You’ve Got Mel’s Pick, Right In Faculty Hall!
Written By: Alivia Rhodes and Kate Friedman
(You’ve Got Mail, 1998, n.d.)
What if the love of your life is someone you hate? For movie characters Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox, this situation is not merely a rhetorical question, but the story of their lives. On July 8, scholars witnessed how such a predicament came to be in Dr. Melony Shemberger’s Classic Film Series pick, You’ve Got Mail.
You’ve Got Mail is a 1998 romantic comedy inspired by a 1937 Hungarian play, Parfumerie, and more specifically by its later adaptation, the 1940 film, A Shop Around The Corner. Its stars are two business owners. Kathleen Kelly, played by Meg Ryan, is a small business owner of “The Shop Around The Corner” in West End, NY: a beloved children’s bookshop inherited from her deceased mother. Joe Fox, played by Tom Hanks, is the owner of a large corporate chain bookstore, Fox and Sons Books. Fox is opposite from Kelly in every way imaginable—he possesses an “it’s not personal, it’s business” mindset, complete with a cold-hearted, severely lacking, corporate sellout personality. The two hate each other. But in the world of online chatrooms, Fox and Kelly’s relationship completely shifts; under the misimpression of being strangers, Kathleen and Joe are enchanted, and maybe even in love, with each other.
The scholars seemed intently invested in this classic rom-com, audibly groaning and awing at events throughout the showing. For scholars who had never seen the film, You’ve Got Mail defied initial expectations: before the films showing, one scholar guessed that You’ve Got Mail would follow a similar plot to Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Gandal’s memoir, I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives, but after the showing stated that the movie was not what he had anticipated. The movie was unexpected for other reasons as well; scholars made speculations about what movie Melony would choose, with guesses ranging from Top Gun to Titanic.
The authors of this article also attended the movie, and have some opinions to express. There are also some expectations, and then later some commentary on the film.
Katherine Friedman commented that “You’ve Got Mail was the cutest portrayal of infidelity I’ve ever seen,” and that it reminded her of another romantic-comedy, Pretty Woman.
This film embodies the essence of the Classic Film Series, whisking scholars away to a fall in New York and a classic rom-com love story. Overall, we, your authors, recommend Melony’s choice, You’ve Got Mail.
Edited by Josiah Self