ABSTRACT
Films endorsing the social point of view find a way to defeat the romantic perspective—for example, by denying what the couple is feeling is really love. This chapter describes socially critical, hence subversive, potential of the unlikely couple film. The inversion of appearance and reality this seemingly unlikely pair embodies provides one key to understanding the structure of the unlikely couple film, for it is predicated on a conflict between two approaches to the featured couple. These are social perspective and romantic perspective. A film that seeks to subvert the hold of one mode of social domination may inadvertently support that of another. The overriding concern of the unlikely couple film is the legitimacy of social hierarchy. The guiding perspective is that through narratives of transgressive romance, the unlikely couple film confronts various forms of social oppression. The unlikely couple film traces the difficult course of a romance between two individuals whose social status makes their involvement problematic.
