Do YA novels give a distorted idea of romance?
It is not just romance novels that include a love story, a lot of the young adult novels I read have a central plot focusing on the romance of the hero and the heroin. Well, actually, in most novels - be it in the main plot or the sub plot - there is a romantic thread within the novel.
In the Divergent series there is the romantic subplot of Tris and Four, in the Hush Hush series there is the romance of Nora and Patch and in If I stay, Mia and Adam. There also appears to be many love triangles in fiction - who does the young, beautiful girl choose between? For example, in Twilight, Bella has two love interests in Edward and Jacob, while Katniss in The Hunger Games has Peeta and Gale and Clary in The Mortal Instruments series has Jace and Simon.
More often than not, the girl has to make the decision - which a lot of the time means life or death, choosing between good or evil, someone who is safe and someone who is dangerous. Yet, I sometimes feel that these novels give a somewhat distorted idea of what romance is. Going back to fairy tales (that my English teacher used to love banging on about at school!), it always seems to be about beautiful people finding love, the quest for romance. The girl is always the one who needs saving, who is vulnerable. A lot of young girls will grow up thinking that they are going to find their Edward or their Patch (I for one was one of them), but in 'reality' this is not going to be the case.
And they lived happily ever after...
I feel that these novels are becoming predictable, even in Pride and Prejudice, the two most perfectly flawed people end up together. I know that a lot more current, realism novels are becoming more 'realistic' in their approaches to love in romance. I don't know whether this makes me a feminist or not. Well, I guess I am a girl, so I kind of am supposed to be a feminist.
Novels like The Fault in Our Stars, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wuthering Heights even, give a better idea of what 'love' is and how sometimes it doesn't always end perfectly. I'll be the first one to admit that I am a fatalist and believe that everything happens for a reason. If its meant to be, it will be, right? But a lot of young girls are going to be disappointed with their reality as compared to what they read in books, or see in films and on the television.
I feel its important as a writer, to deal with the 'trueness' (definitely not a word - but I think you get it) of what the world is and what love is actually like. I was reading a blog post the other day (I can't remember who by) who talked about how sex is used as a way of proving love in novels and kind of fixing the blips in a romance, as shown in If I Stay. This gives the wrong impression of what sex is, for both young girls and boys.
Of course, I love the romance in novels and a lot of them wouldn't be the same without them. I just sometimes would prefer if they weren't so predictable and 'perfect'. I feel that writers should reverse the stereotypes and tackle the reality of life as a young adult. Life is far from perfect.
What do you think about romance in YA novels, and which would you recommend to prove that not all these novels show distorted ideas of romance?
No comments:
Post a Comment