The proposal- Romantic comedy analysis.

The genre is introduced by two characters (male/female), they both live different lifestyles, but work at the same job. The female however is challenging stereotype because she has higher authority in the work place compared to the male, you can tell that it’s going to be a boss and employee relationship.

I can tell that the film is set in New York because of the of the buildings outside of the females window, you can see the type of buildings as the camera pans past her head while she’s on the running machine and its followed by yellow taxis . The forest start is normally associated with a horror film, but from the music you can tell that it isn’t a horror. The non- diegetic music is light, upbeat and soft which introduces the genre being quiet positive.  

The woman is represented as strong, independent and bossy. Her appearance is neat and tidy; she is wearing a black suit which is ironed which is black and white, with her hair sprayed back perfectly. The way that the woman’s house is laid out is spotless; there is no mess anywhere which reflects her personality and her appearance a lot too. An example is when the woman goes into her kitchen and all the surfaces are spotless and everything is in its place.

On the other hand the male is the complete opposite. Even though he is again in the same everyday setting of his house, he is running late and rushes out of bed to get washed and dressed, whereas the female had already got up early and started the day off with exercise. Also his room is dark and in a mess, nothing seems to be in order for him. You can notice the difference between the positive of the woman and the negative of the man by the lighting, as she is up bright and early enhances how clean her house is as well as how dull his room is for how unorganised he is.

There are a range of wide shots during the opening of the proposal; this was done to introduce the setting, including mid shots to introduce the characters too.

All the staff sends E-mails to each other saying for example ‘it’s here’ and ‘the which is on her broom’ which shows that nobody in the work place likes her. You can tell by the way she walks in and everybody turns to do work as she struts through the office with a lot of negative attitude. The popping sound of the E-mail keeps it light hearted however again introducing the genre of the humour side to it.

It’s very clear that there is no relationship towards the two, however it follows the traditional ‘two opposites attract’ and one helpless person left out which would be the woman in the coffee shop who had already made the man’s orders ready for him and he skipped the line, he tells her that she ‘literally saved his life’, the gestures could suggest that she may be a secret admirer/ lover, which follows the usual storyline.



The subtitles order: Touchstone pictures, Mandeville films, Presents amans productions, Touchstone films, actors names.