"...don’t need to be hand-held to the conclusion that they aren’t deviant."
Saving this for the next time someone inevitably asks me why I like dark/bodice ripper/monster romance. The unwillingness and honestly the inability to sit with something complexly flawed is representative of the lightning-quick speed we're expected to form opinions now. Social media doesn't allow time or space for holding, dissecting, and clarifying concepts, it demands yes or no opinions on the current hot topic before stampeding to the next "content" that can be raged against. Which is a whole other beast, how works of art are not considered individual pieces of art but instead get morphed into the nebulous cloud of content, a cloud that collapses all nuance in the endless race of consumption.
love this piece! thinking about the "why do you like this?" question brought to mind a Shelf Love episode titled "The Problematic is Calling From Inside the House" in which they posit "I don't think we like romance novels despite the problematics. I think we like them because of the problematics." which I thought was interesting, too 😁
This is a great essay, thank you so much. Loved the insights here.
"...don’t need to be hand-held to the conclusion that they aren’t deviant."
Saving this for the next time someone inevitably asks me why I like dark/bodice ripper/monster romance. The unwillingness and honestly the inability to sit with something complexly flawed is representative of the lightning-quick speed we're expected to form opinions now. Social media doesn't allow time or space for holding, dissecting, and clarifying concepts, it demands yes or no opinions on the current hot topic before stampeding to the next "content" that can be raged against. Which is a whole other beast, how works of art are not considered individual pieces of art but instead get morphed into the nebulous cloud of content, a cloud that collapses all nuance in the endless race of consumption.
Another banger. (as expected tbh)
Side note, the phrase "Amazon review from 1998" made my brain fritz out for a minute there.
Really excellent piece! Thank you for putting into words how unsettled I have recently felt about the “discourse” surrounding queer lit and media
love this piece! thinking about the "why do you like this?" question brought to mind a Shelf Love episode titled "The Problematic is Calling From Inside the House" in which they posit "I don't think we like romance novels despite the problematics. I think we like them because of the problematics." which I thought was interesting, too 😁