rose_griffes | just when you thought it was safe to read my LJ... it's another Twilight post

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

just when you thought it was safe to read my LJ... it's another Twilight post

Instead of the writing binge I'd hoped to start, apparently I'm on an organizing binge, though now I'm working on the computer rather than the CD pile. This has been on my hard drive for a while. At one point I said I'd make another post about Twilight and my religion before the next movie came out. Uh... does posting this before the third movie count? And this isn't really about religion, it's about how romance novels in general.

I've seen many rants about the whole Twilight phenomenon, ranging from the inappropriateness of the books being marketed for teens to tying any and every plot point, especially the ones they dislike, to Meyer's (and my) religion. My own reaction was that I was reading a very typical/stereotypical romance novel.

Disclaimer: I'm a bit concerned about coming across as bashing romance novels. It's okay to like them, really!

As a teen I read lots of romance novels. And mystery novels and sci-fi/fantasy novels, but the first part is what matters right now. In theory my mother didn't know about the romance novels. In reality, I'm pretty sure she did, even though I was secretive. As soon as I started reading Twilight, the parallels to a certain style of romance novel were obvious; that would be the dominant male/'ordinary' female.

The first books that come to my mind when I think about that convention are the Harlequin Presents line--they have white covers and a circle illustration of the couple in the book. They look almost exactly the same as they did when I was a teen. And they must still sell well, because they're available at Wal-Mart, which is not known for its extensive book selection. Key words in the titles often include: billionaire, virgin, secret, tycoon, prince/princess/sheik/royal, innocent/innocence, blackmail, scandal, and mistress.
eta: Harlequin books are sold as Mills & Boon in England and Australia.

Edward Cullen holds a lot of the power in the Twilight series. He's wealthy, super strong, ridiculously attractive and so forth. He has everything--except love. Yes, I'm giggling as I type this. He's basically the same as the tycoons, princes, sheiks and billionaires of the Harlequin lines, except for being a vampire who attends high school. (Yup, giggling again.)

Because I'm a completionist, I went and read a book from the Harlequin Presents line, for the first time since... um, I'm not sure when. That's not a style of romance novel that I enjoy now. For the record, it's The Sicilian Boss's Mistress, by Penny Jordan. Why that one? Because it was at the thrift store and it was published last year. Also maybe because I recognized the author's name as one I used to prefer. There's a reason why this admission is in small type. YOU'LL SEE.

So Our Hero, Alessandro Leopardi, is a misogynist who refuses to hire female pilots for his private jet. Trained pilot Leonora Thaxton, hoping for a job with Leopardi anyway, disguises herself as her brother and flies his plane. When Leopardi realizes he's been fooled, he decides to blackmail Our Heroine into pretending to be his girlfriend for a weekend. Apparently wealthy, devastatingly attractive men have a hard time getting dates for those family gatherings.

Alessandro and Leonora find each other attractive. But they must repress it! He's been hurt in his past and therefore believes all women are only after him for his money. She's traumatized by her ongoing virginity and feels that she can never act on any desires she might have because then the man would know her tragic lack of experience. Oh, the shame! I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. Really.

(Stop that snickering right now! Yes, you in the back! I can see you!)

In the weekend that Alessandro and Leonora spend together at his brother's home, they go from angry avoidance to almost-sex, to sex and engaged. The proposal happens right before it's announced at a party--because Alessandro has already arranged to make the announcement even before asking his bride-to-be. Yup. And rather than continuing with her pilot aspirations, Leonora is happily planning her future children with her fiancé. (There's nothing wrong with this choice. I'm pointing this out because it's another criticism I see of the Twilight series--that by the end the lead female has a goal of motherhood. It's common in these novels. Side note: I generally like it when people want to be parents. "The world must be peopled!" Preferably by people who would rather be parents than not.)

Now that we've gotten the basics established, here are some fun parallels between Twilight and The Sicilian Boss's Mistress.

