History of romance films
1. History Genre - Romance Steph Webb
2. What is romance film defined as? Romance is a genre where the plot revolves around the love between two main characters as they endure the highs and lows of love.
3. What are essential themes that are found within the history of romance films? Common themes linked in with these movies are kissing, love at first sight, tragic love, destructive love, sexual and passionate love, obsessive love and sentimental love. These common themes appear in many historic films such as ‘The May Irwin Kiss’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
4. The first romance film? In the time period of the 1896, films were not seen to be very long like they are today. The first romantic movie was said to be created by Thomas Edison which was approximately only 18 seconds. He created the first movie which featured a romantic scene. This scene featured a kiss. He named it ‘The May Irwin Kiss’. It was filmed in April of 1896 in Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It was a scene from the ‘New York stage comedy’. The actors apparently staged their kiss for the camera at the request of the New York World newspaper. This resulted in being the most popular ‘Edison Vitascope’ film during that time period.
5. History of the types of romances – first movies made Romantic drama – Casablanca (1942) Chick flick – Terms Of Endearment (1983) Romantic comedy – Trouble in Paradise (1932) Romantic thriller – Sleeping With The Enemy (1991)
6. ‘Different from the Others’ Different from the Others was a romance film released in 1919. This film was different from that of the previous romance films that had been released. It was indeed the first film to address the issue of homosexuality. Richard Oswald directed ‘Different from the Others’ during WW1 in partnership with "sexologist" Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld.
7. Famous Historical Romance FIlms "Titanic" (1997) – features true love and a tragic loss of love. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) – features love and drama from an affair. "Jane Eyre" (1996) – Features love and drama due to the chaos linked to the person that Jane falls in love with. Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (1996) – features love, lust and tragedy of the death of the characters.
8. Conventions associated with romance films Affection. Two main characters that fall for each other. Typical hero of the film tends to be male to attract the female viewers. ‘Happy Ever After’ at the end of the film. Conflicts between the characters. Heartbreak. Climax – the part where they realise they’re in love with each other. Emotions Voiceover to introduce characters or talk about love past. Argument Insight into the main character’s life (shows routine).