The screwball comedy has proven to be one of the most elusive of the film genres. Very little consensus among students of film has been gathered on the film genre conventions that comprise the screwball comedy genre. As a result, the description "screwball comedy" has continued to be used even when a better descriptor would be slapstick comedy film or situation comedy film.
One proposed definition, is "to paraphrase Andrew Sarris, the screwball comedy can be described as a sex comedy without the sex." [1] (http://www.newsradioart.com/Pages/2.Introduction.html)
However, some have suggested the genre has several characteristics:
Comedies produced by the American Hollywood Studio system between 1933 and 1939 that contain certain story or stylistic elements (mentioned below). Most acknowledge that the screwball comedy had stragglers through the 1940s and 1950s, but the onset of World War II and the end of the Depression undermined some of the thematic codes that acted as a spine to the genre.
Reverse class snobbery. The implied or explicit belief that common folk were superior to the wealthy. Associated with this was the belief that even the wealthy had the potential to exhibit the nobility of ordinary folk.
Romantic element. The screwball comedies always depicted a couple who were destined to complete each other but had a difficult time getting together.
The stories almost always revolved around the idle rich and often came into conflict with the guy who has to work for a living.
Divorce and Remarriage. Some scholars point to this frequent device as evidence of the shift in the American moral code. There was a move toward freer divorces but with the reassurance that marriage is ultimately a superior way of life.
Fast-talking, witty repartee. This stylistic device did not originate in the screwballs, but can be found in many of the old Hollywood Cycles including the gangster, journalism, romantic comedies, and others.
Screwballcomedies were launched in the mid-1930s, and established their place after the advent of film sound and the social disturbances of the Depression.
Screwballcomedies were characterized by social satire, comedic relief through zany, fast-paced and unusual events, sight gags, sarcasm, screwy plot twists or identity reversals, and precisely-timed, fast-paced verbal dueling and witty sarcastic dialogue - blending the wacky with the sophisticated.
Screwballcomedies often took an anarchic tone or irreverent view of domestic or romantic conflicts ('battles of the sexes'), and usually aimed their barbs at the leisure-upper class.
The screwballcomedy has proven to be one of the most elusive of the film genres.
As a result, the description "screwballcomedy" has continued to be used even when a better descriptor would be slapstick film or situation comedy film.
Most acknowledge that the screwballcomedy had stragglers through the late 1940s and 1950s, but the onset of World War II and the end of the Depression undermined some of the themes so necessary to the genre.
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