Characteristics of a Screwball Comedy free essay sample

In the movie, they constantly refer to â€Å"the walls of Jericho†, which is what kept them away from each other. In the literal sense, the blanket dividing their beds in the hotel was the walls of Jericho. We can also look at their different locations on the social hierarchy as the walls of Jericho. Another important characteristic of a screwball comedy that the movie exhibits is slapstick comedy, physical and visual action, including harmless or painless cruelty and violence. The perfect example of it is the hitchhiking scene. Both Ellie and Peter use physical comedy to try to get rides. Next is an idea of courtship or marriage, and in this movie, we get both. Ellie starts off first by trying to marry King, however, she ends up courting and marrying Pete Warne. The last central theme was keeping an important secret. In this movie, it was Ellie trying to hide her identity in the beginning of the movie from Pete, Shapely and the guards at the hotel. We will write a custom essay sample on Characteristics of a Screwball Comedy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"It Happened One Night† follows all â€Å"rules† of a classic Hollywood narrative. Firstly, it’s character driven, meaning the plot progresses because of the actions of the characters, instead of the characters reacting to events beyond their control. Secondly, it has a clearly defined conflict- between Pete Warne and Ellie Andrews-that thirdly, unifies everything in the movie. The clarity of each of these concepts is important in understanding the movie as a whole. The last concept this movie exhibits is invisible style. The way the movie is staged and edited makes it look like real life, forcing you to pay attention to the entire story. As far as the gender roles/relations inference from the movie and the time period, we can see that, generally, the men were the providers and the women took care of â€Å"the home†. Although Ellie Andrews seems like a bit more of a femme-fatale in relation to Peter, if we take a look at the relationship between her and he father, we see how the women were treated more like a piece of property. Also, when Peter and Ellie are in the hotel, pretending to be a married couple, we see how he tries to fit the role of the protector as the man. When the investigators try asking his â€Å"wife† questions, he makes sure to step-up and let them know who the boss is. At the same time, we can seem him exerting dominance over Ellie, talking down to her like some sort of authority figure instead of equal partners.