The definition of the genre romantic comedy is a film or play that deals with

love in a light, humorous way. The romantic side of a romantic side deals with
the typical boy meets girl situation. As the movie progresses, barriers come
between the boy and girl, however, at the end of the film there is always a
happy ending between the boy and girl. The comedy aspect of the romantic
comedy lightens the mood in the film and allows the audience to relax and
laugh as the love between two characters progresses.

The idea of a romantic comedy first came around in the 1500/1600s from
William Shakespeare. The concept of a happy ending came from
Shakespearean romantic comedies, usually involving marriages between the
unmarried characters. These also involved a tone and style that is more light
hearted than Shakespeare's other plays which mainly focuses on the romantic
genre.

The prime era of romantic comedies was the screwballs. The screwball comedy
is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the
Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early
1940s. Many secondary characteristics of this genre are similar to the film noir,
but is distinguishes by the characterisation of a female that dominates the
relationship with the male central character. The two engage in a humorous
battle of the sexes, which was a new theme for Hollywood and audiences at
the time. In this period of history, there was a strong male dominance present
in society, so seeing a female and a male reverse roles defies the original
conventions of the genre.

The 1950s romantic comedies went in two completely separate directions.

This was the era of Rock Hudson and Doris Day; the most popular screen
couple, with films like Pillow Talk (1959) or Lover Come Back (1961). Films such
as these reflected the eras image of stability and marriage.

The 1960s was a very important time as romantic comedies took a more
explicit, sexual approach to how characters displayed affection to each other.
The womens sexual roles were increasingly more common, in the past explicit
sexuality in romantic comedies has always been seen as somewhat negative
because of the effects of censorship and the issues linked with feminist
movement and the film industries. The new reality of romantic relationships
were portrayed by the genre through an increase of divorce and break-up
comedies devoted to the exploration of single life.

In the late 60s and early 70s womens roles diminished rapidly. Whilst
womens roles in society improved and became more dominant, the genres
role in the film industry disappeared from the romantic comedies. Making
women more dominant wasnt able to create the same humour it did in the
past, so the comedy aspect of the genre was slowly diminishing.

Romantic comedies finally returned in the mid to late 80s. At this time the
genre raised issues with feminism and often portrayed a new mentality of The
new women with the same old choices but tried to regenerate old
stereotypes and at the same time unleash the new heroine. Before the
diminishing of the genre in the late 60s, romantic Comedies were used to
seeing smooth and confident characters, then came the era of characters
becoming a mess as they were constantly anxious. However, characters
retained this sexual mentality implemented in the 1960s.

The 90 s was an era of exploring different aspects that were forbidden from
displaying in movies, with issues like gender and sexuality. This was due to the
change in societys mentality surrounding these different topics. For example,
gay relationships were presented on the big screen, like in the film Jeffrey in
1995.

The genre today is more realistic, the characters in modern day romantic
comedies have characteristics and lifestyles that a modern audiences can easily
relate to and compare their lives with. They include themes such as the
importance of sex and a closer emphasis on parody. Also, today the genre is

reintroducing the male dominance as the recent success of male-centred

comedies like Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Role
Models (2008) or I Love You, Man (2009) have chosen to have a new approach
and renewal into the genre. This new kind of romantic comedy, addressed to
male audience, includes elements from screwball which is today the most
successful and innovative trend within the romantic comedy genre.

The image below includes the biggest movies made in this specific genre and
when they were released. If you look at these movies, you can easily establish
the variation between the names of each film and how it links to the
conventions of romantic comedies during the time period they were released
in.