Embracing the ‘Happy Ending’: Cliché and Closure in Hollywood Cinema

Dr. James MacDowell will discuss the romantic 'happy ending' in Hollywood cinema - its motifs, meanings and potential mutability. Using sequences from classic and lesser-known films spanning Hollywood's history, the talk will explore both the convention itself and its notorious reputation, as well as the influence of the latter upon the former.

Biography:
James MacDowell is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at the University of Warwick and the author of Happy Endings in Hollywood Cinema: Cliché, Convention and the Final Couple (Edinburgh University Press, 2013). He sits on the editorial board of Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, and is currently writing a monograph on irony in film for Palgrave MacMillan.

FREE. Booking recommended

*** If you missed the live talk you can watch it on vimeo from this page.