In the latest print edition of The Atlantic, Christopher Orr laments the "long decline from Katharine Hepburn to Katherine Heigl":
Mid-1930s through early 1940s: Increased censorship has the ironic
effect of ushering in a heyday of verbal sparring between the sexes.
Key Films: It Happened One Night, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner, The Philadelphia Story, The Lady Eve
Key Films: Woman of the Year, A Foreign Affair, Unfaithfully Yours, Adam’s Rib, The Marrying Kind
Key Films: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, Pillow Talk, The Apartment, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, That Touch of Mink
Key Films: The Graduate, Harold and Maude, The Heartbreak Kid, Shampoo, Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters
Key Films: Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally, Say Anything, Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, Jerry Maguire, Shakespeare in Love
Key Films: Maid in Manhattan, Fool’s Gold, The Proposal, The Ugly Truth, Valentine’s Day
Age of the Screwball
Mid-1930s through early 1940s: Increased censorship has the ironic
effect of ushering in a heyday of verbal sparring between the sexes.Key Films: It Happened One Night, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner, The Philadelphia Story, The Lady Eve
Post-War Malaise
Early 1940s through early 1950s: During and after World War II, the genre darkens, and tension over gender roles becomes more evident.Key Films: Woman of the Year, A Foreign Affair, Unfaithfully Yours, Adam’s Rib, The Marrying Kind
Sex vs. Marriage
Early 1950s through mid-1960s: Conflicting sexual goals become more clear-cut and cynical. Men want sex without strings; women, matrimony.Key Films: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, Pillow Talk, The Apartment, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, That Touch of Mink
Bittersweet Reinvention
Mid-1960s through mid‑1980s: Integrating the counterculture, the genre presents sex more frankly, but its faith in happy outcomes recedes.Key Films: The Graduate, Harold and Maude, The Heartbreak Kid, Shampoo, Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters
Romance Rekindled
Mid-1980s through early 2000s: When Harry Met Sally rewrites Annie Hall with a happy ending, and Pretty Woman reestablishes that love conquers all.Key Films: Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally, Say Anything, Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, Jerry Maguire, Shakespeare in Love
Profitable Doldrums
Early 2000s through present: Romantic optimism gives way to narrative laziness.Key Films: Maid in Manhattan, Fool’s Gold, The Proposal, The Ugly Truth, Valentine’s Day