Already covered by my summary: the lead couple has some force that compels them to stay apart, and the lead couple also has a force that compels them toward each other. (That would be ~~hormones~~ love.)

appearance = characterization
There's a huge emphasis on appearance and physicality. This is my favorite description of Alessandro from Leonora's POV (page 31): He exuded an air of male virility that aroused within her a raft of unfamiliar and complex emotions that undermined and weakened her. There was something about the way he turned his head, the look in the slate-grey eyes and the shape of his wholly male mouth that disrupted her ability to think logically and forced her to keep looking at him.

stalking
Alessandro spies on Leonora while she's in a dressing room. Not because he's a pervert--of course not. He's focusing on the emotions on her face. Clearly this makes it okay.

At some point I meant to skim through the book again and find another stalking bit, but, uh, I ~~purposely~~ lost the book during a recent move.

extreme physical reactions to mild arousal
Breathing is important in this book and Twilight as well. (Or not breathing, as Bella is prone to doing when kissing Edward.) Two good sentences about how Leonora's breathing is affected by Alessandro:

Page 79, while looking at him seated next to her: Her heart itself did a series of back flips that threatened to leave her severely deprived of oxygen.

Page 153, contemplating the idea that she might be in love with Alessandro: Her heart went into full washing machine spin cycle.

Hee! Give me a minute to compose myself...

Finally, can't get no satisfaction!
There are several scenes where you think the lead couple will "consummate their relationship" but they don't until much later in the book. Or for the Twilight series, the fourth (and final) book.

I'll let other people argue over the young adult classification of the novels and what that means. I've already mentioned that authors don't necessarily control how their novels are classified. From what I've read, Meyer didn't have YA classification in mind when she wrote Twilight. She just wanted to write the story in her head. Maybe Meyer should have titled her novel The Vampire's Forbidden Virgin Bride. Or Vampire Tycoon, Secret Mistress. Whatever anyone thinks of how the Twilight series is classified and/or marketed, I can say this: many teenage girls read romance novels, even when they're not labeled for them. Shocking, I know!

As for religious connection to the series, I'm certainly not automatically opposed to examining the influences an author has had in life, but so many of the statements I'm seeing about Twilight seem to be ignoring the really big, obvious force on the books; that would be the genre. It's as if someone examined Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind for traces of Spielberg's Judaism and never acknowledged that first and foremost, it's a science fiction movie.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Her heart went into full washing machine spin cycle.

That sounds..extremely unpleasant. *does not snicker* :p

I'M GLAD YOU'RE NOT SNICKERING, YOUNG LADY. THIS IS POTENTIALLY A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM.

note to self: do not use appliances for analogies when writing (theoretical) romance novels

Just in case you're curious I looked up sales of the Jordan book, it moved about 6600 copies. Which seems about par for the course for series Harlequin novels (they seem to all sell between 5-10K). There's roughly 4 per month released in each of about 12-15 series between Harlequin and Silhouette, so you can see how it's a really productive and profitable business model (esp. when you factor in the low advances given on these books, which don't usually exceed $5K I don't think)

Given that 93% of books released sell less than 1000 copies, there's definitely a demand in the marketplace for these.

HP has always been the most old-fashioned bodice-rippery of the Harl/Silhouette lines. Every title is ripped right out of 1952, complete with built-in misogyny!, and most are really gross and cringe-inducing in that "this woman is a possessive of this man" kind of way.

Edited 2010-06-07 23:17 (UTC)

Given that 93% of books released sell less than 1000 copies

!!!!!!

I am . . . utterly floored by that. That's so few! Poor little books.

Yup. That was a surprising stat that I heard at BEA. Even having access to Nielsen's numbers and seeing how little a lot of well-known authors sell...still shocking.

Given that 93% of books released sell less than 1000 copies, there's definitely a demand in the marketplace for these.

Yeah, I figured that with the same style of cover for so many years, Harlequin must be confident that this is a money-wining venture and there's no need to tinker with the formula.

I was snickering all the way through...clearly this is not the genre for me. ;-)

Y'know, I can go for the dominant male in romance novels with certain authors. But a lot of them make me wince. (I'm sure the badness of this particular novel was exacerbated by me expressly looking for romance novel conventions to link to Twilight.)

