Contrast Essay (ENGLISH 2- Assignment 2)

8/13/2019 Contrast Essay (ENGLISH 2- Assignment 2)

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FNBE JULY 2013 - ENGL 0205 English

2 Names of group members:

Contrast Essay English 2 (ENGL 0205)

Assignment 2

Carmen Chee Cha Yi (0313893)





I have chose to contrast between two movies which are Friends With Benefits and No

Strings Attached that are under the genre of romantic comedy film in this assignment.

Romantic comedy has been one of the most popular genres in film but what exactly is

romantic comedy? Romantic comedy or rather be known as romcom can be regarded

as a hybrid of romance and genres, featuring a narrative that centers on the progress of

a relationship, and, being a comedy, mostly always result in a happy ending. According

to McDonald, T. J. (2007), he suggest that a romantic comedy is a film which has its

central narrative motor a quest for love, which portrays this quest in a light-hearted way

and almost always to a successful conclusion. A romcom certainly has a very distinctive

narrative structure : boy meets girl, various obstacles prevent them from being together,

conincidences and complications ensue, ultimately leading to the couples's realisation

that they were meant to be together. (Mortimer, 2010, p. 4).

I have watched this two movies several times just so I would able to identity the contrast

between the two. If you were to only look at the bare bones of both movie, you would

assume that Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached are essentially the same

movie . Apparently I would agree that these two films are quite similiar as they happen

to be R-rated romantic comedies about attractive young adults who attempt to maintain

a sex-only relationship, only to face to complications when feelings start to intrude - but

that's just where the similarities end. However, these two polar-opposite movies have

their differences in a few crucial areas which is the arrangement, setting and comedic

style.





The film Friends with Benefits starring Mila Kunis as the character Jamie who is a New

York head-hunter trying to sign Los Angeles- based Dylan who is featured by Justin

Timberlake for her client. When he takes the job and makes the move, they quickly

become friends. Their friendship turns into a friendship with benefits, but with Jamie's

emotionally damaged past and Dylan's history of being emotionally unavailable, they

have to try to not fall for each other the way Hollywood romantic comedies dictate. To

be concluded that the movie arrangement in this film is where the parties pledge to keep

matters physical before they do the deed. This movie have chosen New York and Los

Angeles as their setting, mainly at Manhattan and Brooklyn where it includes ocean and

other glossy and acceptable romcom locations all in one movie. As for the comedic

style, Friends with Benefits relies primarily on clever dialogue and supplemented with

situational humor.

On the other hand, the film No Strings Attached featured Natalie Portman who's

character is Emma and Ashton Kutcher as Adam. In this romantic comedy, Emma and

Adam are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In

order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly "no

strings attached." "No strings" means no jealously, no expectations, no fighting, no

flowers, no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want,

in whatever place they want as long as they don't fall in love. But being the question in





this movie that made it different from Friends with Benefits is - who exactly is going to

fall first and the survival of their friendship. This movie is arranged in the sense where

the pact isn't made after sex has been had. As for the movie setting, this film only takes

place at Los Angeles which is more bland and boring compared to Friends with

Benefits. Places like bars, cemetery, market and especially in a public university

hospital where Emma works at, are included in this film. No Strings Attached differs with

Friends with Benefit in comedic style where it relies primarily on situational humor and

supplemented with clever dialogue.

After accessing the contrasts between the two movies, I think that No Strings Attached

would be the perfect choice if you are looking for a more romantic story wheareas

Friends with Benefits would make a perfect comedy movie choice. In conclusion, I

personally would go for the movie Friends with Benefits because I certainly couldn't ask

for a better company than Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis who both are equally

charming. The well-chosen cast in Friends with Benefits works hard to prove that we are

not stuck with a disposable rom-com whereas the leads in No Strings Attached aren't

able to inject much humanity into characters who bear so little resemblance to actual

people.





REFERENCES

1. Gluck, W. (Director). (2011) Friends with Benefits, United States of America,

Castle Rock Entertainment.

2. Reitman, I. (Director) . (2011) No Strings Attached , United States , Cold Spring

Pictures & Spyglass Entertainment & The Montecito Picture Company.

3. Mortimer, C. (2010). Romantic comedy. New York, NY: Routledge Film

Guidebooks.

4. McDonald, T. J. (2007). Romantic comedy: boy meets girl meets genre. New

York, NY: Columbia University Press. Retrieved from [email protected]

5. Langan, J. (2008). College Writing Skills with Readings. New York, NY: McGraw-

Hill.

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