So there's been a bit of a scuffle over romance
novels lately. By that I mean, Tessa Dare tweeted some stuff about an article that I then read. Basically, people are in a tizzy over some intern's article because it says horribly
mean things about romance novels. There's even a rebuttal that proports to
defend romance novels but actually turns even meaner.
If you're curious, it's an old argument. The
one that says high literature is good for you and romance novels are trash and
if you read them you're an idiot. You know, the usual sort of insults. I could
say some things here about how romance novels make me think, about the very
real depths they have, about how that moment from The Heiress Effect
where Jane says I am ablaze is on infinite repeat in my skull. I'm not
even going to touch on the idiocry of the argument that woman are so addled
with hormones that we can't tell reality and fantasy apart. But instead I've
decided to say something simple.
Romance novels make me happy. Unbearably,
volcano-ishly happy. There's nothing like that moment when you finish a great
romance novel and it feels like your entire body is just glowing with how
incredibly happy you are.
This, I think, is one of the reasons they are
sneered at so often. Happiness tends to be seen as a lesser emotion. Sadness is
percieved as wise and noble. There's a reason we talk about cynism as knowing
more and happiness as ignorant. Happy is constantly portrayed as the least of
the emotions, the dirtiest, the stupidest. You have to be some sort of idiot if
you dare to be happy.
I call bullshit. Happiness is brilliant.
Happiness matters. And the best thing about romance novels is that
EVERYONE gets to be happy. Are you overweight? You get to live happily ever
after! Is your nose kind of crooked? Happily ever after! Did you get knocked up
and thrown out on the streets? There's a happily ever after for you too! YAY
HAPPY!
Is it realistic? No, not particularly. But
isn't it a lovely idea? Instead of adding more bleakness to the world, wouldn't you rather add a bit of light and fairy dust? (On
second thought, scratch the fairy dust thing. Probably shouldn't be grinding up
fairies for their sparkly properties.)
My point is, screw the people who sneer. Be happy. Be happy to your toenails.
Be so happy you hum pop music as you shop for groceries. Be so happy you can't
stop giggling at the joke in your head. Be so happy that sneering people glare
at you in horrendous jealousy because they can't figure out how you manage it.
And, as they mutter there goes another deranged idiot, sigh for them a
little and think, there, but for the grace of romance novels, go I.
5 comments:
I've actually known people who got stuck in their vision of idealized fantasy reality, perhaps most obviously in romance novels. It's not all that uncommon, to the point that I suspect everyone has points wherein they're blind to reality. Some of us are more self-aware and able to notice that than others are.
But because nobody wants to believe they have the innate ability to do the same thing as the obsessed person, so they pick some item and blame it for the problem. That conveniently protects those obsessed with other things, tacitly making those obsessions culturally acceptable. The obsession with appearance(s), for example, or how much you make.
This misplaced blame is true in other things, as well. My cousin murdered his mother. The judge blamed a video game, which is bull. I grew up playing (Doom, which the Columbine shooting was blamed on).
But anyway, back on topic, many people have the attitude "Since others are wrong, what does their perspective matter?" or "This has no value for me, so it has no value for anyone."
My own parents will say money isn't everything, but then they've given me a hard time when I take jobs I'd enjoy over jobs that would pay more.
My dad unexpectedly enjoys Firefly, so I asked him what he liked about it. He was bewildered as to my reasons for asking. I had to explain I was asking so I could know what features he enjoyed in it, so I could possibly recommend other, comparable things.
Suffice to say, my parents and I are different in pretty much every way—interests, humor, perspective, etc. Though we are all essentially the in agreement theologically speaking, which gets a bit interesting. ^_^
But that goes to say, some people will always sneer from the other side of the fence. They believe the grass is greener, on their side of the fence. Maybe it is, for them, and they feel that gives them the right to think themselves superior to those on the other side of the fence.
Well, they don't have that right. My mother can't stand speculative fiction. She sees it as unreal, a waste of time, not worth experiencing.
What a lot of people miss when I mention that is… That's actually true for her. She doesn't read between the lines for implications or for what analogies are being presented. That's not how she sees things. Even my father, who has a bit more experience with sci-fi and fantasy, misses rather in-your-face implications being posited in such movies, which I discover later when he asks me "Hey, what was up with…?".
So the sneering is an understandable though annoying result of people's lack of self-awareness and/or others-awareness.
Or so's how I see it. ^_^ Hope you don't mind the blog post of a response.
I think your response might be longer and better written than my post. Hmm, maybe instead of writing blog posts I should just be like, "Go read what Carradee writes, and then maybe go read all her books, too!"
I will admit to being rather a stupid reader. I've missed extremely obvious things on plenty of occasions. But I took an entire class on speculative fiction, so my opinion on that should be pretty obvious. Maybe even more obvious than my opinion on smiley faces. :)
(And I love Firefly, but I'm a Joss Whedon fangirl in general. Love the way he plays with expectations by being like "Oh, I'm totes going to follow this general plot structure you've seen a million times- OH WAIT NO I'M NOT. HAHAHA. GOTCHA.")
*snort* I suspect I have an advantage over you in this discussion: I've had it before. Many times. With acquaintances, parents, pastors… (Thankfully, none of them are of the opinion that it's a sin to read a fantasy novel, so I've not had to go that route.)
I'm a fan of the unreliable narrator to the point that I expect narrators to be unreliable. While it's a benefit in interpreting some things, it's to my detriment in others. (I can actually get a bit puzzled when narrators are reliable.)
Did you see the most recent ST movie? My parents caught the tribble plot hint from the get-go, but "What was up with the guy with the metal sticking out of his head?" *facepalm*
And in Firefly, my dad asked, "Why is Chinese the swear language?" >_> *headdesk*
I'm also a fan of all I've seen by Joss Whedon (wow, is he great with characters), though I've can't seem to get myself to finish watching Dollhouse. I'm kinda stuck on the (first?) Bennet episode. (Creepy!)
I want to watch Dollhouse with a friend so we can discuss it (and cry about it?) together. But all my friends who might be interested are unavailable, out of state, or are young enough that I can't in good conscience expose them to that show, because their parents will kill me.
YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED DOLLHOUSE?
I'll admit the show had plenty of flaws and there's a good reason why it died, but I love it so much. The second season is basically just Joss Whedon showing off what a genius he is at death scenes.
Next you're going to tell me you've never seen Cabin In The Woods. (Very few people share my Cabin In The Woods obsession, but THE EPIC. And THE EPIC. HOW DO OTHER PEOPLE NOT LOVE THAT MOVIE?)
Err… See, I watch maybe a movie every three months. Maybe. I'm far more likely to read a book.
Haven't owned a TV in over a decade, and I've never really fallen into watching them on the computer, though I'll binge on something maybe once a year. (Last movie I saw was Les Miserables. A few months ago. *wry smile*)
Both color and audio hinder my comprehension, so it takes effort for me to appreciate audiovisual media. (My hearing's better than average, but I suspect that's why my comprehension isn't the best in situations with multiple sound input.) Even when we had a TV, I watched an hour or two a week. *shrug*
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