I think to refresh my brain I need to go finish reading that Dick Francis novel I started Saturday. :)

Harlequin Presents! Goodness. Do you know I first found these at my elementary school library? Yup. Not even junior high. I was eleven years old. It was on for me and romance from then on. Of course I became a shipper. :-) I used to keep a list when I was little of how many romances I read and I quit listing when I broke 150. I could write that Harlequin Presents formula novel. So predictable! So addictive too. :-)

Penny Jordan is still writing? For reals? She sure made her money. And she used to be one of my favorites too! You read one recently? I can't imagine reading one now because they are so silly! But she did write good schmoop and I can appreciate schmoop.

Ooh, his name is Alessandro. :-) Sorry, getting distracted. :-)

There are several scenes where you think the lead couple will "consummate their relationship" but they don't until much later in the book.
Yes, the consummation fakeout! Let me tell you it really did confuse my 11 and 12-year-old selves. Lest you worry about my then tender age know that sometimes when the romance was finally consummated and I didn't really even know it had happened because it was so fraught with flowery euphemisms or I'd been faked out so many times I just didn't notice. I'd read back and go, what?! I hope that this writing has grown clearer but somehow I don't think so. And back in my day, they didn't always consummate in Harlequin Presents, either. They'd get married at the end, or there would be consummation-interruptus or something would happen to prevent it.

many teenage girls read romance novels, even when they're not labeled for them.
I found Twilight about four years ago in the YA section of the library and skimmed it and didn't deem it worthy of borrowing on my card. But as a young girl? I read everything. As I said, I found the Harlequins in the school library so I thought that was okay. Preteens will find whatever if they want to. Then I used my allowance to buy a few. I think I still have the first one I ever purchased. I do: Infatuation by Charlotte Lamb. It only cost $1.95. Charlotte Lamb was one of my favorites too. :-)

Romance novels can be trite and formulaic but if I had more discipline I'd churn them out. Good money. And entertaining. And I learned about the UK and different spellings of words like 'prioritise' and what 'fancying' someone meant. :-) As a young girl, I knew the difference between these books and reality. I think young girls are smart and they know the stuff in Twilight or Harlequin Presents are just . . . fantasies. I'll speak for myself. I think I was smart enough to know the difference and probably found more harm in books like Sweet Valley High or those YA Wildfire books that made every American town seem sweet and wholesome and that was the norm. Believing that caused me more harm than reading about vampires would. But that's just me.

Do you know I first found these at my elementary school library? Yup. Not even junior high.
*boggles* Really?!?

I could write that Harlequin Presents formula novel. So predictable! So addictive too. :-)
Yeah, there's definitely a formula. And I've thought I could write that as well.

Penny Jordan is still writing? For reals? She sure made her money. And she used to be one of my favorites too! You read one recently? I can't imagine reading one now because they are so silly! But she did write good schmoop and I can appreciate schmoop.

I know! I thought I was going to get good schmoop but... not so much. Reading analytically, with the express purpose of looking for the conventions is obviously not going to be as enjoyable as just reading, but even with that in mind, it was just BAD. I actually bought two Harlequin Presents at the thrift store, and the other one, though it had much worse misogyny, was better-written by far. (It didn't have quite as many good parallels to the Twilight series, even though it did have misogyny, dubcon sex and plenty of other icky stuff. And yet I still liked it better because the writing was competent instead of giggle-inducing. And there was some actual characterization.)

So Penny Jordan, what happened?!

Yes, the consummation fakeout! Let me tell you it really did confuse my 11 and 12-year-old selves. Lest you worry about my then tender age know that sometimes when the romance was finally consummated and I didn't really even know it had happened because it was so fraught with flowery euphemisms or I'd been faked out so many times I just didn't notice.

*giggles* Not quite as many flowery euphemisms nowadays. The prose is now pale lilac instead of purple.

And back in my day, they didn't always consummate in Harlequin Presents, either. They'd get married at the end, or there would be consummation-interruptus or something would happen to prevent it.

Yes, I remember that as well!

Then I used my allowance to buy a few. I think I still have the first one I ever purchased. I do: Infatuation by Charlotte Lamb. It only cost $1.95. Charlotte Lamb was one of my favorites too.

I quite liked Charlotte Lamb as well, by the way. And Susan Napier. As for buying my own, I didn't start until I found the Loveswept (http://www.romancewiki.com/Loveswept) line. Generally speaking, the Loveswept novels were less faily than the Harlequin Presents books were/are in terms of power in gender relationships and so forth. But look at which line is still in business.

