How the Trailers of Love Actually Represent a Stereotypical View of Modern Love and Relationships

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How the Trailers of Love Actually Represent a Stereotypical View of Modern Love and Relationships

Loveactually is a romantic comedy based in contemporary London during

Christmas. It was written and directed by Richard Curtis and was

released in November 2003. It was made by Working Title Films, which

have an institutional ethos about romantic comedies. Working Title

Films usually have a predominantly white representation of love and

there are certain types of films such as Four Weddings and a funeral

and Notting Hill that we associate with them. This will therefore

attract a particular audience because they have certain assumptions

about what to expect. This essay will be focusing on the success of

the two trailers that were used to promote the film. Trailers are also

often referred to as teasers as they emphasize the exciting parts of

the film in order to entice the audience to go and see it.

The title 'Love actually' is short for 'Love (actually) is all around'

and presents love in a positive way, it connotes that love is genuine.

The trailers make references to different aspects of love such as

family love and romantic love. In the title, the word "love" is

emphasized in bold and is in red, red is used to symbolise passion.

Both trailers use the red love hearts in different ways. At the end of

trailer one, the broken heart is reassembled into nineteen different

pieces to represent the nineteen major characters in the film, this

also symbolizes that there will be a happy ending. In contrast,

trailer two has hearts coming down like rose petals or confetti

against a white virginal background.

Men are represented as chaotic; there are clips of Alan Rickman

bringing his hand to his face and of Colin Firth stamping his feet.

The "it's about men" sequence features stereotypes of men and they are

portrayed as chauvinistic and concerned about sex. When Hugh Grant is

in an important meeting, he makes a crude remark "who do you have to

screw to get a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit round here?

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