Today I'm sharing a link to another short but relevant article about fairy tales and the romance genre: All That Fairy Tale Nonsense by Chris Szego.
One of the many criticisms levelled at romance novels is that they’re a poor model for women when it comes to real-life relationships. All that fairy tale nonsense, detractors say, will make women want the wrong things from their partners. I could list a dozen things wrong with that assumption, but I’ll limit myself to three.
First, the blanket belief that, alone among the literate, romance readers believe everything they read is seriously insulting. Second, it demonstrates that said detractors don’t read much modern romance, or they’d know the kind of realism one can find therein. That’s annoying. Is divorce realistic, or abuse, or loss? Don’t worry: they’re covered. (Also, please consider what that means about the nature of ‘realism’).
This appeared on the Cultural Gutter, a site "updated Thursday afternoon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration." A fun diversion if you're interested in some of their common topics: science fiction, romance, comics and movies.
The article also offers some examples of romance novels with Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty themes. It's short, but not sweet, although a fun read.
I struggle with trying to explain the whole idea of fairy tales and romance to students and other people, but the negative associations are so strong, it's hard to overcome them.
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