Love in Contemporary Cinema Thisbooklooksatsocialrepresentationsofromanticloveasportrayedinfilmsand interpreted by their audiences, using cinema as a means for analysing the state of romanticlovetoday,andthetouchpointsanddisconnectsbetweenitsrepresentation onscreenandthelivedexperiencesoffilmaudiences. Through a media sociology lens, the book draws on analysis of five con- temporary romantic films and the meanings brought to and made from them by socially and economically diverse audiences. Employing both textual analysis and primary interviews, the book contests overly pessimistic perspectives on modern intimacy while acknowledging and exploring some of the challenges, woes and changesthatromanticloveisexperiencinginlatecapitalism.Concernsanddebates over monogamy, the teleology romantic love and the division of labour in rela- tionshipspercolateinthisbook’sexaminationofhowaudiences’responsestothese filmsreflecttheirattitudesandexpectationsregardingromanticlove. This book will have great resonance for scholars and students of not just film studies andmedia studies,but alsoaudiencestudies,media sociology, philosophy, genderandsexuality. Benjamín de la Pava Vélez is a sociologist with a PhD in Media and Com- munication from the London School of Economics with a keen interest in the sociology of emotions, mediatisation, representations and critical theory. Routledge Advances in Film Studies Re-reading the Monstrous-Feminine Edited by Nicholas Chare, Jeanette Hoorn and Audrey Yue Ethics of Cinematic Experience Screens of Alterity Orna Raviv Why We Remake The Politics, Economics and Emotions of Remaking Lauren Rosewarne Hollywood Remembrance and American War Edited by Andrew Rayment and Paul Nadasdy Film Noir and Los Angeles Urban history and the Dark Imaginary Sean W.Maher Australian Genre Film Edited by Kelly McWilliam and Mark David Ryan Flashbacks in Film A Cognitive and Multimodal Analysis Adriana Gordejuela Trans New Wave Cinema Akkadia Ford Love in Contemporary Cinema Audiences and Representations of Romance Benjamín de la Pava Vélez Love in Contemporary Cinema Audiences and Representations of Romance Benjamín de la Pava Vélez Firstpublished2022 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2022BenjamíndelaPavaVélez TherightofBenjamíndelaPavaVéleztobeidentifiedasauthorofthis workhasbeenassertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithout intenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook ISBN:978-0-367-75852-3(hbk) ISBN:978-0-367-75853-0(pbk) ISBN:978-1-003-16428-9(ebk) DOI:10.4324/9781003164289 TypesetinBembo byTaylor&FrancisBooks Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 Paddling at the edges of the philosophy of love 2 The process 4 Analytical premises 6 Gender, class and films 7 Romantic love in film and audiences 7 Identity and film audiences 8 1 Celluloid love: Romance, ideology and self-commodification 16 Psychoanalytic theory and eros 18 Eros and Plato 19 Narcissism, identification and difference 22 Feminist and queer theories on love 25 Historical and sociological approaches to love 30 DenisdeRougemontandthefoundationalmythofromantic love 30 Intimacyincontemporarysociologicalapproachestolove 32 Self-commoditised love 34 Romantic identity 35 Projective identification 36 Ideology 37 Gramsci and counter-hegemony 39 Liminality and ideology 40 Conclusion 44 vi Contents 2 Audience research, audiences of romance 53 The incorporation/resistance paradigm and the ethnographic turn 57 From the women’s films and melodrama to the bromance 59 Romantic audiences 64 New orientations in audience research 68 New (studies of) romance 69 Today’s audiences 72 Conclusion 73 3 Love and technology: Control, affordances and prejudice 81 Introduction 81 Commodified love, commodified subject 83 Intimate subject 87 Romantic affordances 90 641 91 Numbers and female purity 96 Conclusion 99 4 A class apart: Love, expectation, and the middle-class construction of self 104 Introduction 104 Production and characteristics of Blue Valentine and Once 105 Of realism and ‘not-meant-to-work’ romances 106 On characters of a romance and discourses of romance 109 Platonic love in the era of globalisation 114 A studio for love 118 A motel or the classed rules of the game 120 5 Of happy endings and new men 127 Introduction 127 ‘How many times can you fall in love before you can’t anymore?’ 