And Reaffirms Traditional Male-female Rel Essay, Research Paper

The theory that popular art as a whole exists to reenforce the position quo and maintain its audience happy with it is one that has long been espoused by critics. This attitude is one which was particularly championed by the Marxist oriented Frankfurt school of idea led by Horkheimer, Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, who argued that merely & # 8220 ; high & # 8221 ; art could give us a position of a better tomorrow. In her book & # 8220 ; Loving with a Vengeance & # 8221 ; ( -henceforth referred to as LWAV ) Tania Modleski argues that, in this sense, disdain for & # 8216 ; mass & # 8217 ; art is seen as a politically pro~ressive attitude ( pg.30 ) Howeve~ she goes on to state that Robert Jameson showed that mass art frequently contained many specific unfavorable judgments of ~everyday life.Therefore, in order to efficaciously reply the inquiry above the extent to which the popular love affair criticises or celebrates the traditional dealingss between the sexes must be determined. In this essay I will try to analyze this closely, looking foremost at how far the novels in inquiry can be said to be reaffirming the traditional functions between the sexes so traveling on to analyze the possible challenges they offer. It would be utile to foremost determine what is meant by the traditional dealingss between the sexes. & # 8221 ; The hero in Mills and Boon and Harlequin novels must be, in order for the novel to be published, significantly older than the heroine ( normally by 10s to fifteen old ages ) and he is by and large financially better off and in ownership of higher societal position and ever sexually more experient and physically more powerful than her. In older publications such as & # 8220 ; Sonora Sundown & # 8221 ; by JanetDailey ( Mills and Boon 1978 ) the heroine is identified as a virgin in the first chapter whilst her prospective lover is an histrion, good known for his & # 8220 ; success & # 8221 ; with adult females. His physical domination of her is one of the really first scenes in the book as she tries to get away from him, believing that he is traveling to kill her. The scene concludes with a menace of colza in the immortal lines & # 8220 ; I ought to do love to you ; it & # 8217 ; s what a vixen like you deserves! & # 8221 ; ( Page 30 ) His physical high quality over her is continually stressed and he uses it frequently rather viciously, particularly in scenes of struggle. Phrases such as & # 8220 ; his punishing clasp & # 8221 ; , ~ & # 8217 ; difficult unrelenting busss & # 8221 ; and ~exquisite pain & # 8221 ; are common throughout the novel, along with his averments that & # 8220 ; I & # 8217 ; m no gentleman & # 8221 ; In the 1991 publication of & # 8220 ; Specialist in Love & # 8221 ; by Sharon Wirdnam ( besides Mills and Boon ) the stressing of the physical high quality of the hero has on the whole been replaced by his rational prowess-he dictates words which she can non spell and is ill-mannered and verbally aggressive towards her alternatively of physically so but he is surely still taller, older and of a higher societal standing than the heroine ( a adviser skin doctor to her medical secretary, ) with a fierce pique, albeit one restrained to the verbal sphere. These sets of fortunes would surely look to reenforce the traditional image of the male being the physical, rational and economic higher-up of the female within a romantic relationship. An inequality of category between the hero and heroine appears to be important to the secret plan of modern romantic fiction. This is non surprising if we look at the fact that work forces in our society by and large hold the economic power, and that a adult female & # 8217 ; s position is identified with that of her husbandls: happening an appropriate hubby is the job and the most effectual manner to guarantee fiscal and societal stability.Indeed Anne Cranny-Francis writes in ~Feminist Fiction~ that ~ & # 8217 ; Inequality of category is every bit much a mechanism of the love affair as the gender relationships. & # 8221 ; This impression surely appears to be reaffirmed by the narration of the popular love affair where the heroine transcends her ain category and economic fortunes by being virtuous plenty to be desired as a married woman by a member of a category above her. Carolyn Steedman says in & # 8220 ; Landscape ~for a Good Woman| that one of the most widespread fairy tales of our society is that & # 8220 ; goose-girls can get married male monarchs & # 8221 ; -we might add & # 8220 ; if they make themselves attractive enough. & # 8221 ; That a adult female of a lower socio-economic category can promote herself by matrimony to a adult male of higher societal position reaffirms the patriarchal society & # 8217 ; s method of specifying adult females strictly in gender footings, and as inferior to work forces who are defined by their category, race and public accomplishments amongst other things, along with their gender. Womans are egalitarian because as a sex they are inferior and under the control of work forces: they are portion of a immense sub-class and every bit long as they do non try to alter this position quo they might be able to do a passage to something better by matrimony to the & # 8216 ; right & # 8217 ; adult male. The heroine must be careful non to try to protest about her subjection ; the heroine & # 8217 ; s choler is often portrayed as diverting to the hero ; any of her actions which are described as & # 8216 ; hawkish & # 8217 ; & # 8216 ; noncompliant & # 8217 ; or & # 8216 ; rebellious & # 8217 ; for illustration are finally ineffectual. Modleski writes in ~LWAV~ & # 8220 ; the heroine & # 8217 ; s look of bitterness which is the consequence of and merely possible redress for her belittlement is felt to be the really means by which she encourages her ain belittlement. & # 8221 ; The lone means of bettering