Romantic Comedies

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Romantic Comedies

Introduction

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a romantic comedy where former two lovers separate their own ways and end up meeting in the same hotel over holiday. Peter, the former boyfriend, intends to forget Sarah, while she shows up with her new companion. Despite the drama that unfolds after their several meetings, the film ends when both embrace each other and kiss. Knocked Up is another romantic comedy where Alison, an aspiring television presenter, gets a job promotion and decides to celebrate with her sister that evening. Meeting up with Ben Stone, a young man who looks much older than his age, changes Alison’s life. She ends up getting pregnant at her tender age and has to meet the challenge. Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up contain similarities and differences throughout but enable entertainment and educative lessons.

Discussion

The common theme between Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up is love and enabled struggles of relationships. In Forgetting Sarah, Peter and Sarah had been in a relationship for quite a while before the separation. Their love is reminiscent even at the end when they still appreciate each other. Similarly, Alison in Knocked Up had to determine the love between her and Ben Stone especially considering the arrival of the child, despite their uneasiness. In Knocked Up, there are prolonged elements of comic relief for the viewer as depicted by the characters. For example, Ben Stone was referred to as a child in expectation of another child. It helped create avenues for breaking monotony to the viewer, despite the seriousness of it. Equally, Forgetting Sarah produces moments of laughter and enabled comic relief. The awkward meeting at the hotel by both Sarah and Peter was evident. Such as is the predictability of the ending of Forgetting Sarah, Knocked Up also facilitates the same conclusion on the audience’s part.

            The contrasting differences between the two comedies are enabled in the plot development. The commencement of the two comedies show stark contrast especially with the theme of romantic relationships depicted. In Knocked Up, Alison and Ben did not know each other from the word go and re from different worlds altogether. In contrast to Forgetting Sarah, their relationship had been the basis of the theme’s portrayal. They were separated after having been in a relationship. The use of flashback is synonymous with Forgetting Sarah as opposed to Knocked Up. In the former, flashbacks help the audience measure the extent of possible occurrences and possibility of the pair re-uniting, despite their known intentions through the plot development. However, flashback in Knocked Up is only used for determination of the consequences of the character’s actions. It delivers some sort of foresight into the impeding actions by both leading characters in the film.       

Conclusion

Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up contain similarities and differences throughout but enable entertainment and educative lessons. They are romantic comedies, which reflect on the themes of love, relationships, and career choices. They focus on delivering the entertainment aspect of comedy with stylistic devices useful in breaking the monotony of plot development. On the other hand, the criteria used in each of them differ to some level and helps in creating the unique development. Both comedies deliver hope through love in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while highlighting consequences of failure in planning due to love through Knocked Up.