Can't Buy Me Love (1989) vs. Love Don't Cost A Thing (2003)

Can’t Buy Me Love (1989)

Social History:

Can't Buy Me Love (film). (2019, September 16). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can't_Buy_Me_Love_(film).

Scambler, G., Peswani, R., Renton, A., & Scambler, A. (2008, June 28). Women prostitutes in the AIDS era. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11347156.

3, S. (2018, September 3). High School Stereotypes of the 1980s. Retrieved from http://inthe1980s.com/high-school-stereotypes-1980s/.

The scare of AIDS and blown out stereotypes of the 80s are exposed in the film by the possibility of almost prostitution. These sites give a little more insight on those ideas.

Genre:

Can't Buy Me Love (1987). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cant_buy_me_love.

Jamariana. (2017, July 12). Best Rom-Coms of the '80s. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/list/ls068469123/.

Romantic comedies in the 80s were popular and all very similar.

Love Don’t Cost A Thing (2003)

Social History and Genre:

Love Don't Cost a Thing (film). (2019, October 6). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Don't_Cost_a_Thing_(film).

Wihbey, J. (2015, June 1). Changes in Americans' attitudes about sex: Reviewing 40 years of data. Retrieved from https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/public-health/changes-americans-attitudes-sex-reviewing-40-years-data/.

Sexuality is more recognized in the early 2000s and is a constant topic in the film. Rom soms are completely more womanizing in this era than the 80s. There is plenty of images with more skin showing in this film than the original.

	Can’t Buy Me Love (1989)	Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2003)
Syntagmatic	Preppy girls and boys. Lawn-mowing. White cast.	More hip-hop influences. Pool cleaning. Culturally diverse.
Paradigmatic	The effects of prostitution were a huge deal in society because of the AIDS activity. In the context of Ronald Miller “renting” Cindy, there was a slight concern for the movie to even be released.	Sexuality is exploited with more women and less clothing on them. There is several scenes that to be cool is getting the girls and everyone else bowing down to them. In other films around the same time, women are consistently priced by their looks.
Adaptation	There are plenty of the rom coms during the 80s that all typically involve two people that are never supposed to get together. This one is a little different because the characters almost switch roles of protagonist and antagonist.	Movies like “Bring It On”, or “She’s the Man” all lean towards the inter-racial aspects of film. Now, we see a little more exception of a diverse cast and in some cases, love interests.
Ideology	Mystification of the fact the Ronald Miller gets to pretty much be the hero at the end of the film after mistreating Cindy. (I maybe a little biased here??)	The use of hailing is heavily used throughout the film. “Girl”

 

In conclusion, the diversity and gender dynamics provided by the social history and genre of the films make up a typical romantic comedy. It is interesting that the original movie was a little more explicit than the newer remake making the 2003 film watered down and teen friendly.

Outline

I.                Intro/Attention Getter

-        Don’t we all love a good romantic comedy? Something about cliche

II.              Thesis

-        The diversity and gender dynamics provided by the social history and genre of the films make up a typical romantic comedy however, we have watered down a few elements since the 80s.

III.            Can’t Buy Me Love vs. Love Don’t Cost a Thing

Nerd wants to be popular but, see’s an opportunity when the most popular girl in school needs his help. He offers he a saving grace with popularity in return. Blah blah blah

IV.           Semiotics

a.      Syntagmatic

-        Preppy vs Swag

b.     Paradigmatic

-        Sexuality (1. Prostitution 2. More skin, more body)

c.      Adaptation

-        Inter-racial casting

d.     Ideology

-        Using “girl” in a condescending way

-        Girl turns to the villain

V.             Conclusion