one & # 8217 ; s place in society is portrayed as being of the & # 8216 ; if you can & # 8217 ; t cream them, love them & # 8217 ; school of thought-the adult female must give her pride. The heroine & # 8217 ; s pride is normally the really obstruction which prevents the supporters coming together for a piece and populating merrily of all time after: she is the applied scientist of her ain defeat. In & # 8220 ; Specialist in Love & # 8221 ; she overhears a telephone conversation between the hero and his girlfriend and is convinced she is simply being used as a toy so she flees from the hero ; in & # 8220 ; Sonora Sundown & # 8221 ; the heroine rejects the hero & # 8217 ; s chesty progresss to her, convinced, although in love with him, that he is merely interested in her for amusement & # 8217 ; s interest. In both instances the heroine must give her pride and lay herself unfastened to the hero, whatever the possible consequences/humiliations may be before she can accomplish ~true felicity and fulfillment. To be attractive to the & # 8216 ; right & # 8217 ; sort of adult male the, heroine must present no menace to him either sexually, intellectually or physically. The heroine in all Mills and Boon and Harlequin novels without exclusion is ne’er the hero & # 8217 ; s boss or even professional equal ; at least non in the patriarchal capitalist society where the novels are set ; in & # 8220 ; Specialist in Love & # 8221 ; she is his secretary, in & # 8220 ; Sonora Sundown & # 8221 ; she works in a trade store whereas he is an internationally celebrated actor.These portraitures of the heroines as holding businesss traditionally regarded as instead humble and relatively unimportant may good be related to the premise that the bulk of readers of these novels are themselves in similar places and like~ to place with their heroine ; nevertheless the hero is ne’er a bricklayer, a mineworker or a truck driver for example-he is required to be possibly a physician, a attorney or an histrion ( and surely non a fighting one. ) The heroine is besides often a virgin and ever sexually less experient than the hero: she poses no menace to him sexually ; if there is any sexual waking up to be done we can be certain of who will be making it.The male must be personally, professionally and financially successful. He must desire the heroine in malice of his strength, non because of any failing. They must merchandise what he can give her materially and socially for what she can give him emotionally. The emotional sphere is the lone 1 in which he heroine is allowed to be superior to the hero ; she is continually monitoring and seeking to understand his behavior, and frequently explicating or pardoning it. & # 8220 ; Possibly the sudden enchantment of bad conditions had stirred a Satan in him.Many work forces looked for whipping boies when overworked. & # 8221 ; ( Quote taken from & # 8220 ; Lesson in Love-Harlequin taken from Modleski & # 8217 ; s LWAV ) This inability to see that she is the cause of the hero & # 8217 ; s odd behavior can be seen to reaffirm two more traditional positions of male-female dealingss ; the impression that the female must non actively be seeking the male & # 8217 ; s desire of her in order to be worthy of it and besides the image of the menace of colza or humiliation being a agency of penalizing the errant female. The heroine is ever incognizant of the consequence she is holding sexually on the male ; so she is normally incognizant of being

watched or listened to by the male when she discloses her true feelings towards him and she is frequently unconscious or without any other option when she is at her most sexually alluring-being stripped or viewed semi-naked by him. She must be entirely innocent-passive not active in her arousal of him; otherwise she risks humiliation. In “Sonora Sundown” the heroine is stranded and injured when she is forced to undress in front of the hero to allow him to attend to her wounds; in “Specialist~ she is unconscious through illness when she is stripped by the hero and put to bed. Modleski says in LWAV “To be alive and conscious is to be suspect.” This is certainly apparent in the male protagonist’s treatment of the usually present ‘other woman’-she is young enough to be a threat but too old to be innocent and she is mostly upfront and honest about her sexual desire for the hero, if not her desire to marry him. We, however are aware of it, and the hero frequently treats her with contempt, or if he becomes involved with her it is a purely sexual arrangement and not one with the ‘purer~ intent of marriage attached to it. She always fails in her aim simply because she is aware of it and consciously acts accordingly. The use of the third person narrative also helps to reaffirm the heroine’s unwittingness in her arousal of the male. She is being watched by the reader who is aware of her effect on the hero, but she patently is not. Parallells can even be seen between the sexually aware ‘other woman’ and the powerful cultural norm of Eve in the Garden of Eden-having bitten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge she has no hope of attaining the status of the entirely innocent Virgin Mary who receives the approval of, and metaphorically becomes the bride of God~arguably the greatest male hero of them all. The sexually aware woman is denigrated to the level of being deserving of male abuse: the metaphorical ’slag’ (it goes without ~saying that double standards are in operation here.) However, despite the copious evidence to suggest that popular romance reaffirms the traditional, unequal relations between the sexes, to see these novels as merely sexist propaganda disguised as entertainment would be wrong. The most obvious question to be answered is the one relating to why the genre is so popular (it accounts for ten percent of the paperback market.) What do its millions of (mostly female) readers find so satisfying about it? Germaine Greer