Dear Leona, I was rather surprised by your query since I have just published a book with Westview Press entitled, _Unlikely Couples: Movie Romance as Social Criticism_. The basic premise of my book is that these films do form a genre and that the essence of that genre is a critique of social hierarchy, although individual films do not always develop an adequate critique of such hierarchy. The three basic forms of unlikely couple film I write about in the book are cross-class, interracial, and homosexual, although I note that there are others (since as cross-religion). I actually do discuss both King Kong and Pretty Woman. In my view, this genre shows the inadequacies of both Mulvey's approach and that of the Frankfurt School. We do not identify with the central characters in an unproblematic way, since they are subject to criticism by the films. And we are not made to endorse social domination since the films generally support a critique of such domination. The unlikely couple film is indeed an interesting area for seeing the political impact of film in a different way than that normally presented by film scholars. I'd be glad to discuss more details of my project and yours with you and/or other members of the list, but I am not a list member myself. Best, Thomas E. Wartenberg Department of Philosophy Film Studies Program Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA 01075 Phone: (413) 538-2273 FAX: (413) 538-2579 e-mail: <[log in to unmask]> ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu