#it’s not really ‘women’ so mych as it is ‘the societal idea of women’

[obstinaterixatrix]

this is a generalization but for the most part I think what is vital for understanding the romance genre and romance tropes is that it’s a fantasy genre. it’s romantic fantasy. (set aside specific subgenres/subversions etc for a moment). and it’s fantasy that needs to be contextualized by societal ideas about romantic relationships, whether the fantasy is about reinforcing them or subverting them. I personally think that because of genre/subject is a fantasy in context of a society that is oppressive/hostile to the core audience (speaking generally, women), the fantasies naturally center power in most narratives. You can say the same about a lot of other genre fiction, but I do think the romance genre is distinct in terms of having a core audience of women and being dominated by women. (I’m also speaking specifically about novels—I don’t have evidence to back this but, but I do get the impression that a lot of romantic movies have a more even split of male directors/writers…?) but anyway, I think it’s a really interesting mirror… even the really shitty ones can be read from the perspective of ‘what cultural relational shorthands are they using to convey a romantic fantasy and how are they failing’ lol