Week 8- Radical and Neo-Traditional Romance

After reading this week's chapters from the McDonald text I feel as though the best way to understand the radical romantic comedy is by contrasting it to the neo-traditional romantic comedy. Whereas the latter goes out of its way to give the characters a happy ending while only briefly acknowledging all the things that could go wrong (but don't), the former attempts to imitate "real life" with characters who are unable to overcome their obstacles. When I think back to the romcoms I have seen recently I realize that many of them fit into the neo-traditional category. Most of the radical ones I've seen weren't exactly big budget production (the film "Waitress" comes to mind). Any hint of radical romance in most modern movies would probably appear in the drama section of the video store or as a sub-plot in a movie where at least one couple gets their happily ever after (like "Love Actually"). I was sort of surprised at how vehemently McDonald attacked the neo-traditional genre as a cheap reworking of previous (in her mind "better") films. She remarks that these movies "have persisted since the end of the 1980s until the present time, thus spanning over 15 years." I would say that despite her elitist views towards such films, the fact that they have remained in-style longer than any other variety is a testament to their popularity and widespread appeal; no one in Hollywood is going to stop making them just so they can have the moral high ground.