I am writing this Blog-Entry on the Portrayal of Romance in Fiction: as per Jeanette's Recommendation-Request:
Society, at times, deems Fiction responsible for constructing unachievable standards for Real-Life Romance. Certainly, when I was a Child, I would wish for quite the Fairy-Tale Romance and could have been disappointed when Real-Life did not grant me all that I romanticized.
I enjoy Sir Edmund Spenser's Tableau of a healthy, fulfilling Romance in his Allegorical-Fairy-Tale, The Faerie Queene! On the surface, The Faerie Queene contains all the Magic and Supernatural-Elements of a Fairy-Tale. Nevertheless, when deciphering The Faerie Queene via the Allegorical-Lens, we find that Spenser offers to self-fashion the Reader into a healthy, fulfilling realistic Lover; as I trace in My Dissertation entitled, "The Inner Fairy: Reason and Imagination in The Faerie Queene and A Midsummer Night's Dream."
In a Nut-Shell: Spenser showcases that the human, Britomart, thus culminates her Identity as the Knight of Chastity. upon exploring Fairy-Land and encountering her Fairy-Twin- Doppelgängers: Belphoebe and Amoret; who respectively represent Platonic-Romance and Chaste and Fulfilling Married-Love!
Lately, I have been feeling that I have taken-on the Role of Britomart, Belphoebe, and Amoret in my Social-Life! For: Friends have often approached me for Romantic-Advice; and I have also offered Advice on a Romance Online-Forum. I am well-aware that I have had a Bookish-Perspective on Romance and even spelt-out that Reality to My Best-Friend when she approached me for Advice.
I truly appreciate the Romance between William Dobbin and Amelia Sedley in Vanity Fair, which is sub-titled, "The Novel without a Hero." I feel that that Sub-Title is sarcastic; as Dobbin really proves to be the true Hero of Vanity Fair! Dobbin has loved Amelia from Day-One, but wishes to respect her "love" for her husband, George Osborne, who is also his best friend; but a real superficial, disloyal chauvinist. I love how Becky Sharp actually does something right in the Ending by exposing George to Amelia for the dishonest philanderer that he is; and, henceforth, Amelia comes to embrace the genuine love for Dobbin that has built-up within her! For, Dobbin has provided the Solution to so many of her Problems; from initially going-forth with her elopement with George to regaining her Son to her up-bringing.
I enjoy the Romance between Adam Chandler and Brooke Alison English on the Soap-Opera, All My Children! The Couple exemplifies that a healthy and fulfilling Romance is realistic, rather than overromanticized. Brooke, rather than placing Adam on a pedestal, thoroughly knows Adam for who he is--in every Dimension; both the Good and the Bad; and perseveres in loving him. I like this Episode where her son, Jamie, and his friend, Maggie, have sex in Adam's limousine and so Adam reports them to the Police when he catches them in their indiscretion in his car. When Brooke arrives to pick-up Jamie from the Police-Station, Jamie claims that Adam called the Police on them since he found them sitting in his car. And Brooke knows Adam well enough to see-through Jamie's claim by vocalizing, "Adam would not call the police on you just for sitting in his car!" I really appreciate how Adam and Brooke are End-Game! Brooke knows Adam so well; that he can delve down the Dark-Side, but really has a Good-Heart! And it is rather interesting that Adam's Son, J.R. then attributes that Brooke is the Individual, who always evokes the Good-Heart in Adam! It also so happens that at that time, Adam was undergoing heart problems, which only Brooke knew about. So she worked side-by-side with the World-Renowned Cardiologist, David Hayward, to get Adam's heart working-again: on a *MULTIPLICITY* of Levels!
Sex and the City is quite the Cinematic-Portrayal of modern, everyday love.
It is evident that there are many outcomes that are extremely unlikely to occur in the Real-World. Carrie's Relationship with Mr. Big tops the list! I have realized that there is just an infinitesimal Probability that a Married-Man will end-up with the Other-Woman!
It is quite fascinating that so much of Sex and the City relies on embracing your flaws and Dark-Side in a Romantic-Relationship! For instance, Carrie has quite the *Meet-Cute* with Mr. Big--bumping-into-him and consequently dropping her pack of cigarettes and condoms. That *Meet-Cute* exemplifies that Carrie is not quite the conventional demure heroine.
I do appreciate how Sex and the City moralizes that Love is about appreciating both the strengths and weaknesses in the Other. It also portrays that an Individual often ends-up with the opposite of what she originally wished for.
