Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of RemarriageDuring the '30s and '40s, Hollywood produced a genre of madcap comedies that emphasized reuniting the central couple after divorce or separation. Their female protagonists were strong, independent, and sophisticated. Here, Stanley Cavell names this new genre of American film--"the comedy of remarriage"--and examines seven classic movies for their cinematic techniques and for such varied themes as feminism, liberty, and interdependence. Included are Adam's Rib, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night, The Lady Eve, and The Philadelphia Story. |
Contents
Words for a Conversation | 1 |
Cons and Pros | 45 |
Knowledge as Transgression | 71 |
Leopards in Connecticut | 111 |
The Importance of Importance | 133 |
Counterfeiting Happiness | 161 |
The Courting of Marriage | 189 |
The Same and Different | 234 |
Film in the University | 265 |
Acknowledgments | 275 |
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acceptance Adam Adam's Rib adventure Amanda anyway Attinger Aunt Patsy Awful Truth Bringing Up Baby camera Capra Cary Grant claim comedy of remarriage comic conversation COURTING OF MARRIAGE criticism Cukor declaration Dexter divorce dream experience explicitly fact father feature feel film film's Frank Capra further genre of remarriage Girl Friday going Happened One Night hence Hepburn Hildy Hollywood home movie human idea imagine interpretation intimacy Irene Dunne issue Jerry Katharine Hepburn KNOWLEDGE AS TRANSGRESSION Lady Eve Leo McCarey LEOPARDS IN CONNECTICUT Lucy man's married matter mean meant narrative nature NORA object one's pair perhaps Philadelphia Story philosophical play present problem question reading reason relation requires romance screen seems sequence sexual Shakespearean significance singing song speak suggest things Thoreau thought tion Tracy Tracy's turn understand Walter wants wedding wish woman women words