Happily Ever After

The first text Women Read the Romance conveys the findings of a series of interviews done in order to gather information concerning romance novels and their readers. Based on the conclusions of these studies one can easily establish that romance novels are most popular among mothers, the majority of whom are looking for an escape from the “pressures” of their everyday lives. According to the responses of the women who participated in this study, mothers not only look to romance novels as a means to “take their minds off everyday matters,” (69) but they also seek a sense of hope, pleasure and contentment from these books. Women look to romance novels as a way to relieve themselves of the disappointment they feel when they realize they have lost a grasp on what it is that makes them unique. They look to these books as a means to establish a sense of self through the stories of heroines and their nurturing and masculine lovers who continuously reassure them of their “special status and unique identity.”

The novel based film “The Notebook” is a perfect example of a romantic tale that provides women with an escape from their everyday lives. This story features Noah a both masculine and nurturing her who never forgets about his one true love, Allie, despite the fact that for many years the world tour them apart. Throughout this novel Noah’s constant obsession with his long lost love acts as a continuous reassurance that her unique traits make her irreplaceable. Eventually the two are reunited and are able to embark on a long life together, however with the conclusion of this story the two pass away together in each other’s arms. This romantic and almost fairytale ending provides, almost perfectly, the audience and/or reader with the sense of contentment they were seeking at the beginning of the film.

The second text, Cathartic Confessions or Emacipatory Texts?, delves into day time television, namely “talk shows.” In this reading the author discusses the concepts and general make-up of talk shows specifically in regards to the Oprah Winfrey Show. The author, Sujata Moorti, explains that shows like this one are all based on the confrontations of individuals and their problems. Moorti also describes how talk show hosts like Oprah strategically ask their guests difficult and often times emotionally painful questions in order to evoke emotions and eventually participation from the audience. By doing so, Oprah also seeks to act as a kind of therapist to these guests, which eventually allows her to bring about a solution. In addition, Oprah focuses on traumatic individualized stories, such as the victims of rape, in order to give these people a voice that they typically would not have had.

Similarly to Romance novels, day time television, is geared to “stay-at-home moms.” Both Romance novels and daytime television give mothers a chance to escape into the lives of others. Although the places these two mediums take them may be very different they both in the end offer a sense of contentment and pleasure because most often than not both theses shows and novels have happy endings. These “happy endings” give hope to women who don’t feel completely satisfied with there own lives and are therefore seeking to find a solution. Soap Operas, another form of daytime television, also provide women with a means of escape. These highly dramatized television series’ allow women to delve into the much more exciting lives of fictional others. In addition, the fact that most soap operas are parts of a series allows women to follow the characters through their lives over a much longer period of time.