Here at Ticking Mind we're absolute suckers for romantic comedies. One of our favourites is 500 Days of Summer. We talk about this film in our 30 Great Films To Teach & How To Teach Them sessions as it's a terrific example of the romantic comedy narrative structure. This week we want to talk about an extremely popular Australian short romantic comedy - Signs. This 2009 short has now been watched by nearly seven million viewers on Youtube and once you watch it, you'll easily see why.
It tells the story of young, lonely man who works in an hum drum office job. The orientation phase of the film quickly establishes that our protagonist is keen for a relationship. This happens, but not in the conventional way. He looks out his window and across the street to the office next door one day, and locks eyes with a female office worker. From this point they begin to hold up large written messages for each other to read. It's a charming film, and, like 500 Days of Summer, a great example of the romantic comedy narrative.
Here's some activities you can do on the film:
1. Watch through the first few minutes of the film until the protagonist begins to exchange signs with the officer worker in the next building. Ask students to predict what they think will happen next? Why do they think this? What do they know about the romantic comedy formula?
2. At the end of the film, give students the Romantic Comedy Narrative handout attached. Ask them to look through it and identify the stages that were represented in this short film.
3. Finally, you can ask students to think about the purpose of the romantic comedy formula. Ask them to write about this: Like other types of films, we enjoy watching romantic comedies because they make us feel good, but in no way do they actually represent real life...
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