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This week: Romantic Subplots Edited by: Waltz Invictus  
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A tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.
-Charlie Chaplin
Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.
-Oscar Wilde
True love stories never have endings.
-Richard Bach |
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As this newsletter is scheduled to appear on Valentine's Day, I thought I'd throw in some of my thoughts on romance in fantasy.
Fantasy, and its cousin science fiction, are what I consider to be meta-genres. That is, there's room in their scope for the inclusion of almost any other genre you can think of: politics, war, history, mystery, science, fashion... and romance, just to name a few.
It could be argued that romance is one of the earliest sub-genres of fantasy - consider fairy tales, which are at least tangentially "fantasy," as they involve magic and the supernatural; these stories tend to involve some sort of romantic element.
But, being a hopeless cynic, I can usually see only the downside of romance. To me, it becomes just another complication, a source of conflict, and a device to push the plot along.
Which doesn't mean it shouldn't be incorporated. On the contrary - complications, conflict, and other plot movers and character-revealing devices are what we should be looking for.
The problem, as I see it, is in the fairy-tale versions - the "happily ever after" bits.
Consider Star Wars.
I'm using Star Wars as an example because I suspect the vast majority of readers have been exposed to this universe, if only through the movies. Warning: Spoilers ahead, but come on, if you haven't seen them by now, I'm going to have to assume that you just don't care.
Focusing on the first movie trilogy, we start out in Episode IV, the first movie, with a potential love triangle set up between Han, Luke, and Leia. Well, everyone knows how that was resolved: turns out Luke and Leia were siblings, and there went *that* conflict right out the window.
In the second trilogy, the one consisting of not-so-great movies, we see a romance between Anakin Skywalker (proto-Darth Vader) and Amidala. Boy, that turned out well, didn't it? Not only did Amidala die in childbirth, but their offspring - the perfectly normal result of their romance - turned out to be their father's undoing. It's about the polar opposite of "happily ever after."
By the time of the third trilogy, of which two movies have been released at this point, we see the result of the Han/Leia ship from way back in the first trilogy: not only are they old and barely talking to each other (again a perfectly normal result of "romance,") but they have a son who's turned to the Dark Side. In a nice rhyme with what has gone before, the offspring turns out to be the father's undoing.
I've often said, "There are no happy endings; there are only stories that end too soon." This is probably one reason I don't have many friends. That aside, Star Wars is proof positive of this maxim. Had Luke not felt attracted to Leia, we wouldn't have had decades of cringe when we consider what might have happened if they hadn't figured out they were siblings. Had Han not been attracted to Leia, they wouldn't have had sex, which led to them having a kid, who turned to the Dark Side and killed his father.
In short, while romance isn't dead, stopping a story before the romance turns into a plot device can fool people into thinking there are happy endings.
People seem to like that sort of thing, though, so you end up with stories ending before the couple has their first serious argument.
I see Star Wars somewhat differently, though; and I have done so ever since I figured out the one truth about the movies: Star Wars is actually the story of R2-D2 and C3PO. The first movie opens not with Luke, or Leia, or even Darth Vader, but with these two droids. They are the first characters we see. And it doesn't take long before they're stranded on a desert planet... arguing with each other like an old married couple.
In the second trilogy, chronologically earlier, we see how they met and began their adventures together: their budding relationship.
And in the third trilogy, they're barely speaking to each other.
Yes. Star Wars is, at base, the romance of these two droids. Best of all, they can't (canonically) have offspring that will end up killing one or both of them.
And they lived happily ever after. |
Just some fantasy here - romantic elements optional.
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Last time, in "Frigid Fantasy" , I talked about the cold as antagonist.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  : Unless you live in Upper Michigan, you don't know Winter unless you've lived through a genuine Western New York Winter. [Submitted Item: "Family Christmas" [E]]
No, thanks.
Pepper  : Brrrrr! I hate the cold too, unless I'm just reading about it. In fact, one of my all-time favorite short stories is "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. In my opinion, this is one of the best examples where the cold is the antagonist.
My dad made me read some Jack London stories when I was a kid, because he wasn't thrilled with my genres of choice (fantasy and science fiction, of course). I did appreciate them, but it's been a long time. But yes, from what I remember, London was a master at turning external things into antagonists.
Quick-Quill  : May I suggest Dan Browns Deception Point? To me this is better than any of his books. Others have started to read it and couldn't put it down. I had the CD version and I was following my daughter in the airport and told her not to talk to me on the plane ride home. I had a bag of batteries in case power ran out of Sony CD player. Yes I'm old. If you don't think this book would far out perform in a movie then, let me know. If I were a billionaire I'd be buying the rights to this and making a movie with Peter Jackson as director. Not Ron Howard.
The practice of making books into movies (or TV shows) is something I might explore at some point. In brief, I think you both gain and lose some things - and the tradeoff is a matter of personal preference.
dragonwoman : I'm with you Robert Waltz, not a cold weather person. Just looking out the window makes me cold! But then again, don't like it overly hot either. I should have been a zone in the middle lol
While I'd like to be warmer, I'm used to the climate in Virginia, and don't think I'd be satisfied living anywhere else for an extended period. The winter cold just makes me appreciate the muggy hot humidity of summer that much more.
And that's it for me for drear February. See you next month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!! |
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Fantasy: February 14, 2018 Issue [#8754]
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