Generra Johnson
19 December 2012
ENG 3029-01
Professor Chandler
Research
Paper: Modern Romance and
Classical
Romance
Introduction:
There is classical romance and modern day romance.
Actually there are different types of romance genres. Today’s romances are
different from the romance of thirty years ago because of the different
features found in the romance novels. For example in the book, Reading
the Romance, by Janice Radway the romances of 1984, would be
different but yet the same romances read by today’s readers of 2012. So today’s
readers still do look for the features of 1984, but they want more of a
modern-day twist to the story. In other words they want something new. Some of
the features that they want in a classical romance are: They want to hear about
the story. Another feature that women want in a classical romance is to have
the feeling of that time era. Now the features of modern day romance that women
want to read about are the drama between characters and the story plot. The features
of classical romance novels have changed since thirty years ago, but the features
have also stayed the same. The features of modern day romance are also the same
as the features of classical romance, but there are still different features in
them. The purpose of my study is to find out what elements of romance do women
like in a romance.
What
I will and expect to show in this study is that women still like the features
of the past romances, and they also like modern features in today’s romances.
My work is important because it will see what features women like to read about
today. It will give a writer, who writes romance novels an in depth idea on
what women want to read in a romance novel. It will also paint a picture for
the writer as to what themes women would want to read in a romance novel. It
will also show what women liked to read about thirty years ago, which relates
to the features of the romance novel. The answer that I found in my research is
that women still love the features of the past like romance, or even boy meets
girl. The women love the characters and their chemistry. They love to hear
about the how the characters meet. They even love how the characters have
problems, and how the problems bring them even closer. As for the women of
today, they love drama and romance. It is all drama, drama, drama. They love
the thrill and the suspense in the story. I interviewed two women, one is a
young adult and the other is an adult.
Literature Review:
The other authors that have findings that are related to
my work are Janice Radway. She wrote the book, Reading the Romance,
and this work that she wrote does relate to my work. Her findings pointed out
why women read romance novels. One reason she found that women read romance
novels is because they wanted to get away from their daily lives, and make
their own world of comfort and enjoyment. As illustrated in Radway’s conclusion,
“In picking up a book, as they have so eloquently told us, they refuse
temporarily their family’s otherwise constant demand that they attend to the
wants of others even as they act deliberately to do something for their own
private pleasure. Their activity is compensatory, solitary space within an
arena where their self-interest is usually identified with the interest of
others and where they are defined as a public resource to be mined at will by
the family” (Radway 211). The second reason
women read romance novels Radway discovered is: because they want to feel
satisfied. Plus they want to feel the emotions that their everyday life
does not have. “Romance reading supplements the avenues traditionally open to
women for emotional gratification by supplying them vicariously with the
attention and nurturance they do not get enough of in the round of day-to-day
existence” (Radway 212). Lastly, the reason that women read romance novels is
because they want to feel fulfilled and complete. However, her findings main
objective is not to find out the features of romance novels like my purpose.
But within her findings she found out what type of romance novels women like.
What I am going to do differently from Radway is first I
want to find out what plots women like in a romance novel. Another thing I am
going to do differently from Radway is find out the features that women like in
a romance novel. Radway also found those out in her surveys, but that was not
the point of her book. Her point was why women read romances.
Radway’s work relates to my work because during her
surveys she found out what features a woman likes in a romance novel. That is
my purpose to find out what features a woman likes in a romance novel. For
example Radway asked in one of her surveys, “What are the three most important
ingredients in a romance? Please pick the three which you think are essential
and rank them by placing a number 1 next to the most important ingredient, a
number 2 next to the second most important, and so on” (Radway 235). In this
question, Radway’s findings point out what features women like in a romance
novel. The findings that she found in this question are, “A happy ending,… A
slowly but consistently developing love between hero and heroine,… [and]…Some
detail about heroine and hero after they’ve gotten together” (67). These three
findings in Radway’s survey had the highest points. Thirty-two people selected
a happy ending, twenty-three people selected a slowly but consistently
developing love between the hero and heroine, and last only twenty-two people
selected some detail about the heroine and hero after they got together. This
is how Radway’s work and findings relates to my work; she made questions to
find the features of a romance novel in her research.
Methods:
What I did with the two interviews was very different. Basically,
during the first interview I did it face-to-face with my subject. The subject
and I met at my house. I questioned my subject by using my computer. I had the
questions right in front of me on my computer, and I used it to question the
subject. The second subject, I was questioning over the telephone. I still had
the questions in front of me on my computer, and I questioned the second
subject. So in a way I did two different types of interviews: a face-to-face
interview and a telephone interview.
I chose my methods because they were the easiest to
accomplish. It was easy for my first subject to come to my house because she
lives near my house. As for the second subject, I was sick, and it was also
hard for the second subject to come to meet me face-to-face. So we had an
interview over the telephone.
How I prepared to collect my data is by using a recorder
to record my interviews with the two subjects. I also collected my data by
typing it on the computer after I listened to it on the recorder. The reason I
prepared my data this way is because recording was the best way to keep the information.
