Thursday, July 2, 2009

Hitch, a Romantic Comedy

Hitch, a popular romantic comedy released in 2005, has a story line that follows the usual course of its genre. The well-known man with all the solutions to any and all relationship related problems, the main character Alex Hitch, guarantees to help every well-meaning, but socially awkward man win ‘the girl of his dreams’ in just three dates. Gaining clients through a strict referral only policy, Hitch’s process and methods, almost flawless in its simplicity, is proven successful, a fact so clearly introduced in the film’s opening. As the story- line unfolds, Hitch is hired by the socially inept, and physically unappealing Certified Public Accountant, Albert. Albert hires Hitch to win over his dream girl who happens to be his attractive and ‘out of reach’ celebrity client, Allegra, a woman that just recently experienced a very public breakup.
Problems arise when Hitch himself also finds his dream girl in the cynical Sara, a reporter who happens to be covering Allegra’s public breakup story as well as investigating the identity of the ‘date doctor’, who happens to be the so-called cause of her best friend’s recent heart break. Albert’s relationship with Allegra as well as Hitch’s relationship with Sara become unraveled and tested through a series of awkward, humiliating, and nonetheless still very entertaining dilemmas, as both their ‘true’ identities come to surface while trying to win over their respective dream girls. Yet, both dream girls, Sara and Allegra find themselves hopelessly in love with their respective men, despite the circumstances.
Daniel Chandler notes that the conventional definitions of genres are based on the idea that each “constitutes a particular convention of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style)” (Chandler 2). Based on his theory of genres, the themes presented in a particular film and/or the structure or style of the film is the element that links Hitch to the genre of Romantic comedy. As expected by the viewer, Hitch presents a story line, or theme, that follows the guidelines of its genre; Boy falls in love with a seemingly attainable girl, and despite the obstacles manages to win the girl over, or vice versa, and live happily ever after. The only real difference in the case of Hitch, is that it is not just one boy winning over the girl. Instead it is one boy winning over the girl with the help of another who happens to be trying to win over his own girl.
The same can be said about the structure of the film, it also follows the usual guidelines of its genre; the boy meets girl, boy falls in love, hilarious and awkward situations arise, boy overcomes to finally win girl over. Though seemingly impossible at first both Alex Hitch and Albert are able to catch the attentions of their dream girls and begin the comical process of winning over their affections. The respective women, Sara and Allegra, find their deeply hidden soft spots for the men despite their side splitting antics.

1 comment:

  1. A good start. In order to be fully successful, you'd have to cut the first half of the piece, which summarizes the film where you'd be better served discussing the questions of genre, introducing Chandler, etc. Then you'd want to greatly exapand these few lines:

    As expected by the viewer, Hitch presents a story line, or theme, that follows the guidelines of its genre; Boy falls in love with a seemingly attainable girl, and despite the obstacles manages to win the girl over, or vice versa, and live happily ever after. The only real difference in the case of Hitch, is that it is not just one boy winning over the girl. Instead it is one boy winning over the girl with the help of another who happens to be trying to win over his own girl.

    Showing your reader first how it follows the genre (and thus your summary would still have a place, in truncated form), then much more about how it deviates, would be the ideal form for this piece, and would push it from a discussion of a film to a discussion of the problems of genre.

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