But how does the reversal happen? (I posit a miracle)
A couple of weeks ago I was being interviewed by A Journalist for their obligatory piece on 50 Shades (you write one short article on the history of sadomasochism, and forever after you are A Nexpert) in which I pointed out that the text was an absolutely stock romance trope in which He starts out with All The Power and by the end She has acquired it by unlocking and unfreezing his hard heart and getting the relationship She wants. I.e. the relationship polarity is reversed.
Thinking further about this, it baffles me how the heroines in this narrative do this, because they are usually pretty much lacking in any sort of definable character and certainly do not display much agency (they are not, e.g. practising that recommended strategy of training men as you would a wild animal). They just Are.
I suppose this is all about having a blank space that the reader can fill up with their wish fulfilment, but can we imagine these vapid specimens occupying their spare time by drawing the gothic Martinesque (not to say, idtastic) pictures that Jane Eyre does? I think not.
And thinking of Jane's descendants, one of the classic instances of implausibly innocent, self-effacing and humble heroine is, of course, the 2nd Mrs de Winter (who would never think of grassing up her husband for murder - is this a spoiler? surely not).
This led me to realise that however powerful Rebecca is, it will never occupy the place in my heart that Frenchman's Creek does among du Maurier's novels. In which it is Donna St Columb who has the frozen heart, who is not at all innocent, what with being married, a mother, and contemplating an affair with a nasty Restoratian rake. And takes a walk on the wild side and does not die and is not punished (unlike The Wicked Lady).
I am sure that it is a truth universally acknowledged that what many women fantasise for a fling would be a clean and cultivated, indeed cultured, sensitive Breton pirate with artistic gifts. Rather than some domineering brand-obsessed billionaire with Issues. This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2231237.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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