Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

Leading Lad(Y) In Love: Gender And Agency In Two Self-Reflective Romantic Comedies, Cristina Montemorano

Student Research Submissions

What can romantic comedies with satirical elements tell us about the romantic comedy genre and romance in general? This senior seminar paper explores two self-reflective films – Isn’t it Romantic (2019) starring Rebel Wilson and Playing it Cool (2014) starring Chris Evans – that simultaneously break and follow this genre’s norms, actively parodying genre conventions and themes. Montemorano’s examination of gender and agency uses a combination of content and comparative analyses in order to study if the gender of main characters impacts how a movie follows or breaks genre conventions, how satire reveals and perpetuates gender and filmic norms, and …