Romance and Gender.

Essay by s0009511University, Bachelor'sA, June 2003

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"...Romance understands the value of the bonds of love. Far from being a tie that restricts or limits, the enfolding energy of soul mating is a liberator. The woman and man thus bound rise higher than they might have alone, and being able to feel with each other's hearts broadens their horizons. They face a future stronger in their unity and the world they inhabit is made a better place by the measure of one more pair bonded by love. "

Discussing the relationship between romance and gender in this essay, I will firstly outline the significance of genre with regard to films. I will then summarise two well-known movies, Jane Eyre and Pretty Woman, in which is used to unravel the relationship between genre romance and gender in subsequent paragraphs. Finally I will analyse the representation of women with respect to the romance genre using the two eminent films, Jane Eyre, depicted in 1848 and Pretty Women, in the 1990's.

In order to discuss the relationship between romance and gender, it is essential to understand what genre is. According to Mules, Et. Al. (2002), genre is a grouping of text which is similar in structure or subject matter . "It provides addressees, or audiences, with a clear set of expectations, which are used to interpret the text" . Genres can be most productively seen as both products and processes and as " `systems' and performances'. " They involve "characteristic ways of `text-making' ... and characteristic sets of interpersonal relationships and meanings ... as well as what appear to be restrictions on `what' can actually be appropriately talked/written `about'... " Hence genres are a potential involvement in processes of ideological closure and these "characteristic ways of text-making " are by no means objective (or autonomous) categories standing apart from...