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baegin-ace-blog · 7 years

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Oh Juliet, Juliet, wherefore art thou Juliet: Why I (sometimes) Love Romance in Fiction

I love to read. A lot. I read everyday on the train and before bed. I read a little of everything: non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, young adult, you name it. And anyone who’s spent any amount of time with me watching shows or movies knows how angry and annoyed I get at the romantic subplots in a lot of media. So it might surprise you to learn that I devote a significant amount of my time to reading romantic fiction.

The big question here is why? As an unromantic person who rolls their eyes at romantic subplots, why am I so obsessed with romance in fiction? And it’s not just books and fanfiction, although a good portion of my favorites are there. I do also enjoy romance in tv and film sometimes too. So what’s going on here? Well to answer that question, we need to talk a bit about the mainstream portrayal of romance.

I often find romance as portrayed in media as deeply flawed. Either the relationship itself is not healthy or the characters don’t seem to mesh correctly. One of my least favorite kinds is the tendency of shows to end with their lead man and woman winding up in a relationship at the end of the series. Now sometimes this dynamic works, so long as the characters have been building up to this point, but often times it doesn’t work because it is a last minute get-together for the sake of heterosexuality. Two examples I can think of off the top of my head are Kim Possible and Warehouse 13 (two shows I love dearly, so don’t hate me!). In KP, the two main characters, Kim and Ron, spend the whole series as bffs; there are never any psuedo-romantic moments between them. Their friendship is very comfortable, they never show any desire to be a couple, and are very supportive of the other’s dating life. Then, in the movie, all of sudden I’m supposed to believe they’re into each other? Just like that, with no leadup at all? And then, in the last season, the entire dynamic of their relationship completely changes once they're dating! It was awful! Part of what made KP so much fun was the subversion of gender roles they played with, but as soon as their male and female leads started dating, they fell back into the same old patterns. I was supremely disappointed.

In a similar vein, in Warehouse 13, main characters Myka and Pete spend the whole show with a brother/sister dynamic. Somewhere in the last season Pete realizes he likes Myka, but she doesn’t realize she likes him back until the last episode. It’s played out really sloppy. There’s no significant build up to these relationships, they just happen, as if the endgame of all male-female friendships is always romance. Not only is this not true, it damages real male-female friendships by making society expect them to always end in romance.

But now let’s look at an example of romance done right: the best slow-build relationship show ever, Leverage. Leverage is my favorite live-action show of all time. It’s absolutely wonderful, and part of the reason why is the respect it has for its characters. The romances that unfold on the show have a long and realistic progression. They aren’t rushed, they aren’t forced, and they follow the character arcs already in place with the plot. While in other shows I will roll my eyes at romantic scenes, every Hardison/Parker scene has me squealing and clutching my chest. Why? Because their romance is believable; it makes sense for who they are as characters, the developments that do happen only occur when they feel right for where they are in their character arcs, and overall, the culmination of their romance becomes rewarding to watch, not just another plot point to check off the list.

So I have no problem with romance plots, as long as it’s done with intent; if the romance is thrown in as a way to give our characters something to do or to show their desirability, I’m out. If the romance is well developed, paced, and executed, then I am right there squeeing along with all of you. This is also why I read a lot of romantic fanfiction. People who don’t read fanfiction have a very limited view on what it is. They either think it’s all bad teenage writing with Mary-Sue author-stand-ins or all erotica with bad sex scenes (side bar: sex scenes in published novels are often a million times MORE awful, when compared to some of the scenes I’ve read in fanfiction. Seriously, I don’t understand). And yes, fanfiction can most definitely be both of these things. There are TONS of really, really bad fanfictions out there, just as there are tons of really, really bad published novels too. But just like I’ve read lots of great novels, I’ve also read the best “novels” of my life in fanfiction (Sansukh, you superstar, I’m looking at you). I admit, though, that most of fanfiction plots either involve or are about some romantic pairing. The really good ones, of course are about more: action, adventure, horror, mystery. However, the core of fanfiction is character relationships and digging out emotions over plot, and one thing a fanfiction can do well is a good romance.

Now, again, obviously there are bad fanfictions, do not get me wrong. There are fics with unhealthy romances and fics where the romances make no sense and so on. But because fanfiction is a genre largely devoted to fleshing out already existing character interactions and relationships into romance, already each story starts with a base of character interactions to build the romance upon. Fanfiction is a medium about filling in the blanks of media, and so these romances can often follow the path I wish mainstream romances followed. And, yeah, I’ve read my fair share of truly awful fanfictions, but I’ve also read more good ones than I’ve seen romances in media that I find appealing.

Another great thing about fanfiction: it tends to be super gay. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with the standard heterosexual romance, but I honestly find queer romances to be 100% more interesting, if given the choice. Gay/lesbian? Sign me up! Trans/genderqueer? Wonderful! Happy, consensual polyamory? Please! And also, heterosexual romances are often written in very sexist and problematic ways. The women are like prizes, the relationships often involve coercion or unhealthy power dynamics, and the standard tropes of miscommunication and lying really bug me. That’s also why I tend to love shows with openly queer characters so long as the characters are written with care and respect. A fine example: Steven Universe. Not only is the show amazing in terms of story, mythology, character, and humor, but it also has amazing representation of the LBGT+ community. Lesbian characters, bi/pan characters, genderqueer characters, and the deconstruction of gendered expressions. I adore it! So it’s no wonder that I love romantic fanfiction that explores the nuances of queer relationships. (And, no, I won’t deny that fanfiction has a tendency to skew towards male/male, has a track record of mistreating female characters, and often fetishizes gay relationships; all valid criticisms! The bad exists; I happen to be talking mostly about the good in this post).

So the question we started with: why does a mostly aromantic person like to read romance? And the answer is, well, I’m not sure, really. I don’t know what it is that draws me to well-written romance stories. I don’t know why they make me squee in happiness and fill me with joy. I suppose you could ask why some people really like reading/watching shows about serial killers. It’s not like they want to become killers (we hope); it’s that there’s something (darkly) fascinating about killers to them. Same for me: there’s something fascinating and rewarding about good romance stories. I can’t explain it, I can only say it’s so. So definitely expect me to tear apart romances in fiction, especially when I think they are poorly done. But also expect to find me reading large quantities of romance and squealing over the results. I contain multitudes of likes and dislikes.

#asexuality #romance #fanfiction #romance in fiction #romance in media

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