Edited 2010-06-08 03:10 (UTC)

*boggles* Really?!?
Really. Seems odd to me now but then I just accepted it was like a public library. I had read a lot of what the school library had so I tried these. I remember being bored and thinking, "Why not?"

And I've thought I could write that as well.
Hey, could help you pay your mortgage. :-) I'm just sayin'. And you might write better stories too. In fact, I know you would.

Yes, I remember that as well!
Yeah, I don't know what was up with that. In hindsight and after I moved on to bigger and more flowery explicit romance novels (HP being my gateway into romance novels) I realize I was glad that the stories had been so vague. It was was I was ready for at that age and I wonder if they did that on purpose. But times have changed at HP, I suppose.

I don't remember Loveswept. I didn't think about misogyny in the novels back then, of course. I still think that Sweet Valley High was more fail for me than Harlequin Presents. Harlequin Presents were usually about adult British women far away in the UK. In the U.S. I was a young girl trying to identify with Jessica or Elizabeth Wakefield or other young teens on the covers of Wildfire YA novels or other YA series books. There was so much wrong with the formulas of those novels and I was young enough to think that life out there was supposed to be like in those books. And those were books directly were directly marketed to young girls. I really think they were really, really wrong in a lot of ways. Now I just read snark about the twins on Sweet Valley Diaries. (The site is down at the moment but will be back.) The reviewer describes the novels' fail much than I ever could and she's funny to boot. :-)

I don't remember Loveswept. I didn't think about misogyny in the novels back then, of course.
No, me neither. I was just automatically more drawn to the option that had the women doing more exciting things.

I never read the Sweet Valley books--not a single one. I much preferred dragons and stuff to 'realistic' fiction, unless it was funny.

Thank you for writing this. It's weird how many anti-Twilighters treat Twilight as if it's something completely new and out of the blue and that women are suddenly being 'corrupted' somehow. It's like people don't know romance novels exist and have been wildly popular for a century?

*throws hands in air* Yeah, I don't get it.

Good analysis here. Myself, I much prefer non-Harelquin Romances, but that is my personal preference. I am not sure about the YA rating, but I do know I heard the last one, she hadn't planned on having rated YA at least. And I honestly don't mind people enjoying a candy read. I just don't think some off the younger fans get a lot of what goes on. But then... should eight year olds even be reading YA in the first place?

I think a lot of the flack came from the fact that people were using the books to get young ladies to read and as one of my college professors, who is a middle school librarian said, the first three were tame. The forth, when it came out, she told us, she would be careful which off her students she recomended it too. Some of the ones who are trying to argue that kids get it, are also people who feel guilty about giving it to their kids, despite it not being what they want to teach their girls?

Should they be kicking themself for it? Nope. I don't think anyone except Meyer had a clue about the forth book. They should use it as a chance for good discussion.

Myself, I much prefer non-Harelquin Romances, but that is my personal preference.
Yeah, back then there weren't many other options; I was reading what was available at my library, and there were plenty of Harlequins. I find them difficult and frustrating to read now.

I am not sure about the YA rating, but I do know I heard the last one, she hadn't planned on having rated YA at least.
Yeah, I read that she wanted the last one to have a warning label of some kind that indicated 16+. And of course, she started writing just to entertain herself, then her sister, and wasn't planning for any other kind of audience.

If Meyer's says her books are geared towards 16+, I wish people would listen to her. I do know, Twilight has gotten some girls to read, who never would have read otherwise, but I also don't see enough adults stepping up and saying, hey... this is a candy read, not perfect, but still enjoyable How about we try something a little harder, a little different.

I mean, some of the girls I've seen say that Harry Potter has no plot because they can't understand Harry Potter, but that Twilight does, because they get that. Depending on the girl, it might identify a reading problem overall, or it might identify a lack of attention span, or... that the girl just wants to read about romance.

Harlequin Romances have their place, but I think that for young, impressionable reader, you need to balance it out with other kinds of romance novels. I say this because most young girls don't turn to adults with their romance problems, but their peers and the media, as it is such an uncomfortable subject.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

just when you thought it was safe to read my LJ... it's another Twilight post

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject