Takin' a Step Back For a Better Perspective

I have a bit of a backlog of movies that I have watched this past week and haven't posted blogs about yet. I am a wonderful work in progress as usual-translation a master procrastinator. Anyway I realized this morning that I need to back-track a little and re-watch a few classic Screwball Comedies. Maybe, My Man Godfrey, Palm Beach Story, and His Girl Friday etc, and then continue on my way.

The reason being that I realized that I am judging more contemporary movies with the perpective of someone biased towards classic films. Also, I have a criteria for a formula for classic SC's that might not work for contemporary comedy films.

Here is a work in progress that I have gathered form watching classic SC.

Elements of a good, this is an important distinction, Screwball Comedy films they usually contain most of not all of these themes:

Ø Marriage (in some way shape or form, e.g. couple getting divorced, married, or re- married)

Ø Class issues

Ø Verbal gymnastics or sparring

Ø Strong female leads

Ø Physical Comedy (not required)

My epiphanous morning led me to think in the direction that if one of the theories that I am juggling is that the Screwball couple can now be a male/male pairing of friends, e.g. a Bromance, or a mother/daughter duo à la Gilmore Girls then the general guidelines that are listed above no longer apply in the same way they would if this was 1934. Marriage and how it is viewed, depicted, and acted upon in today's culture is a whole other ballgame than it was in Screwball's heyday.

So, it follows that marriage might be a more fluid element now than it was before. An updated list might not include the word "marriage" maybe romantic pairing or coupling or friendship. I think a step back at this point might lead to a better and more thought out step forward. Please bear with me- I am like a babe in the woods-in new treacherous territory and I will make many mistakes and assumptions along the way.