Again, I need to question my ideas about romantic conflict and classic films. It Happened One Night has an amazing power struggle at its core with two characters who underestimate each other. In the end they admit their love for each other and it’s all hunky-dunky… And now I get thinking about cinematic stories attempting to bridge the class divide through marriage and/or love.
It’s the idea that the system doesn’t need to change, so long as the two main characters aren’t completely inconvenienced by it. He’s a struggling newspaperman with just a few bucks to his name trying to get a scoop. She’s an heiress without street smarts who wants to evade her wealthy father’s control. Their trip together shows her what she hasn’t seen while locked up in her father’s yacht, but it doesn’t spread her change any further.
This isn’t saying it’s a bad movie. I like this movie. But when there’s a story about two people who fall in love, what’s going to keep them apart? Is it something they need to change about themselves, or something they need to change about their world? If it’s the latter, how far does that change need to spread?
This Builds Character 
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