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Analysis of the genre and narrative conventions of a film
The following paper is going to analyse the use of the genre and narrative conventions
in the film “When Harry Met Sally…”(1989). The British Academy Film Award
winner American film stars famous actors, namely Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg
Ryan, a star “identified with the genre”, as Sally (Grindon, 2011,p.10). The film is
considered as one of the most successful of its year of release with nearly one hundred
million dollars of box office gross (Box Office Mojo,2014).
Genre could be defined as a method of categorizing types of production, as well as
groups of films which collectively or individually belong to these categories (Watson,
2003, p.153). The genre of “When Harry Met Sally…” is categorised as romantic
comedy. The current form of this genre, from the end of the 1980s until now, is
termed as neo-traditional romantic comedy by Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald. The
definition of this term is the present form of the romantic comedy that draws upon
primal conventions of the genre and reconfirms them. (Mcdonald, 2007, p. 113) The
film follows the conventions of the romantic comedy as a whole; however, since it
can be considered as a recent example of the genre, it also uses the conventions which
are prominent in the neo-traditional form of romantic comedy.
To begin with, “When Harry Met Sally...” uses the conventions of the romantic
comedy mainly in terms of the characters, tone and ideology. Firstly, as Grindon
argues, two groups of characters are common in romantic comedies; the former “the
lovers” and “their helpers”, the latter the “obstacle figures” (2011, p.15). The lovers
are the male and female leading characters that have opposing character traits. They

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could also be called as “the battling lovers” and can be seen in earlier subgenres such
as sex comedy. (Mcdonald, 2007, p. 63) The personalities of Harry and Sally suits
this convention; Harry is a pessimist who criticises Sally for being too optimistic, by
saying “ You’re probably one of those cheerful people who dots her “i”s with little
hearts.” The helpers of the lovers are commonly their friends, whom they can confide
in (Grindon, 2011, p.16). Harry’s friend Jess and Sally’s friend Marie are in this role
in the film, as they are the people that both of them primarily share their thoughts and
feelings with. Lastly, the obstacle figures are principally the partners that do not suit
the protagonists of the film. (Mcdonald, 2007, p. 21) Harry’s girlfriend Amanda,
whose last name Harry doesn’t even recall correctly after breaking up, and Sally’s
boyfriend Joe, who marries another woman instead of Sally, are examples for the
incompatible partners. The humorous tone of romantic comedy fits the expectations
of the viewers; according to Mernit, they want to find laughter and love
simultaneously in the films of this genre. (2000, cited in Grindon, p.20) In the scene
where Harry and Sally are in The Metropolitan Museum, Harry starts talking in a
funny accent and Sally replies to her with the same accent. They continue talking that
way and they laugh together, which creates a playful and also flirtatious mood for the
audience. In terms of ideology, the romantic comedy’s principal focus is the couple,
which is commonly white and heterosexual, as Harry and Sally. Moreover, the
ideology of monogamy, in order to create a sense of constancy within the audience, is
represented in the genre (Mcdonald, 2007, p.24). Accordingly in “When Harry Met
Sally…” the pseudo-interviews with old married couples, Christmas parties where
everyone has a partner, the happy marriage of Jess and Marie could be considered
demonstrations of this ideology. The happy ending also represents the ideology of the
genre since romantic comedy defends that love will overcome any difficulty

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(Grindon, 2011, p.51). The film clearly supports this when at the end Harry and Sally
give an interview as a newly married couple, just like the elderly ones.
Moreover, “When Harry Met Sally…” follows the outstanding conventions of the
neo-traditional romantic comedy, with its use of setting, references and treatment of a
particular theme. The use of urban locales, especially New York as the setting is a
significant trait of this form. The film respects this convention since apart from
beginning in Chicago, it continues in New York until the end. In the film, the city is
presented primarily with its well-known buildings and bridges, as neo-traditional
romantic comedies do in order to create a romantic atmosphere (Mcdonald, 2007, p.
119). The references made to earlier romantic films, which are often uncertain, are
also one of the most important characteristics of this form of romantic comedy, and
are also used to arouse romantic feelings within the audience (Mcdonald, 2007,
p.123). In the film, the movie “Casablanca” (1942) is referenced, however the
referencing is clear since the names of the movie and its actors are clearly mentioned.
Furthermore, one of the key characteristics of the neo-traditional romantic comedy is
the downplaying of the theme of sexuality. The reason for this is that they want to
highlight that sexual intercourse is not meaningful unless it happens with the right
partner. (Mcdonald, 2007, p.128). The film partly uses this convention since even
though Harry and Sally have sexual intercourse, the scene is skipped by the camera.
However, sexuality is obviously not pushed aside as a concept, since it is a central
theme that they discuss overtly in nearly all their conversations.
As for the narrative, this term could be defined as occurrences that happen
successively in time and space, which are connected to each other through cause and

