"With a Kiss I Die". Love, Suicide and Vulnerability: An Intersectional Feminist Film Analysis of Romantic Love in Contemporary Adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

Abstract

Deconstructing the myths that characterize the romantic love discourse has been a major goal for several feminist theorists since these narratives actively promote asymmetrical power relationships. From this hierarchy, gender inequalities —which are especially harmful to women—emerge. Nonetheless, this discrimination does not only take place in relation to gender but also regarding race and sexuality. Hence, this study aims to analyse from a feminist and intersectional perspective the oppressive character of romantic love narratives in terms of gender, race and sexuality. The focus will be put particularly in contemporary film adaptations of the canonical play Romeo and Juliet —which is a cornerstone love story in western culture— emphasizing the importance of representations in mass media by pointing at the potential influence that they exercise on the viewers. Furthermore, taking the aforementioned play as a reference, this research project seeks to observe how romantic love narratives have been repeatedly associated with death and suicide. This provokes a correlation of love with violence creating ultimately the myth of suicide for love. In the end, what this thesis proposes is getting rid of the patriarchal conception of love so as to achieve a different and new conceptualization. For this reason, a personal feminist intervention with a number of suggested steps will be offered in the last section in order to achieve a different understanding of love through the embracement of the notion of vulnerability.