129 And then it ends 130 Beyond the happily ever after 136 Anxiety and masculinity 140 6 Conclusion 150 Introduction 150 Affordances, expectations and commodified reality 153 Commoditisation of love and self 154 Contents vii Classed love 155 Teleology of romance? 156 Masculinities 157 Achievements and ways forward 158 Index 162 Acknowledgements It is only fitting that in a book dealing with love, I recognise the love of my family who’ve supported me through it all. Pilar, your undying belief in me is what’s got me to where I am today. Alonso, I can’t wait to race you. Hilda, your emails have always put a grin on my face. Nubia, you spoil me to no end. I love you Valentina. Your warmth, kindness, patience, empathy, embraces and brown, gleaming, tender eyes illuminate my life every day. I believe in us. Thank you, Doda! Shakuntala Banaji: I’ve yet to meet a more inspiring human being. Your courage, passion, empathy, support, feedback and care have helped this project and me more than I can ever repay you for. Camilo, Camilo and Manuel, my brothers from another mother. Throughout this journey, I’ve met a few people who I cherish dearly: César, Daniel, Fabien, Felix, Nauris, Rafal, Yanning, Valeriy and Xiaoxi. The jokes, the booze, the hugs, the talks, the rants, the tears, the laughter, the films, the walks, the music, the games. The love. Thankyoufortheacademicandprofessionalsupportandopportunities:Myria Georgiou,SoniaLivingstone,LeslieHaddon,JamesDeeley,CathBennett,Nicole Garnier,MichaelEtheridge,MaryMorgan,JaneHindleandPaulSullivan. To those who collaborated with me, to those who opened their doors to a guy who wanted to screen some films and talk to people, thank you. My former lovers, thank you as well. Introduction In 2006, Colombia joined the nation-branding bandwagon with the motto: ‘Colombia is passion.’1 The logo was a white heart on a red background. This exemplified a private sector effort to promote the ‘hard-working’ nature of Colombians and Colombian private companies in order to boost exports. While marketing experts aimed to highlight what we call ‘berraquera’, which can be roughlyunderstoodasanentrepreneurialattitudetoovercomeunfavourableodds and situations, they forgot the sociopolitical and cultural aspects of what Colom- bianpassionis:acountrywiththedubiousrecordofthelongest-lastingcivilcon- flictintheworld;2acountry,thatbeforethatconflictbegan,livedthroughoneof itsbloodiest times,aptlycalled ‘LaViolencia’;3 a countrywhere genderviolenceis rife;4 a country that lived through the bloody times of Pablo Escobar; a country wherethepresidentatthattimeanditsmilitarykilledover3,000innocentfarmers, studentsandunionleaders,anddubbedthemasguerrillamembers.5Manyofusin theacademic communitywere beyondsickened.Thinkingbackon theseevents, it is clear that my formation and sensibility as an anthropologist in Colombia played a crucial role in developing an interest in this ‘passion’ that the branding spoke of. This is in great part because a large body of Colombian anthropology deals with the many facets of the conflict, including one which, no matter the time, is hard to stomach: massacres.6 In the ‘anthropology of conflict’, with an emphasisonmassacres,welearnedthattheperpetratortendstode-humanisehis/ her victim. Further, when massacres are such a common occurrence and an effective way to terrorise the population (adding the centralist governmental ineptitude to do anything about them), the perpetrators, at some point, learn to enjoythis(Guzmán,FalsBorda&Umaña,2005;Suárez,2008;Uribe,1990,2004; Uribe&Vásquez,1995).Somebecomepassionateaboutit. Againstthis nationalhistoricalbackground,Ialso experienced–andcontinue to experience– a deep personal struggle with regards to forms of masculinity and my ownromanticlife.Ioncehadagirlfriendwhoenjoyeddancing.‘Mevasaextrañar’ bytheBinomiodeOro7playsduringapartyatafriendofours.Thesong’stheme? A man has had an affair with another woman andimpregnatedher. FearingGod’s wrath,hewantstohavethebaby.Thecatch?Mostofthesongdealswithhowthe firstwomanwilldefinitelymisstheguyifshedecidestoleavehim;affair,baby,other woman and all.8 I – uncomfortable with the patriarchal discourses embedded – DOI: 10.4324/9781003164289-1