Charlotte is the Girl, who wishes for a Fairy-Tale Romance with a Conventional Tall, Dark, and Handsome Knight-in-Shining-Armor. She does marry Trey, who she meets as her Knight-in-Shining-Armor, but ends-up not being able to coexist with her. Instead, her Marriage with Harry, who is the Opposite of all she wished-for, does end-up working-out. It is so very ironic that all with Harry is the Opposite of all Charlotte had scripted for her Marriage at the Beginning of the Series. Contrary to Charlotte's Rule to never immediately sleep with a Man she would marry, she sleeps with Harry immediately after meeting him for the First Time. And Harry does not fit the Physical-Appearance and Personality that Charlotte had dreamed of, but she falls in love with his Character! There is Voice-Over-Commentary that she may not have attained Romance, but she did attain Love.
Miranda, the Ultimate Feminist that often laughs at the Conventions of Romance and the Life that Nature and Society script for Women, gets pregnant by fluke by her Soulmate, Steve; after Steve had talked with her years ago about having a Child together. And Miranda certainly becomes a wonderful Mother and Wife: in that Order.
Samantha, who prides herself for being promiscuous, gets into a serious monogamous Partner-Ship with Jerrod Smith: whom she renames Smith Jerrod to turn him into an Entertainment-Star! I just now realized that Samantha does just what Charlotte had wished to do with Harry: reinvent Jerrod Smith!
Then Carrie, being the Heroine of Sex and the City, ends-up with all that a Girl--most of all Her-SELF--wishes for in Romance! As a Side-Note, accordingly, she is the only Main Girl in the Series to attain ALL that she was seeking and more. While at first, Mr. Big selects Natasha as a Wife, the Sexual-Chemistry between Mr. Big and Carrie turns-out to be undeniable and unavoidable to the point that it escalates into an Extra-Marital Affair! So Carrie is then playing the Role of the Other-Woman, and the affair ultimately destroys Mr. Big and Natasha's Marriage. And so it makes sense for Mr. Big and Carrie to be End-Game. I appreciate how Mr. Big writes Carrie Love-Letters at the Ending of the Sex and the City movie in order to win her back into Marriage; and how the Moral of the Sex and the City 2 Movie is to always make certain to never allow your marriage to get stale and boring.
I find that the Tele-Vision Show, Gossip Girl, celebrates the Over-Lap of the Fairy-Tale Romance with Real-Life Romance! That is my Ultimate Favorite Romance! Through-Out the Series: *Gossip Girl* provides Voice-Over Commentary on the way that Fairy-Tale Romance unfolds!
I love the Romance between the Super-Couples, Chuck and Blair and Dan and Serena in Gossip Girl! Chuck and Blair are truly the Male and Female Versions of One-Another! So Dark! I appreciate how the Song, "Wild Wolves," playing in the Back-Ground: exemplifying the Philosophy: "Some people have relationships we can never understand." Chuck and Blair are really One-with-the-Other viscerally through all Dimensions; both the Light and the Dark! They bring out both the Angel and Devil in One-Another accordingly: from the Burlesque-Prelude to their First Fling, it-Self!
Tee-Hee! I appreciate how lately Fiction has been portraying that when a Hetero-Sexual Individual finds the One, that Individual finds the Manifestation of the Opposite-Gender in Physical-Appearance! That is certainly the case with Chuck and Blair; both in Facial-Features and in Style! Chuck is quite the Posh Prep--wearing the cravat that is alluded to in "Barbara Song" as a materialization of Elite-Style!
I am very touched by the Romance between Dan and Serena! That Relation-Ship truly dimensionalizes through the course of the Tele-Vision Series! The Relation-Ship begins as a Romantic Manifestation of Dan's Fantasy with His Life-Long Crush in the First Season. I am impressed by how Gossip Girl exemplifies that the Placement of One's Lover on a Pedestal ultimately does the Relationship a disservice; as Serena opens-up to her Life-Long Best-Friends that as Dan places Her on a Pedestal, she is uncomfortable and petrified for him to find-out about her remorseful involvement in her fling's accidental death via drug overdose. Over the course of the Television-Series, Dan and Serena get to know the Other better than anybody else knows the Other! And then Serena thoroughly finds-out Dan's Character in the Series-Finale when he throws off his cover as the anonymous Gossip Girl! It is really very sweet that Serena functions as Dan's Muse; that he created this Beast of the Gossip Girl Blog all to win Serena's Love! Serena considers the duration of the Gossip Girl Blog as a Love-Letter! How very sweet!
It is rather interesting that at Dan and Serena's Wedding, Serena first makes her Appearance from the Top of the Stair-Case: allegorizing the way she is regularly placed on the Pedestal! Her descent through the stairs emblematizes how Serena is once-for-all level with Daniel Humphrey!
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