Nothing But An Escape

Romance novels have never been my idea of "good literature." Even though I have very limited experiences with romantic novels, I have always thought them to be a little too superficial and unrealistic. To me, romance novels seemed to simply be an extension of society's flawed notion of romance and the relationships between men and women. I just didn't see the point of reading romance novels. Janice Radway's piece definitely gave me a slightly different perspective on the issue of romance novels and media consumption in general.

Before reading this piece, I had never even considered the idea of using romance novels as a form of escape from the realities of life. It had never occurred to me that the seemingly cliché characters and predictable story lines could actually serve as a way in which to immerse one’s self in an idealized fantasy world. Radway’s study of Dot’s clientele was very interesting to me because it gave the female readers of romance novels a chance to express themselves and to explain their love (or obsession?) with these novels. Although I do not plan to go out and start reading as many romance novels as I can get my hands on, I did begin to identify with the women on their use of this media as an escape from real life. For instance, I am an avid viewer of MTV’s Jersey Shore. As a fairly educated young woman, I am fully aware that the show’s portrayal of women isn’t the most favorable. However, I watch it because it provides a break from the stresses of college life. Once a week, I can watch other people party it up and momentarily forget about the giant assignment I have to finish.

The chapter in Gill concerning audience consumption was also very striking to me in the manner in which it analyzes different kinds of media consumption studies from different points of view. I was struck by the fact that things like differences in location could have such a profound effect in the consumption of media and the manner in which it is interpreted. As a very large consumer of media (especially electronic media), I was pleased to see that research was being conducted from the point of view of the audience; as opposed to the research done by academics without any consideration of the average audience.

Romance Novels and Real Life Relationships

In reading Janice Radway’s Women Read the Romance: The Interaction of Text and Context the idea of women escaping in to romance novels was most striking. As I myself am not an avid reader of the popular romance novels of Nicholas Sparks or Jane Austen, I found this article to provide and interesting perspective. The Smithton women who indulge in romance novels overwhelmingly refer to escape as their primary reasoning for reading. Radway describes how the term of escape is used both literally and figuratively. The women can use romance novels to literally escape from their surroundings and withdraw their attention from reality. While I must agree that romance novels do provide an entertaining way to literally escape, I would argue that many other genres too accomplish this goal. The draw to romance novels, therefore, must be for the figurative escape into a world of whirlwind romance and happy endings.  In their interviews, the Smithton women explained that “They feel refreshed and strengthened by their vicarious participation in a fantasy relationship where the heroine is frequently treated as they themselves would most like to be loved” (47). Women can fantasize about being attended to and cherished just as the heroine in their novels.

Some of the quotes cited in this article about how women fantasize about a life and relationship different from their own made me question and further investigate the idea romance novels ruining relationships. I found this article that touched on this concept and provided some more perspectives.

Reading into Romance

Upon reading both Radway's article and Gill's explanation of Audience Studies, I found myself focusing in on four main points from the two articles: the "escape" of reading romance novels, the freedom of reading books rather than watching TV, romance versus lust, and the relationship between Radway and the subjects of her study.
1. The sense of "escape" that the women who read romance novels feel when they are immersed into a story. The women take on the role of the heroine and enjoy their new found strong personality as well as their passivity to the masculine hero. Personally, this just seems like an adult version of any Disney story! However, I must say that this "escape" that the readers feel is one that I have felt before while reading a great novel. You, the reader, are lured in by the words of the author and the excitement of being "in" an adventure that you cannot experience in reality.
2. I was taken back by the comments made by some of the Smithton readers that they feel guilty watching TV, but reading a leisure book is alright because it is educational. There are many shows on television, especially soap operas, that have the same story lines and fantasies that are played out in romance novels. It seemed silly to think that they felt bad about spending thirty minutes watching a show, but they don't feel bad spending thirty minutes reading a book?...
3. I found myself at times wondering whether the author and readers were viewing the stories as romantic or lustful. While there is a very slim distinction between the two, the difference is pretty great. Gill points out that women are trying to achieve self-gratification by reading these novels, but isn't lust a desire for self-gratification? So that brings me to the original question...are they conversing about romance or lust?
4. One of the critiques about Radway that is mentioned in the book is that there is a clear "stark and hierarchical" distinction that Radway makes between herself and the readers. I agree with this statement completely and found it baffling that a scholar writing about feminist studies and equality would be so quick to assume that the women reading romance novels are just minimally educated housewives.

While reading the article, I immediately thought about this Friends clip where Joey finds Rachel's romance novel and demands that she is reading porn. Which just brings up the point again of the difference between romance and lust.

An Escape to "Real Life"

            Gill’s reading discusses audience studies specifically looking at the encoding/decoding moment of the audiences, the pleasures audiences receive from the media they view, and the shift to studying information and communication technologies in the context of everyday life.  The encoding/decoding moment describes the way a person takes in and understands a message they receive from the media.  Gill talks about how a message can have more than just one meaning and sometimes we may not understand the true meanings behind a message.  With looking at audience pleasure, Gill discusses the idea that many women who read romances enjoy fleeing from their own, real life and falling into the heroine’s life in their imagination.

            This leads into Radway’s article “Women Read the Romance.”  This article describes a group of romance readers, whom she calls the Smithton women, who enjoy reading romance novels in order to escape their real life.  In order to feel happy and content, many of these women turn to romance novels because “reading the novels gives them hope [and] provides pleasure” (Radway, 49).

            It was interesting to me how both of these articles stated the idea that women become more comfortable and find reading or watching television more pleasurable when they are by themselves.  Women want to be loved and treated right and sometimes they do not receive that attention so they turn to romances in order to make them feel better about themselves.  Many women treat men with care and respect, and many men do not reciprocate those actions, which is why it is unfair that women have to turn to romance novels in order to become happy.  It is also noted that some women have to watch their favorite television show by themselves to make it an enjoyable activity.  Women see romances as an escape from their real life and if your wife, girlfriend, or partner, whatever you would like to call them, is turning to romances to be happy, maybe you should check your relationship and the way you are treating her.