https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i4.118
Female Solidarity and the Rewriting of Women’s Roles in Amy Silver’s Romantic Comedies
MOFEED MOHAMMED NASSER MOHAMMED AL-SAIRAFY
PhD Scholar
Institute of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Kerala
Email: mofeedalsairafy@gmail.com
DR. APPU JACOB JOHN
Assistant Professor
Institute of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Kerala
Abstract: This paper examines Silver’s four romantic comedies, namely, Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista, All I Want for Christmas, One Minute to Midnight, and The Reunion, focusing on how she reworks the genre’s conventions. Silver does not see romantic partnership as the key to a woman’s fulfillment, but instead emphasizes friendship among women as the true source of support, resistance, and self-definition. This study traces how Silver’s heroines respond to the pressures of marriage, motherhood, career and reputation, drawing on Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of the Other, Judith Butler’s perspective that gender is a repeated performance, Nivedita Menon’s argument that the personal is political, and Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze. Their friendships do not just provide comfort, but they also reframe shame, share the practical burden of hardship, and challenge the judgmental gaze that patriarchal structures place on women’s choices. The study argues that such a redefinition of the happy ending exists on a spectrum, ranging from a heroine who reaches her romantic union on her own terms, to a heroine who opts for independence and friendship instead.
Keywords: Female Solidarity, Romantic Comedy, The Other, Gender Performativity, Personal is Political, Male Gaze
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