I could keep the information on tape and listen to it many times. Also I can
make adjustments to my transcript at any time.
How I collected my data is: I recorded the interviews on
the recorder. I recorded the interviews for thirty minutes each. I asked the
questions each in a row and in order. But I did miss one question. It was the
question on: How old were you when you started reading romance novels? Other
than that, all the questions were answered, with great length and great
honesty. Everything was collected smoothly, but the analysis had to be done a
few times.
How I analyzed the data is I saw which questions matched
the others, and which data went together. How I decided which
data went together was I identified the data that matched a certain theme.
Those themes were that women want the story to relate to them, they also like
the drama in the stories, and they want to know about the main characters that
relate to them as well.
Presentation of Data:
My overall focus in my research is to find the features that
woman like in a romance novel. The meaning of my classification system is on
romance, and the features of the romance novels. My classification is in a few
groups. Those groups were the same as the themes
that women like in a romance story. The themes are: women want the story to
relate to them, they also like the drama in the stories, they also want to
dream about the romance novels they read, they want to know about the main
characters that relate to them as well, and they want the stories to draw them
into the novel. In other words, they want the story line to be interesting as
well.
My categories occurred in different questions of my
interview with my two subjects. The first category occurred in this question:
To you, what features
make a good romance story?
·
Subject:
I think the main component for any good story is the characters. There has to
be something about them that makes you want to know who they are.
·
Interviewer:
Okay.
·
Subject:
And the relationship between them doesn’t always have to be: they meet they
fall in love, and then the love story is the best love story that you ever
read.
·
Interviewer:
Yeah.
·
Subject:
But their love story has to compel you, you know. It has to be a good chemistry
to write, and it also has to be the right scene, the right timing, the right
plot. Casey Cat for example writes two series one young adult called The House
of Night with her daughter Kristen Cat, and then one for herself called The
Goddess Series which she modernizes the romances. What I love about it is that
she brings the characters to life. She puts them in a new situation where you
want to know what happens. I have seen her books, and I have stayed up until
two or three in the morning reading these books. It’s just like with any TV
show, you have to know what happens.
·
Interviewer:
Know what happens. Yeah, and it’s the same thing with this thing that I am
looking at. This show that I am looking at called Elementary I am still wondering about their relationship.
·
Subject:
Yeah, exactly. You got it perfectly.
Yeah, because the best relationship of the majority of love is when one
of them is oblivious.
·
Interviewer:
I know right.
·
Subject:
I think that is always the best one. Then you have one of them in love, well
technically you have both of them in love, but one of them is too dumb to see
it.
·
Interviewer:
Yeah, but for teens they usually say they are trying to find their way, their
like, they are just going through a battle with puberty.
·
Subject:
Yes, but when you have a true romantic it has the candle light dinners, and the
candelabras, and they are all in just the right setting.
This
question discusses the features of what makes a good romance novel. The first
subject says that the characters, along with the chemistry in their
relationship are what make a good romance novel. Basically, for the chemistry,
the readers like different types of chemistry relationships. Examples of this
type of relationship are: One character is positive while the other one is negative,
another type is a peaceful character with a vengeful character, and another
type of chemistry relationship is a smart/isolated character with a
perky/popular character.
Then
the next thing that makes a good romance novel is the progress in the
character’s relationship. The readers also like different types of developing
relationships. In romance novels there are many different types of developing
relationships. One of my subjects loves the type of relationship where the
guy/girl loves this one male/female, and the other party does not know it. That
is one type of developing relationship. Another type of developing relationship
is one that I am attracted to very much. It is called the love-hate
relationship. Even though they might or might not get together the reader still
wants to see the progress in the character’s relationship. Basically, many
readers now like these different developing relationships.
Now
as for the boy meets girl type of scenarios again there are many different
types. One type is an accidental meeting, where the guy and girl were not
supposed to meet but they did. Another type is a set-up meeting which happens
often in life, where the guy and the girl were purposely arranged to meet each
other. The last type is the destined meeting, where the guy and the girl were
fated to meet each other; basically it is a prophesized meeting. As stated
before there are many different types of features that make a good romance novel
and the next question will continue to discuss the features of romance novels:
Subject One: What do
you like about modern day romances?
·
Subject:
I think I like the drama qualities of it. You know you never know who is going
to get screwed, who is going to get together with who, who is digressing, who
going behind who’s back. You know it is always a constant puzzle of: “If she
finds out about this she is going to beat the both of them to death.”, or “I
can’t believe he did that to him.”, or “Oh, my god she is pregnant with his
baby.”, or “Oh my gosh.”
·
Interviewer:
True.
·
Subject:
That is what you like about it. That…
·
Interviewer:
That drama in it mostly.
·
Subject:
Also that I guess it relates to today’s reality.
·
Interviewer:
Yup, and that is true, and as you told me reality is a good motivator.
