Love Across the Atlantic: US-UK Romance in Popular Culture

Barbara Jane Brickman; Deborah Jermyn; Theodore Louis Trost

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2020

Love Across the Atlantic

US-UK Romance in Popular Culture

Barbara Jane Brickman , Deborah Jermyn and Theodore Louis Trost

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474452090

Overview
Contents

About this book

An interdisciplinary exploration of the enduring, and often fraught, cultural fascination surrounding British-American romance

The first scholarly collection to consider the diverse ways in which US-UK romance, framed here through the lens of ‘the special relationship’, has been represented across key sites in a range of popular media
Looks at both historical and contemporary case-studies drawn from across film, television, music, literature, news and politics from the last century
Considers pressing questions of identity and desire for subjects impacted by globalisation, cosmopolitanism, transnational relations and neoliberal political and economic policies

Winston Churchill famously described the political alliance between the US and UK as a ‘special relationship’, but throughout the cultural history of these two countries there have existed transatlantic ‘special relationships’ of another kind – affairs between British and American citizens who have fallen in love, with one another but often too with the idea(l) of that other place across the ocean. From romantic novelist Elinor Glyn in the 1920s to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today, this collection examines some of the history, contemporary manifestations and enduring appeal of US-UK romance across popular culture. Looking at both historical and contemporary case-studies, drawn from across film, television, music, literature, news and politics, this is a timely intervention into the popular romantic discourse of US-UK relations, at a critical and transitional moment in the ongoing viability of the special relationship.

Contributors

Jay Bamber, independent scholar
Caroline Bainbridge, University of Roehampton
Barbara Jane Brickman, University of Alabama
William Brown, University of Roehampton
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton
Neil Ewen, University of Winchester
Alice Guilluy, London Film Academy
Hannah Hamad, Cardiff University
Deborah Jermyn, University of Roehampton
Veera Mäkelä, University of Helsinki
Inmaculada Pérez-Casal, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Karen Randell, Nottingham Trent University
Manuela Ruiz, University of Zaragoza
Martha Shearer, King's College London
Frances Smith, University of Sussex
Theodore Louis Trost, University of Alabama
Alexis Weedon, University of Bedfordshire
Nathalie Weidhase, Birmingham City University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
The Contributors Publicly Available Download PDF	xii
Introduction: Still Crazy After All These Years? The ‘Special Relationship’ in Popular Culture Barbara Jane Brickman, Deborah Jermyn and Theodore Louis Trost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One ‘[Not] Just a Girl, Standing in Front of a Boy . . . ’: Feminism, Women and Transatlantic Romance
1 Atlantic Liners, It Girls and Old Europe in Elinor Glyn’s Romantic Adventures Karen Randell and Alexis Weedon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2 ‘World Turned Upside Down’: The Role of Revolutions in Maya Rodale’s Regency-set Romances Veera Mäkelä Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
3 Bridget Jones’s Special Relationship: No Filth, Please, We’re Brexiteers William Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4 Sharon Horgan, Postfeminism and the Transatlantic Psycho-politics of ‘Woemantic’ Comedy Caroline Bainbridge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Part Two Love Beyond Borders: The Global City, Cosmopolitanism and Transatlantic Space
5 ‘British People Are Awful’: Gentrification, Queerness and Race in the US–UK Romances of Looking and You’re the Worst Martha Shearer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
6 Catastrophe: Transatlantic Love in East London Frances Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
7 On the Fragility of Love Across the Atlantic: Cosmopolitanism and Transatlantic Romance in Drake Doremus’s Like Crazy (2011) Manuela Ruiz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
8 The Mise-en-scène of Romance and Transatlantic Desire: Genre, Space and Place in Nancy Meyers’s The Parent Trap and The Holiday Deborah Jermyn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
Part Three Two Lovers Divided by a Common Language: ‘Britishness’, ‘Americanness’ and Identity
9 ‘American, a Slut, and Out of Your League’: Working Title’s Equivocal Relationship with Americanness Jay Bamber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
10 ‘It’s the American Dream’: British Audiences and the Contemporary Hollywood Romcom Alice Guilluy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
11 Business-like Lords and Gentlemanly Businessmen: The Romance Hero in Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflowers Series Inmaculada Pérez-Casal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
12 Imagine: The Beatles, John Lennon and Love Across Borders Theodore Louis Trost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Part Four Political Coupledom: Flirting with the Special Relationship
13 ‘Political Soulmates’: The ‘Special Relationship’ of Reagan and Thatcher and the Powerful Chemistry of Celebrity Coupledom Shelley Cobb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
14 ‘I Will Be with You, Whatever’: Bush and Blair’s Baghdadi Bromance Hannah Hamad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
15 Holding Hands as the Ship Sinks: Trump and May’s Special Relationship Neil Ewen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
16 ‘Prince Harry Has Gone Over to the Dark Side’: Race, Royalty and US–UK Romance in Brexit Britain Nathalie Weidhase Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 312
Illustrations
- Other: 15 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Film, Media & Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781474452090