Silent Film Flappers and Romantic Comedies

In the 1920s, the freedom-loving young women known as flappers upended cultural and romantic conventions, revolutionizing love both on and off the screen. Their forward-thinking attitudes and rule-breaking style left an indelible mark on cinema, giving birth to strong, charismatic female protagonists and the modern romantic comedy. In this course, we watch and discuss four defining films of the era: the magnetic Colleen Moore in Why Be Good? (1929); silent comedy star Marion Davies, the longtime partner of William Randolph Hearst, in The Patsy (1928); the wonderfully expressive Laura La Plante in Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926); and "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford in her transition to a modern working girl in My Best Girl (1927).