·
Subject:
Reality is a good motivator. You know as long as it’s interesting and true, I
guess you can see yourself in the situation (the character’s situation). Not
that I didn’t like Twilight that you like so much. A lot of girls like to be
looked as Bella. Who is getting her Edward? You can see yourself in that type
of position.
In
this question it is discussed by the subject what is the best feature of modern
day romances, which is the drama. Plus another feature is that everything is
related to reality, and the women who read the modern day romances can relate
to the story and the main character. The modern day romances also are set for a
future time. They also deal with the issues of the current time setting as
well. For example, this year is the year 2012, so the topic of most of the
issues would be around year 2012. Next is the question which discusses the
features of classical romances:
What do you like about
classical romances?
·
Subject:
And what I like in a classical romance is: I guess the classical style. You
know the characters, and their biography, the background and the colors, and
the imagery. You don’t see that a lot in today’s romances. In today’s romances
it’s about the drama. They are usually about: who stabbed who in the back. You
don’t hear much about the background in the story, which I think is the most
important part of any good story.
·
Interviewer:
Wow, because that is just classical romances are mostly like about the time
setting, and the girl….
·
Subject:
I know that plays a part in it, but look at today’s romances. Let’s compare Twilight
to Pride and Prejudice. Twilight, you really don’t get the feel of what
Edward looks like, you know you really can’t tell me right now he looks like.
She only gives you an idea.
·
Interviewer:
Or Bella, she just looks like an average girl with brown hair and brown eyes.
·
Subject:
Wow that was descriptive. In Pride and Prejudice you see this tall
imposing figure who has this gruff voice and he is stout and the way he speaks,
you can see that he is a very dignified lord very stiff and introvert and into
himself. And you can sort of see the characters, and you can see the characters
grow, and the passion and love in him grow. I mean the Victorian age is much
romanticized. I mean it was the birthplace of classical romance that we know
today. And it is the Victoria era you know, the guy is what every girl wants
but no longer exists. You know he not the knight in shining armor, so last
year, he’s not what everyone wants anymore. He is an English gent (gentleman),
which is very much what classical romance is, but the reason why you want him
more is because he is more classical (basically a true gentleman) than this
modernize emo (emotional) gothic prince.
In
this question that is discussed with the second subject, is on classical
romance. Plus there are a few points in this discussion. The first point is what
does a woman dream about when reading a classical romance? She dreams about the
guy that she wants. She also reads this classical romance to get away from the
reality that she is faced with. Second, another feature that makes these
classical romance novels is the characters and their backgrounds. To relate to
the characters the reader must know about them. The classical romances are also
set in a past time setting, like for example a classical romance novel would be
set in the Victorian era. The last point in this discussion is that the
classical romance novel just takes you to a place that only exists in
fantasies. Then there is the next discussion on women wanting to dream during
romance novels.
Subject Two: What do
you like about modern day romances?
·
Subject:
I like it as an escape. Because now that I am older and now that I have my own
family and my own romances, it is a great thing that is a great escape from the
real world.
In
this discussion, it is said on how romance novels help women to escape from
reality, or it basically helps them to dream about a life that they want. It
also helps them to dream overall. These are the features in this discussion.
Also all of the questions that were mentioned are on the features of romance
novels.
Analysis of Data:
The pattern of data did have one pattern that I noticed
in both interviews. The common pattern is: women not only today, but also
thirty years ago want something that they have in common with in the romance
novel. It is something that they could say, “Oh that happened to me once.” Then
another pattern that came about conclusively was that women want something that
they can dream about. It would be something that they could think of and always
hold on to.
These patterns just came up randomly in the interviews,
and when I was analyzing the data. What the data means is that women want to
have something in common with the romance novel that they read. Plus women like
to dream when they read romance novels. How the data works is it reviews the information
that I was given in the interviews, and it tells a story of what women want in
a romance novel. So the data would be presented as an oral interview and
descriptive data. Also the readers have changed with the novels because it is a
new time and a new era. So in response to the times changing the people have
changed, and so has the romance novels that the authors create.
Conclusion:
My research question is what the features that women like
in a romance are. What I found was that women love drama, and they love
something they can relate to in a romance. The romance story could be anything
as long as it draws them into it. Plus as long as the women have something in
common with the romance novel, they will read it. I also found out that woman
to do not just like the genres in a romance novel, they also like again how the
story relates to them. In addition they do not want the story to be boring.
My study is important because it confirms what all women
like in a romance. The women tell which genres they like, but they all want the
story to relate to them. Plus they want the story to be interesting. Plus it
will also show authors that are writing a romance novels these features that
women want to read about. So they in turn can write the features in their
romance novel. So my study confirms these theories by questioning women of
different ages.
In my opinion, there is more left to do. The thing that
is left to do is to figure out how to write the romance novel, once the
information about what features women want in a romance are collected. Also how
can the novel come together, and how can it meet a woman’s expectations?
Works
Cited
Radway, Janice A. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy,
and Popular Literature. North Carolina:
The University of North Carolina Press. Edited: P. Steiner, M. Cervenka, and R. Voon. 1984.
