From the soulful and sublime to the silly . . .
Last Thursday, over at my Alys on Love blog, I posted some not-very-well-thought-out questions regarding love in romance novels. Today, I was going to pick up those thoughts and rant about “where is the love?” I have since changed my mind about the love thing. However, while climbing/walking/running ever so slowly on my treadmill a couple days ago and listening to my iPod, I came up with alternative lyrics to two songs : Where is the love? by the Black-eyed Peas and Where Has All the Love Gone? by Sheryl Crow.
Weird Al Yankovich has no worries. Believe me.
Here’s a sample of Alyson’s horrid alternative lyrics --- but first, please keep in mind that I change my tune at the end of the post and this isn’t meant to be a true dig. I fully and completely support the romance genre. I'm a romance reader and writer. Mostly, I’m making fun of myself here because what I came up with is so awful and cliché, but in a funny way. I hope.
1. Where is the love?
What's wrong with the romance novel?
Pretty people kiss, fight and grovel
I think the whole worlds addicted to the drama
Only attracted to the things that bring them trauma
In our lives we want true love
But on the page, we want true hunks
to fill our gaze, make us dazed,
drink our blood, be our love slaves
But if you only have love based on lust
Then you only leave space for it to bust
And busted up love only generates hate
And if you hatin you're bound to get irate
So ask yourself is the love story ringing true?
So I can ask myself what I should do
You gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love y'all
Chorus:People fighting, people screwing
Making up and then redoing
Could you practice what you write
Would your love life turn to shite?
Austen, Bronte, du Maurier help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause my books got me got me questioning
Where is real love?(where is real lovex3)(real love2x)
2. Where Has All The Love Gone
Today I read the strangest book, a steamy romance
with a hot alpha male, who couldn’t keep on his pants
And even though I'm trying to believe
With everything I know, it’s hard to achieve
Chorus:
I've been reading every darned romance
Where has all the love, where has all the love gone?
I've been giving every book a chance
Where has all the love, where has all the love gone?
Yesterday it occurred to me, the readers want passion
Sometime’s real love is hard, bring on the mashin'
To make it fun, they just want heat
And if we write it well , they get their meat (or treat)Repeat chorus . . .
Uh, let’s just say, I’m not that good at this and leave it at that.
3. My change of tune --
Since posting my original questions, I’ve thought about the fact that romance novels are about falling in love. In real life, some people make it, some don’t, but falling in love is still amazing and people want to relive the falling in love part – possibly with some hot, fantasy sex—over and over and over. While I was lamenting the love I find in some-- but not all-- romance novels I realized a couple things about romance novels that I think are important:
- They tap into the archetypes of the fairy tale, which are good for the psyche – falling in love is important, finding a mate is important. Women are the keepers of the fire on this particular point.
- They perpetuate the idea that heroes and heroines are equal and that the female gaze – who she thinks is hot and worthy of mating with—is just as important, or more important, than the male gaze. In most species, the female chooses who she mates with and the males go bananas trying to be chosen. That’s how it should be and often isn’t, but the romance genre usually gets that part right. (Uh, my husband objects).
- I love romance novels, whether or not I’m blown away by the actual love story every time.
Cheers and happy writing, Alyson
p.s. I did a poll of my writing group, some other writing friends and some nonwriting friends regarding “best love stories in movies and books.” The results are posted at my blog.
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