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effect, according to Bordwell and Thompson (2010, p.79) To start with, the narrative
theory of Todorov is applied in “When Harry Met Sally…” Todorov argues that there
are three main stages in a film’s narrative, firstly the state of equilibrium in which
everything is normal and stable, secondly the disequilibrium where the balance is
disrupted by an event and finally the creation of a new equilibrium at the end of the
film, as explained by Rowe and Wells (2003, p.80). In this example, the equilibrium
state is given momentarily at the beginning of the film; Harry is kissing his girlfriend,
they are happy and everything is as it should be. In a matter of seconds, Sally arrives
and they meet each other, this is the part where the disruption starts to reveal itself
(Rowe and Wells, 2003, p.81). They start arguing constantly beginning from the
moment they meet; the ongoing tension between them sustains the disruption part of
the narrative. As in most romantic comedies, the attraction between them is apparent
to the spectators, however they do not truly admit it neither to themselves nor to each
other; thus lead to delays in the occurrence of the resolution. (Rowe and Wells, 2003,
p.82) A new equilibrium is created when they finally come together, and then shown
as a married couple at the end of film. It could also be said that the plot of the film
follows the mainstream structure for romantic comedies, which is “boy gets, loses,
regains girl.”, as Shumway argues (2003, quoted in Mcdonald, 2007, p.10) . After the
third time Harry and Sally encounter each other, Harry manages to get close to Sally
and they start building a close friendship. However after they have sexual intercourse,
Harry keeps his distance from her and after a while acts like what happened between
them was not significant, which hurts Sally’s feelings, as this dialogue demonstrates:
-Harry: Why can’t we get past this? I mean, are we gonna carry this thing around
forever.

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-Sally:Forever? It just happened.
After that, she starts ignoring him, which is the part that he loses her. The scene that
Harry realizes that he loves Sally and starts running to reach out to her, which is also
the climax of the film, comes to a conclusion with him getting a chance to explain his
feelings to her, and finally at the end of the film he is able to regain her.
In addition, the plot uses the pattern of repeated actions as a pattern of development
(Bordwell and Thompson, 2010, p.91). This pattern can be seen when Harry and Sally
meet each other and then split up for several times. Moreover, the plot structure
follows a chronological order, however skips certain periods of time in order to place
emphasis on the noteworthy time spans from the overall duration (Bordwell and
Thompson, 2010, p.85). For instance, after the first time Harry and Sally meet, five
years of time period is skipped over until the second time they see each other, after
that five years are skipped again to show the third time they encounter. Lastly, Levi-
Strauss’ narrative theory is shown in “When Harry Met Sally…” Levi-Strauss
suggested the term “binary oppositions”, in other words conflicting qualities, and
argued that they were key in constructing the meaning within narratives (Branston
and Stafford, 2010, p. 49). Regarding the opposition between the characters, the film
fits not only this theory but also a convention of romantic comedy, as in this genre the
opposition between man and woman is an essential example of conflicts.
(Grindon,2011,p.11) As stated before in the paper, Harry represents pessimism while
Sally symbolizes optimism in the film. These qualities clash with each other
throughout the narrative, as this dialogue exemplifies:

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-Harry: “I mean nothing bothers you. You never get upset about anything.”
-Sally: “Don’t be ridiculous.”
In conclusion, this essay has provided a detailed analysis of the genre and narrative
conventions followed in “When Harry Met Sally…” In accordance with the analyses,
it could be argued that the film is a significant example of the mainstream romantic
comedy, embracing most of its conventions as well as the marked conventions of the
contemporary, “neo-traditional” form of it.
Bibliography
American Film Institute (2014) Top 10 Romantic Comedies. Available at:
http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=2 (Accessed: 29 November 2014)
Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. (2010) Film Art: An Introduction. 9th edn. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Box Office Mojo (2014) 1989 Domestic Grosses. Available at:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1989 (Accessed: 29 November
2014)
Branston, G. and Stafford, R. (2010) The Media Student’s Book. Oxon: Routledge.

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Casablanca (1942) Directed by Michael Curtiz [Film]. United States: Warner Bros.
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