How does “Ball of Fire” reveal the class messages of the classic screwball comedy

<h5>Quick Answer: The screwball comedy genre tends to be about the (often romantic) intersection of people from different classes. Depression-era audiences were uplifted by screwball comedies because these movies gave hope to filmgoers who believed poverty and enormous wealth inequality couldn't be overcome. In Ball of Fire, Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck play two people of opposing class backgrounds who fall in love while still retaining their original natures, and their relationship is so complex that it is unclear who has the upper hand. The celebration of classes harmoniously co-existing is at the heart of the success of the screwball genre.</h5>

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In the 1981 book Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking and the Studio System, Howard Schatz writes, “The Screwball comedy dominated Depression-era screen comedy and provided that period's most significant and engaging social commentary” (151). Schatz suggests that screwball comedies were not just escapist fare for Depression-era audiences but also that they gave hope to filmgoers who believed poverty and enormous discrepancies in wealth couldn't be overcome. One important element in the screwball's ability to inspire was the love story that crossed class boundaries, usually featuring the woman as poor but more socially apt than the man, who is her opposite.

<a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/ball-of-fire” target=“_blank”>Ball of Fire</a> (1941) was created by three of the genre’s best: Howard Hawks, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Hawks was the notable director of screwball comedies like <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/bringing-up-baby” target=“_blank”>Bringing Up Baby</a> (1938) and <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/his-girl-friday” target=“_blank”>His Girl Friday</a> (1940), and the writing team of Wilder and Brackett had penned a number of comedies, including what many consider to be Ernst Lubitsch's funniest film, <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/ninotchka” target=“_blank”>Ninotchka</a> (1939). Wilder would also later become one of cinematic history's greatest comedic and dramatic directors with films like <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/the-apartment” target=“_blank”>The Apartment</a> (1960) and <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/some-like-it-hot” target=“_blank”>Some Like it Hot</a> (1959).

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Ball of Fire (1941)

To understand why Ball of Fire is a great film that successfully utilizes the tropes of the screwball comedy genre, it’s important to look at the plot in detail: Gary Cooper plays Bertram Potts, an academic in the field of lexicography who is one of eight professors hired for an encyclopedia project, each academic in charge of a different field of knowledge. Potts' area of investigation is the language of slang. Barbara Stanwyck, his comic foil, is nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea, whose boyfriend is a gangster on the run from the police. When Potts tries to enlist her to help him in his research on slang, she accepts because she needs to hide from the cops to avoid testifying.

The screwball comedy is about the (often romantic) intersection of people from different classes. But what is implied by class? Is it material wealth? Being cultured or educated? Coming from a “good” family?

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Ball of Fire (1941)

It’s easy to see the complexities of the Sugarpuss O’Shea and Bertram Potts relationship when you question how to measure them along those lines. Potts is not rich, but he is an expert on the language of the rich, which makes him somewhat of a learned imposter. At the same time, Sugarpuss O'Shea has absolutely no academic credentials but suddenly becomes of use to Potts as an expert on slang through her lower-class background. She takes on a dual role of test subject and teacher. It’s also worth noting that with Potts’ sexual inexperience, O’Shea becomes a sexual teacher of sorts through her role as an instigator, which is a reversal of typical gender expectations. Sexual knowledge, it is implied, comes from getting out rather than stuffing yourself in books all day.

In turn, O'Shea is lower-class only according to unwritten rules about education and cultural upbringing. In terms of actual material wealth, O'Shea is richer than Potts because her boyfriend has stolen large amounts of money while Potts has worked nine years on an uncompleted encyclopedia. The perceived legitimacy of Potts’ enterprise, however, gives him the social upper hand.

The union of O’Shea and Potts is not entirely the merging of ying and yang. While Potts loosens up enough to partake in a fist fight and explore romance, and O’Shea starts to warm up to a social circle of professors, the ultimate implication is that O’Shea and Potts will be together while still retaining their original class differences. The celebration of classes harmoniously co-existing is at the heart of the success of the screwball genre. Meanwhile, Ball of Fire's many twists on the genre’s class-based tropes make the relationship so complex that it becomes unclear who really has the upper hand.

<img alt=”” src=”{assets_3798:https://the-take.com/images/avatars/default/ball_of_fire_2.jpg}” style=“height:439px; width:600px” /> 
Ball of Fire (1941)

Similiarly, other great screwball comedy films like Hawks’ His Girl Friday and Bringing up Baby, Lewis Milestone’s <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/the-front-page” target=“_blank”>The Front Page</a> (1931), Frank Capra’s <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/it-happened-one-night” target=“_blank”>It Happened One Night</a> (1934) and Preston Surges’ <a href=“http://screenprism.com/film/page/the-lady-eve” target=“_blank”>The Lady Eve</a> (1941) all contain this element of characters crossing class boundaries (often for love), and they are successful in part because they play around with notions of class in their plotting.

In Ball of Fire and its fellows of the screwball genre, the exploration of high-class and low-class language and behaviors presents wealth as an illusion, despite its non-fictional, far-reaching consequences on personality and fate. While we may be distracted by all the laughs, looking at these films together, it’s clear that the genre is, at least in part, designed to explore these fundamental questions of class and money.

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How does “Ball of Fire” reveal the class messages of the classic screwball comedy

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