Romance Research
Typically, romance films are aimed at females of all ages. However many men also enjoy these films even though they aren't the usual target audience.
A romance film usually revolves around similar stories with typical qualities:
- girl and boy like each other
- fall in love
- a disequilibrium causes problems between the two
- problems resolved and they live happily ever after
As romance films usually have a typical storyline, Barthes theory can be applied. Enigma codes, questions we ask about the plot, are clear through any romance film as we expect them to be 'typical'. So questions such as 'will they fall in love?'.Settings for romance films can vary from film to film. Typical locations tend to be the beach, beautiful countryside or a bustling city such as New York. Even though these sort of locations crop up in most romance films, we as the audience wouldnt usually ecpect anything different from a romance film. Many romance films have a disequilibrium where a character will move away to a new location.
Characters within the film tend to be an attractive male and female. Or a 'rag to riches' female, who turns out to be beautiful and ends up having the main male fall in love with her. This is the case in 'A cinderella story', where the most popular boy in school falls in love with 'Sam', a waiter at a local diner who isnt liked very much. Also within romance films there is also the 'other girl' who will try and sway the male away from the main female. Friends of the characters are also shown as the people who the main characters share their problems with. This can be applied to P.S I Love You. When the main female protagonist turns to her friends after her husband dies suddenly.
Many characters who fall in love within romance films are sometimes opposites. Applying the theme of opposistes attracts to the romance genre. This is when both main characters fall in love despite having major personality differences. Overcoming obstacles may also be a theme which is added to romance films. This happens in films such as 'The Notebook', where even after the main female marries, she still ends up with the main male after many problems occur.
