Howard Suber

Howard Suber’s 2006 encyclopedia-style guidebook is the perfect companion to the 2024 six-part miniseries of the same title currently streaming on MAX. Suber, who taught film history and theory at UCLA, had years of class notes and handouts to get him started. His prose is clear and unpretentious. His focus is clearly defined. “My life’s work,” he says in his introduction, “has been devoted to trying to understand why certain films are memorable and popular and others are not.” His examples come from familiar Hollywood products. He identifies character types and relationships, narrative patterns, and themes that often recur in films that stick in our minds. The entries are highly cross-referenced, so there are many paths through his argument.
Here is his entry on the Cute Meet often seen in romantic comedy:
“AS DON LOCKWOODis racing to get away from his fans in Singin' in the Rain, he literally drops into the front seat of the car being driven by Kathy Selden, who just happens to be driving by. This "Cute Meet" (or, as it is called in Hollywood, the "Meet Cute") is the traditional way in which lovers meet in countless romantic comedies. There is no problem in the notion that lovers are "meant" to meet. If your society doesn't do the prearranging of your marriage for you, some deity or outside force will do just as well.
“The danger in what the industry calls the "Meet Cute" scene is that the heavy hand of the filmmaker will, like the shadow of the boom that holds the microphone, be seen by the audience. Like so much else in drama and film, contrivance works best when it hides the process that produced it.
(See also: DESTINY)”… (más)