This week, you will be watching Howard Hawks’ 1940 film, His Girl Friday. This movie ties in nicely with our discussion of Golden Age Hollywood for two reasons. First, it will familiarize you with a popular genre from the era that is not seen much today: the screwball comedy. The screwball comedy is characterized by whip-fast dialogue and is generally organized around the sexual tension between the male and female characters. Andrew Sarris, a famous film critic, described the genre as a form of “sex comedy without the sex.” Look for a lot of sexual innuendo sprinkled throughout the dialogue. A word of warning: the words fly fast in this movie. Watch it in a quiet place or with headphones and pay attention: the information is rapid-fire for the duration of the film. Of all the films I require my students to watch, this is one is usually the class favorite and the end of the semester. Trust me: its really funny.
The most important reason to screen this film is to see how it fits the Classical Hollywood Style we discussed in class. (Note: there is very little discussion of Classical Hollywood style and narration in your book, so good note-taking is crucial.) Keep the list of characteristics in mind as you watch the film and note how it fits or deviates from the mold.
Twitter Prompts
1) His Girl Friday fits many of the criteria of the CHC style, both narratively and stylistically. Select ONE OR TWO of the NARRATIVE (not stylistic) characteristics of CHC and tell me how His Girl Friday utilizes them. You may find that many of them reinforce each other in this movie.
2) The Classical Hollywood style has become so deeply embedded that we see it everywhere, even today. Nearly every film that we might see in a “traditional” American movie theater displays at least some of its characteristics. Think of a film or TV show that seems to blatantly break some (or all) of these rules. What effect does that have on us viewers and why might the filmmakers have chosen to go in that direction?
3) Now that you’ve seen His Girl Friday, what do you think? Is its style (both look and story) something that holds up well today? In other words, how does this film compare in terms of pure entertainment value to the films of today? (Disregard the fact that its in black-and-white.)
Responses are due by 6pm on Sunday, February 27th. Happy Tweeting!
