Unlikely Couples

Thomas E. Wartenberg is professor of philosophy at Mount Holyoke College and was chair of the film program there from 1991-1999.

The Subversive Potential of the Unlikely Couple Film, Destabilizing Hierarchy, King Kong's Critique of "Civilization," Outlining the Genre, Notes; Part 1 Class, Pygmalion: The Flower Girl and the Bachelor: Establishing Difference, Class as Obstacle, Transforming Eliza, The Ethics of Bachelorhood, The Problem of an Ending, Notes; It Happened One Night: An Education in Humility, A Brat and a Lout, Ellie's Brattiness, Peter the Know-It-All, Ellie's Education for Democracy, Men's Ways of Knowing It All, Conclusion, Notes; Pretty Woman: A Fairy Tale of Oedipalized Capitalism, Two Characters in Search of Salvation, From Flower Girl to Prostitute, "Cinderella'' as a Tale of Moral Rectification, Shopping Esprit, Oedipus in the Boardroom, A Happy Ending, Notes; White Palace: Dustbuster Epiphanies, An Overdetermined Unlikeliness, The Source of Connection, Nora as Marilyn, Overcoming Ambivalence, A Problematic Ending, Notes; Part 2 Race, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: Does Father Really Know Best?: Defending Liberalism and Integration, Privileging Romantic Love, Representing Racism, Naturalizing Integration, Conflicting Strategies, Notes; Jungle Fever: Souring on Forbidden Fruit, Being Black in White America, The Education of Flipper Purify, Angie's Story, Conclusion, Notes; Mississippi Masala: Love in a Postcolonial World, The Politics of Postcolonial Life, The Failure of Ethnicity, Two Communities, Two Responses, Romance in Solidarity, Two Reconciliations, Notes; Ali: Fear Eats the Soul: The Privileges of "Race", Creating the Couple, Exploring Racial Privilege, Love Versus Privilege, A Final Problem, Notes; Part 3 Sexual Orientation, Desert Hearts: Betting on Lesbian Love: "If You Don't Play, You Can't Win," Disarming Homophobia, Representing Lesbian Love, The Problem of Class, Notes, The Crying Game: Loving in Ignorance, Destabilizing Sexuality, A Strategy of Deception, Destabilizing Difference, Unveiling Difference, Overcoming Difference, The Politics of Redemption, Notes; Movie Romance and the Critique of Hierarchy, Narrative Film and Social Criticism, Romance and Self-Development, Strategies of Critique, The Unlikely Couple Film as Mass Art, A Parting Word, Notes.