The Holiday
Bridget Jones
Legally Blonde (although not changing any men?)

Questionnaire about why people watch rom coms.
Show clips of these films and ask what they think about what i am showing them etc

primary reseacr= is the pleasure for women audience members in rom coms all about transforming masculinity from something hard to something soft and gentle? find some clips that illustrate that and get women to talk about them, specific questions? who? context?
are the representations of women themselves in rom coms negative in any way, e.g women dependant on men, illogical etc etc, what do tou think of this woman? do you admire?
transformation of masculinity- Radway's ideas, men in their lives are uncaring, and women do not receive the love they need, women do not receive satisfactory caring. interviews on readers= women older than my t.a and married, may find different for my age group.

The Holiday part 1

new plan

representations of gender in rom coms, looking specifically at Bridget Jones, The Holiday and maybe with some reference to Knocked Up as it challenges the views. A questionnaire (tick box) to be supplied to students based on why the enjoy rom coms and then a detailed questionnaire to some of the individuals who have filled in the questionnaire

texts to look at:
About A Boy
The Holiday
Bridget Jones
Four Wedding's And A Funeral
As Good As It Gets
Addicted To Love
The Break-Up
50 First Dates
Love Actually
Hitch
Wedding Crashers
A Lot Like Love
Jerry Maquire

Change of idea

The pleasures of rom coms. What reps of femininity are available in romcoms and what pleasures/needs to they fulfil in their audiences. Key academic text to add - Reading the Romance, by Ann Radway.

character representations

Bridget Jones represents another love struck heroin, who suffers from the same insecurities that all women suffer from, although they seem to define who she is and what she does. Bridget Jones is just an amalgam of her anxieties, of everyone's anxieties. The ditzy blonde, clumsy and who fails in love. Obsessing over missed oppertunities, and fixating on wight, food, alcohol, cigarettes, work, parents, friends and lovers. Any women of a certain age can recognise elements of Bridget in herself. Every diary entry a record of her weight, maybe something which is even more common in society today.

Discuss with me the change from pre-war to post-war reps of femininity.  How about Renee Zelwegger/Briget Jones as a contrast to Lara Croft?  (Actually I don't think they are that much of a contrast in some ways).   Or Scarlett Johanson?

Sean

sources

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/ marilyn monroe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsYD0bnR1TQ