Emotional investments: Contemporary Polish romantic comedy and neoliberalism

Abstract

Emotional investments: Contemporary Polish romantic comedy and neoliberalismThe author of the article argues that neoliberalism, along with its attendant economic and social ideas, has affected romantic comedy’s politics of emotion and consequently its narrative and formal strategies. The article analyzes two recent romantic comedies, Nigdy w życiu Never Again in My Life, dir. Ryszard Zatorski, 2004 and Listy do M. Letters to Santa, dir. Mitja Okorn, 2011 as exemplifying neoliberal “adjustments” of Polish romantic comedy, specifically employing the conventions typical of family movies. The author claims that generic hybridity of Polish romantic comedy is facilitated by the central position of family in the Polish socio-cultural discourse, whereas simultaneously the use of family-movie conventions serves the purpose of enlarging the target audience and, thus, maximizing the financial return. As Never Again in My Life and Letters to Santa demonstrate, proper management of individual emotions is necessary in order to invest one’s human capital with a low risk. Hence, instead of a union of two people leading to the emergence of a nuclear family, neoliberal romance comes into fruition in a corporation-like environment.