For the last five weeks I’ve been teaching an MA course with the title of ‘Postmodernity: New Sexualities/New Textualities.’ This was originally called ‘The Discourses of Desire,’ a title I much preferred but that was dropped out to include some reference to the confusing idea that we live in postmodern times (they seem to be lasting far too long).
The course includes: Annie E. Proulx’s brilliant “Brokeback Mountain” (and the film by Ang Lee), Sarah Waters’s sparkling Tipping the Velvet (with the BBC adaptation), Nick Hornby’s candidly confessional High Fidelity (film by Stephen Frears), the frustrating romantic comedy by Nancy Meyers Something Gotta Give and the also candidly confessional novel by Rafael Yglesias, A Happy Marriage (see my entry about it on 13-I-2012).
I’m trying to come up with a set of rules that condition the current representation and discourse of desire and love in contemporary romance, based on these texts and others we’ve brought to class (last day we had a great session in which each of us presented a film about love, whether drama or comedy). Here’s the set of rules so far, still much tentative, incomplete and disordered:
*There is a tension between classic romantic narrative and the need to innovate narrative for romance in more ambitious films and novels
*The stories portrayed are, nonetheless, quite close to everyday life, using a sort of low mimetic tone, often with protagonists one is not meant to identify with
*Still, the association of romance with exotic places and characters remains in a few cases
*The fantasy of love at first sight is common
*It is believed that there is one true love for each person (though this can be the final person in a long list)
*Love is presented as a feeling that can last indefinitely if that person is found
*Yet, ironically, couples often assume their relationships might not work or last for long
*Stories often deal with the individual’s difficulties to settle down in a relationship (for fear there might be a better one)
*’Happily ever after’ endings are assumed to be actually temporary
*Marriage is always mentioned, either as a goal or as something to be avoided, though cohabitation is more and more common
*Commitment appears to be a much larger issue than passion, intimacy and even love itself
*In quite a few cases the romantic discourse is attributed to the man, whereas the woman remains more sceptical and even in control
*Male protagonists often review their past by making lists of ex-girlfriends or even visiting them
*The search for happiness in love has been expanded to middle and old age (including coming out of the closet)
*Yet, stories tend to focus on attractive people, mostly young (or young-looking for their age)
*A pre-condition for love (for women) is that they must make themselves as attractive as possible (particularly those around 30, the spinster’s age)
*Love is always accompanied by very good sex; even first sexual encounters appear to be highly satisfactory
*It is assumed that a loss of desire kills love though stories do not explain what happens to desire in a long relationship as people age and bodies lose their attractive (except as excuses for a break-up and the start of a sexier romance)
*Intimacy is insisted on but, apart from sex, romantic candlelit dinners and perhaps going to the cinema or the theatre together, stories do not explain what couples are supposed to do together (or talk about)
*Lovers tend to be shown in isolation from all their other relationships (perhaps with the exception of close families)
*It is taken for granted that all happy couples want children and that marriage must lead to forming families
*Domesticity is hardly ever contemplated
*Men tend to look for more attractive sexual partners, women for more communication, though more and more stories deal with women looking also for younger, more attractive partners (provided the women are beautiful)
*Romance is middle-class, with class differences seldom portrayed (or portrayed as an obstacle in unhappy stories)
*Racial or ethnic differences are always assumed to be problematic
*The inclusion of non-Anglo-Saxon ethnic or racial groups in romance is still very low
*Gender inequality is hardly ever mentioned, unless the story deals specifically with abuse
*The real impact of couple-related abused is ignored or downplayed
*Gay characters are being progressively incorporated in romantic comedy for heterosexuals
*Attractive men may turn out to be bisexual or gay
*Love stories about gay or lesbian couples are only occasionally mainstream and of general interest for heterosexual audiences
*No film or novel has really managed to explain a relationship based on friendship combined with sex –they all end up being about romance
*Tragic endings (the death of a partner) are assumed to be romantic
*A number of films deal with the end of a long, happy relationship by disease or death (Alzheimer’s is creating a kind of sub-genre)
That’s it for now… If you care to add any ideas, they’re very welcome!!
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