ABSTRACT
In the early 1930s, several popular Hollywood films depicted the relationship between men and women in a fresh, new way that focused on their enjoyment of each others’ company, their shared sense of fun and companionship and the complementary nature of their partnership. Preeminent among such films was Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934), the archetype of the screwball comedy genre. 1 The screwball comedy adapted the new ideal love relationship, referred to by a contemporary writer as “love-companionship,” to the realm of middle-class experience and to a variety of middle-class characters. 2 By repeatedly showing the redefined relations between the genders, the screwball comedy made this style of love its central focus, and thereby represented the theme’s most in-depth exposition on the Hollywood screen.
