Submarine (2010) involves two different but interconnected romantic plotlines. Firstly, the story of the protagonist, Oliver, and his new girlfriend Jordana, and secondly, Oliver’s parents.
Firstly, we will look at Oliver and Jordana’s emotional journey in the film in relation to Frye’s description of the ‘green world’ . He states that ‘the action of the comedy begins in a world represented as a normal world, moves into the green world, goes into a metamorphosis there in which comic resolution is achieved, and returns to the normal world’.
It is well established from the film’s outset that both characters express a strong disdain for emotional expression, which comes to a climax when Oliver leaves Jordana for fear that problems surrounding her family will ‘make her gooey in the middle’. He cuts off contact with her, however he is overcome with heartbreak upon seeing her at the beach with another boy later in the film, and (spoilers) it ends with the two reconciling and standing in the sea together. This can be understood as the two of them overcoming their argument (the death) and having learned to express their emotions to one another (the green world) and arriving back in the real world together.
However, although she becomes less angry, the film leaves it unclear whether Jordana still wants to be with Oliver upon its ending. This poses the question as to whether a trip to the ‘green world’ should always result in a happy ending.
In terms of his parents’ plotline, one of Oliver’s main objectives in the film is to stop his mother from leaving his father for her ex-boyfriend Graham, a spiritual guide specialising in ‘Psychic and Physical Excellence’, who has just moved in next door. In ‘Pursuits of Happiness: the Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage’, Cavell outlines the comedy of remarriage as a work with a plot that functions ‘not to get the central pair together, but to get them back together, together again’, separating it from Frye’s definitions of ‘Old Comedy’ and ‘New Comedy’.
This plotline applies very well to Cavell’s definition of the comedy of remarriage, however some of Frye’s definitions also ring true. He states that ‘there are always people who are in some kind of mental bondage, who are helplessly driven by ruling passions, neurotic compulsions, social rituals, and selfishness’ who ‘impede the progress of the comedy toward the hero’s victory’. In this context, that statement can be applied to Graham. He is driven by his self-obsession, and Oliver sees him as a threat to his parents’ marriage and his dad’s mental health (this is perfectly encapsulated in a scene in which Oliver approaches a cardboard cutout that Graham owns of himself and stoically says to it ‘I’m watching you’).
It’s interesting how a film can incorporate both Cavell’s remarriage plot and Frye’s… just marriage (?) plot as well. I am very interested in the bit you included about the uncertainty expressed at the end of the film by Jordana, as it seems to point towards how a Frye-esque romance plot lacks the examination of “consciousness of women” as discussed by Cavell, allowing for the heroine in the film to be left unfulfilled.
Yay! I love Submarine! I really like this take on Frye and Cavell’s definitions of comedy and remarriage, and the idea that the ‘green world’ is not as beautiful and affirming as it seems is so interesting and so perfectly summarised by this film.