If you know me, you know that I'm a romantic comedy enthusiast, particularly those of the late 80's through the early 2000's. (The golden age of rom coms if you ask me!)
A lot of people think that these movies are trash and carry no meaning or significance, but I am willing to fight to defend them, especially While You Were Sleeping.
A young Sandra Bullock plays an adorably frumpy cat-owning Lucy, who works as a token collector at a CTA train stop. She fantasizes about a dapper rush hour regular, Peter, one day sweeping her off of her feet, but on Christmas day, he gets mugged and pushed onto the tracks, unconscious. She rescues him, and at the hospital, a nurse tells the doctors that Lucy is Peter's fiancee so that she can visit his room. Due to a series of misunderstandings, Peter's entire family is led to believe that Lucy actually is Peter's fiancee and treat her as one of their own.
If you are familiar with Aristotle's requirements for a comedy, you would be expecting Lucy to marry Peter when he wakes up, move from her tiny apartment to his fancy penthouse in the heart of Chicago, and live happily ever after.
Rather than following this path, Lucy (and the viewing audience) falls in love with Peter's carpenter brother, Jack. After quite a lot of tumult, Jack and Lucy (shocker!!) end up together and get married.
Although this movie does not necessarily follow all of Aristotle's guidelines for a comedy (Lucy doesn't marry the rich lawyer and move up in class and social status) Lucy remains the comedic hero by following her heart and gaining a family.
I LOVE this movie. I agree with your conclusion that the movie does not necessarily follow all of Aristotle's guidelines, but Lucy is still a comedic hero.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting post. It seemed like you were moving towards a tragic hero, but in traditional romantic comedy fashion everyone ended up happy (except maybe Peter).
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting post. It seemed like you were moving towards a tragic hero, but in traditional romantic comedy fashion everyone ended up happy (except maybe Peter).
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this movie, but your post makes me want to see it! It really does seem that the movie is very close to following those guidelines set by Aristotle.
ReplyDelete