ship. There she produces the Heart of the Ocean and drops it
into the ocean. Later, while seemingly asleep in her bed, the
photos of her days surround her, a visual chronicle that she lived
the life she wanted with Jack. The young Rose then reunites with
Jack at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, cheered and
congratulated by those who perished on the ship.