I have certainly
had several “moments” throughout the course of this class, the first having to
do with why romance novels and television are so appealing to me, and many
other women. I am not afraid to admit that I love reading romance novels. I
have read so many now that I can often predict just what is going to happen, so
what’s the fun in that? First, a girl meets a boy, usually a bad boy with some
sort of history. Then, despite all the factors working against them, the boy
and the girl fall in love and have a romantic, but unrealistic romance. When
the boy and the girl feel like their relationship can beat all odds, some sort
of conflict arises that forces them apart. Finally, the boy and the girl
realize they cannot live without each other and prove the world wrong by ending
up together and overcoming all obstacles. This class has helped me answer the
question of what continues to draw me back to predictable romance novels and romantic
movies.
I also learned
that I keep coming back to romance because of the concept of identification, or
in my case, desire for identification with the novel or movie. Women tend to
read romance because they can connect to it on some level. According to John Storey
in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture:
An Introduction “Mass-produced fantasies for women speak to very real
problems and tensions in women’s lives” (Storey 140). Whether it is the
romance, the chaos, the friendships, or the characters, I believe women can
usually relate to some aspect of a romance novel. Storey also says romance, “Can
generate fantasies of power, control and self-confidence, fantasies that can
inform everyday life” (Storey 139). Personally,
I often wish I could relate and identify with the perfection of the romance
novels, which compels me to read them. It is human nature to draw connections
between fantasy and reality, which is done in the reading and viewing of
romance.
Finally, romance
novels are appealing because they are empowering. This was the biggest shock to
me when learning why women love romance because it is so against the stereotype
of what romance is in the eyes of feminists. The women in romance novels and
movies are not actually subordinate to men, which is the common stereotype and
something I always believed. In reality the women of romance put the men in a
weaker standing then themselves through the power of their femininity. Men are
physically stronger, but women put them at an emotional disadvantage. According
to Jayne Krentz, “The thrill and satisfaction of teaching that powerful male
creature to respond only to your touch, of linking with him in a bond that
transcends the physical, of communicating with him in a manner that goes beyond
mere speech—that thrill is deeply satisfying” (Krentz 109). Although I never
recognized it directly until now, this power women have over men in romance is
inspiring. Think about The Notebook, for example. Noah is a strong man who
works hard and should be able to control Allie, but he lives every moment of
his life for her. Another example of this is in Laura’s section of The McGregor
Brides. Royce is independent, mysterious, and self-sufficient until he meets
Laura, who quickly consumes his life. I am sucked into romance because, “Men
represent to women one of the greatest sources of risk they will ever encounter
in their lives. Taking risks and winning out against all odds in one of the
great pleasures of fantasy” (Krentz 112). Women can escape, draw connections to
their lives, and become empowered by romance, which is why I always come back
to romance, despite its predictability.
My second moment
was incredibly important to my understanding of feminism and romance. I learned
that these are two concepts that are not black and white, and they can actually
go hand in hand. It is possible to be a feminine feminist. After reading Trying to Tame the Romance by Jayne
Krentz and The Romance and the
Empowerment of Women by Susan Phillips, I now understand that there is a
great deal of feminism within romance. Romance is actually quite empowering to
women, contrary to popular belief and common stereotypes. All I had ever heard about feminist view of
romance before taking this class is that it portrays women as weak and inferior
to men, but in reality usually women end up superior to the men in romance.
Jayne Krentz puts it perfectly when she says, “Romance novels are tales of
brave women taming dangerous men” (Krentz 113). This taming of the powerful men
in the story makes the women characters very feminist. Women in fiction have
the ability to make a man more sensitive and caring because she controls him
emotionally.
Phillips expands on this idea of romance as empowerment when she
says, “The heroine isn’t as big as he is; she isn’t as strong, as old, as
worldly; many times she isn’t as well educated. Yet despite these limitations
she confronts him – not with physical strength but with intelligence and
courage. And what happens? She always wins! Guts and brains beat brawn every
time” (Phillips 56-57). For me, this quote sums up feminism within romance
perfectly. More often than not, women in romance novels and movies bring the
man under their control. I had never realized women’s strength in romance until
I read these articles. Now that I recognize the feminist traits of these
fictional characters, I will never view or read romance the same way again. It is now quite clear to me that women
can be romantics and feminists at the same time. They can have successful
relationships while maintaining their intelligence, confidence, and good
character. A woman can love a man without being dependent on him, and is
actually more likely to control him than the other way around due to her
emotional strength and confidence.
Over the past
few weeks of this class I have learned that I am not attracted to romance
novels and movies just because I desire a perfect, passionate, loving romance
novel relationship someday, but because there are valuable ideas to be gathered
from romance. Not only can they be relatable, but more importantly, the female characters
can be empowering. Feminism and romance are not two separate concepts anymore.
The most successful romances contain feminist characters. Maybe it is time for
both feminists and romantics to reevaluate their ideas, it might be more
productive than continued disagreement.
Holly questions why women everywhere continue to read romance novels, and allow them to consume their lives if it is the same predictable story. I think that it is important to realize, as Holly does, that the stereotype of romance is only on the surface of what romance is. Romance is a form of escapism. I agree with Holly when she explains that she uses romance to escape her own problems, because I do the same thing. Typically, romance is seen as an escape for women to “escap[e] from the hardships and the restrictions” of the world (Storey 139). And that is the best reason to read romance, to get away from all of the bad in your life, and enter a world where someone is having the same or worse problems, and they make it through and live happily ever after. This then, as Holly says gives you hope that you too can survive.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Holly considers the idea of identification with romance. This idea is a very interesting one, because I do not always think of identification as a popular reason for reading romance. But now as I think about it, I use identification whenever I read or watch romance. It is just one of those things that you think to yourself, “that just happened to me,” and therefore bringing you deeper into the story. But then there are the times when, like Holly mentions, when you can only wish you could identify with the characters in the romance. Either way you are engulfed in the romance and cannot stop reading or watching it.
Also, romance and feminism are interconnected, and give women a sense of empowerment. As Susan Phillips explains in The Romance and Empowerment of Women, romance novels have become a form of empowerment form women. The men of romance now are being “tamed by our heroine,” and because of this “his almost superhuman physical strength is now hers to command,” (Phillips 58). Until this class I had never thought of empowerment being a key factor in romance. But now that I have been exposed to it, it seems as though women being in almost complete control should now be the new stereotypical description of romance novels or movies.
Hi Holly :)
ReplyDeleteI really felt that I related to your post because of how my thoughts and opinions on romance novels and movies have also completely been reversed throughout the past six weeks of this class. Instead of the male rescuing the damsel in distress or the female relying on the hero for her own self-worth, the female characters in this genre empower women by gaining control over the man and showing that they are perfectly capable of being strong without a man. “He is the mightiest of the mighty, the strongest of the strong. But, because he has been tamed by our heroine, because she exerts such a powerful emotional stranglehold over him, his almost superhuman physical strength is now hers to command” (Phillips 58). Throughout the course of the romance, the heroine shows the reader who is really in control and how the hero and the heroine must equally respect each other in order to have a healthy relationship.
I also agree with your statement that through romance novels, “Women can escape, draw connections to their lives, and become empowered by romance, which is why I always come back to romance, despite its predictability.” I honestly believe that without romance novels I wouldn’t be the same woman that I am today. They are able to “produce the new male-strong and intensely physical, but possessing all the sensitive, nurturing qualities of the female” (Phillips 58). These novels have taught me how to be a strong woman in a male-dominated world, and for that I am ever thankful.