Each film allows characters to break down first impression characteristics of self and other and build hopefully strong relationships as a result. In order of the age of each film surface differences begin with the age group being characterized, with Breakfast Club discussing relationships between relatively immature, high school aged individuals seeking to build self-awareness and identity, through unlikely relationships, as all the characters are from different social clicks. When Harry Met Sally comparatively discuses the personal relationship, as it evolves through early college age to the present, when the individuals are in their late 30s early 40s having built careers and had serious relationships. Finally, You've Got Mail details the lives of people who are late 20s early 30s and seeking romance after beginning careers as a central focus to life. Though all the works develop these themes in a single cultural perspective i.e. that of majority community members the challenges are still relatively universal and thematic of many people in the film demographic of high box office traffic. The exception is the issue of class in Breakfast Club, as the two main characters are of significant socioeconomic difference lending greatly to their difference as character opposites in the film. Each film contributes to the genre in varied ways as the age and setting as well as the demographic of majority community members is stressed and therefore the films seek to bring satirical messages of improbably romance to the screne, all with different main obstacles as central to the work. In Breakfast Club the thematic obstacle to romance is class and social stratification, found in youth and later. In When Harry Met Sally the thematic obstacle to romance is preconceived notions about men and women, and gender roles in the

While in You've Got Mail the thematic obstacle to romance is modern social disconnect created by an emphasis on career and technology as higher social order issues than family and human connectivity.
Each of these films have contributed to the development and success of the genre in that they all seek to meet the audience with the traditional definition and motive for romantic comedy, i.e. The romance that can be simplified to satire to allow it to be approachable to the viewer but all three in varied ways, with different age groups as focus and different logical and social barriers all of which are very modern and yet universal at the same time. Each film brings big box office names to the screen in the context of satirical social connectivity and distance and builds on the idea that people of all kinds want romance and affection and individuality, something that is not always compatible, but is thematic in the genre. In many ways looking at the modern (topical) even trendy context of each of these films shows a major way in which the genre has evolved over the years to meet the needs of a modern audience. Each film represents a modern context and social barrier as an obstacle to love and connectivity in a satirical manner that draws the viewer into a world that is simpler and yet still address of the social barriers real people face, but often do not bridge in the modern world.

Works Cited

Ephron, Nora. Writer-Director You've Got Mail (Motion Picture) Warner Brothers Pictures. 1998.

Gehring, Wes D. Parody as Film Genre: Never Give a Saga an Even Break. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Hughes, John. Writer-Director the Breakfast Club (Motion Picture) a & M. Films. 1985.

Reiner, Rob. Director, Ephron, Nora. Writer When Harry Met Sally (Motion Picture) Castle Rock Entertainment. 1989.

Siska, William C. "19 the Art Film." Handbook of American Film Genres. Ed. Wes D. Gehring. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. 353-366.