says of the archetypal romantic hero that “This is the hero that women have chosen for themselves. The traits invented for him have been invented by women cherishing the chains of their bondage” However, this claim must be mitigated by the reasoning that in a sexist society, social conditioning may also have a large part to play in determining the sexual fantasies of women. If women have little freedom of choice in their lives, why should it be assumed they have much in their art? Susan Brownmiller (quoted in LWAV) writes “Given the pervasive male ideology of rape (the mass psychology of the conqueror) a mirror image female victim psychology (the mass psychology of the conquered) could not help but arise. Near its extreme this female psychosexuality indulges in the fantasy of rape. Stated another way, when women do fantasize about sex, the fantasies are usually the product of male conditioning and cannot be otherwise.~ To assume that the women reading these texts hanker after subjugation and humiliation is, I believe, a very narrow-minded and naive standpoint to take. The notion that the reader is either mentally deficient or happily accepting of her subjugation also seems to be a very patronising view to take of the millions of capable, intelligent women who read the texts. The fantasy would appear to lie not in the traits of the hero which are more likely an expression of the experiences of everyday life, but in the explanations given for his behaviour (male brutality being really an expression of ~love). Clara Thompson, quoted in LWAV writes that ~ …women’s ‘masochism’ is a form of adaption to an unsatisfactory and circumscribed life~ This would seem to promote the idea that it is an active decision to make their lives more bearable rather than a passive acceptance of their lot. The violent nature of the heroes has also been suggested as being an ‘inoculation’ against the violence present in the readers own lives; it is explained as love and passion rather than contempt. This however is probably not the main satisfaction accorded to readers of popular romance. In “Eros and Civilisation” Marcuse (quoted in LWAV) argues that “Freudianism contains a hidden liberating tendency because it encourages people to explore the sources of their repression and to discover in their dreams and fantasies the long hidden wishes which ultimately constitute a critique of repressive civilisation.” This idea gives us a new angle on the popular romance. Whilst the heroine ultimately surrenders to the hero’s charms, in the interim period she MAKES HIM SUFFER. She, by rejecting him, brings him to his knees internally and exacts a form of revenge for his arrogant treatment of her, before she succumbs. Although this revenge is usually unconsciously exacted, it would seem highly plausible to suggest that she may well be satisfying the reader’s desire for revenge against her devaluation by a sexist society. The hero must also chanqe his behaviour before the heroine will accept his advances and it is perhaps in this area that the romance can most be seen to be challenging the relations between the sexes. The female heroine, although usually unwittingly, effects a change in the status quo. She reforms the male to her own image of the ideal marriage partner. The hero begins by using his power to the detriment of the heroine, by making her uncomfortable or embarrassed for example, but she subverts the situation to enable this power to be used to her advantage (through marriage.) ~ intense power of the female to subvert the inequality of her position to her benefit, even transcending class divisions is a powerful image for the millions of readers of these novels and engenders the hope that the patriarchal system can be reformed. Whilst this is done in a very conventional fashion and only by a woman that never really set out to do so, the fact that the heroine can do this is quite plausibly very satisfying to the~reader. The novels can therefore be seen to express the level of female discontent with traditional society and her subjugation within it. This ideal can be seen clearly in Richardson’s “Pamela,” written in 1740 and frequently called the ‘mother’ of all popular romances, achieving mass popularity amongst women when it was first published. Pamela, the heroine, by denying her boss advances and threatened rape of her, by remaining virtuous throughout, sufficiently moves her master to reform and marry her. She renegotiates and reforms the patriarchy under which she lives by the only means available to her. The male must therefore be abusive to give the reader an incentive to see him changed. The heroine is not only advancing her own position, but can seen to be striking a blow for all those whose lives ~are devalued under patriarchy. As Tania Modleski says ‘The price is high but women may be getting more than anyone bargained for.” (LWAV) How high is the price though? She says that “An understanding of Harlequin romances should lead one less to condemn the novels than the conditions which have made them necessary.” (LWAV) How, though, are the conditions to change if women’s anger and discontent are alleviated by seeing a fictional set of circumstances changed? The real danger of the genre, in my opinion, lies not in its reaffirmation of the traditional roles of the sexes but in its possible effect as an opiate, a quasi-religion, preventing by appeasement, women’s discontent from effecting real action and consequently change.BIBLIOGRAPHYAusten, Jane/ PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Wordsworth) Austen, Jane/ PERSUASION (Wordsworth) Cranny-Francis, Anne/ FEMINIST FICTION (Harvester) Dailey, Janet/ SONORA SUNDOWN (Mills & Boon) Darce-Frenier, Mariam/ GOODBYE HEATHCLIFFE (Harvester) Fowler, Bridget/ THE ALIENATED READER (Harvester) Modleski, Tania/ LOVING WITH A VENGEANCE (Harvester) Steedman, Carolyn/ LANDSCAPE OF A GOOD WOMAN (Harvester) Wirdnam, Sharon/ SPECIALIST IN LOVE (Mills ~ Boon)