The Generic Evolution of Romantic Comedy: Political Speech on Intimacy and Self-Determination in Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
The Generic Evolution of Romantic Comedy: Political Speech on Intimacy and Self-Determination in Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

Summary/Abstract: Red, White & Royal Blue (Matthew López) exemplifies the generic evolution of the romantic comedy by integrating explicitly political speech into a narrative traditionally confined to the private sphere of intimacy. Drawing on Étienne Souriau’s “ univers filmique” and his seven levels of filmic reality, the article argues that “romcom” conventions are negotiated not only within the filmic text but also across its afilmic paratexts, from platform tagging to interviews with creators. The film’s three central speeches constitute graded political interventions—ranging from intimate self-affirmation to public advocacy—that reframe gay romance as a site of self-determination under conditions of media and institutional scrutiny. Situating Red, White & Royal Blue within the migration of romantic comedy to streaming platforms and within Amazon MGM’s development of LGBTQ+ romances, the article shows how the genre absorbs contemporary debates on visibility, privacy, and care. In this context, the film functions as a “first-person” activist fairy-tale whose creational reality deliberately mobilises the comforting, optimistic tone of romcom to exert afilmic pressure on spectators, inviting them to endorse a politicised, heartwarming queer romance as both entertainment and democratic project.

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