Womance

Abstract

The wedding aisle is a sign of completion in the romantic comedy. It is where the lovers achieve their resolution. This chapter explores how female sociality in girlfriend media is played out against the backdrop of a straight, white wedding. Whereas the romcom typically portrays boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, movies configured through ‘a womance’ relate the ups and downs of girlfriendship. Rather than being desirable ends in themselves, the emotional signifiers of a heterosexual marriage or motherhood are employed to heighten the affect of womancing girlfriends. Increasingly, the traditional feminine fantasy of the perfect man providing financial security and a happy ever after ending is no longer wanted or tenable in a precarious economic climate where women hold more power in the workplace. Instead, the focus is on the loyalty of girlfriends. The male love interest is marginalized or rendered benign, and it is women’s ability to shine for and with their girlfriends that drives the narrative. In the womance, the aisle is a highly sentimentalized locus of friendship and reconciliation between women: the two white-gowned sisters in In Her Shoes (2005) express their sibling love in the aisle while the grooms stand by. Similarly, in Bridesmaids (2011), it is the relationship between the girlfriends that delivers the climax of the film.

We can handle anything. We’ll be each other’s wives. (The Women)