F21.002 Romancing the (High) Fantasy: Romance-Genre Themes in Young Adult High Fantasy Series

F21.002 Romancing the (High) Fantasy: romance-genre themes in Young Adult high fantasy series

Faculty mentor: Meredith Heller

Overview

From Harry Potter to the Hunger Games, Young Adult (YA) literature is a cultural and commercial force. This study investigates romance themes in the speculative fiction genre of high fantasy written for the YA market. High fantasy takes place in a different world and includes elements such as magic. These books are not typically categorized as romance (a genre that exists at both adult and YA levels) but, as I demonstrate, a surprising majority feature heterosexual romances equal in import to the epic or hero narrative. Scholars such as Franiuk and Scherr (2012) outline how YA low-fantasies such as Twilight can negatively impact young women’s perceptions of gender and relationships. However, no study has focused on romance themes in high fantasy, likely because the adult genre skews toward a presumed male audience. I investigate 5 popular YA high fantasy series featuring women protagonists: Throne of Glass (2012-18), Grisha Trilogy (2012-14), Red Queen (2015-18), Remnant Chronicles (2014-16), and Air Awakens (2015-16). Using 9 essential elements and 3 optional elements of adult romances (Regis 2003), I conduct a content analysis of how closely these series mirror romance genre. While exposure to positive YA romantic plotlines can be healthy (Cart 2016), the prevalence and occlusion of these elements reflects cultural beliefs about what young women’s products need to include, as well as presumptions that young women grow up to be romance rather than fantasy genre readers.

What the student will DO and LEARN

A critical skill for all cultural researchers is learning how to collect and code data from media sources such as television shows, social media, and books or magazines. Interns will be conducting a formal content data analysis on YA literary series books. They will read Van Zoonen’s (1994) step-by-step process for a content data collection project as well as samples of papers that outline this method (for example, Martin and Kayzak’s 2009 study of children’s television). I will then conduct a workshop on how to collect our project data in accurate, systemic ways using the coding scheme provided (when using other researchers to collect media-based data, it is necessary to also talk through how to identify certain themes that might require interpretation. For this project, we will read and discuss Regis’ (2003) detailed description of romance novel features). Students will then be assigned one or more series (depending on their hours and reading speed) and collect and code data on each book’s high fantasy, relationship, YA, and romance features. Students will be accountable for collecting, organizing, and submitting their data in a timely manner. Finally, I will run a second workshop on 1) designing a frequency table and organizing this data into prose and 2) writing an article methods section that speaks to this particular process.

Additional benefits

Van Zoonen (1994) argues that collecting quantitative data on media products is an important way to of shift a discussion about the impact of media away from more standard experiential or qualitative frameworks (which are often unfairly qualified as “my opinion”) and toward a form of “objectivity” that “fulfills traditional scientific requirements” and “produces results that will be generally accepted as ‘true’ and ‘reliable’” (69). I have found students to be quite interested in exploring and analyzing media. This will allow them an opportunity to practice not only engaging with these products critically, but also collecting forms of data that can serve as evidentiary support for their textual assertions. Another profound lesson students will learn by participating in this project is that consuming media is completely different from the detailed and tedious process of collecting and collating quantitative media data.

Additional qualifications

· The ability to closely read large quantities of text (excellent reading skills).

· The ability to type or enter information into a spreadsheet (good organization skills).

· The ability to meet clear deadlines for work production.

· An interest in literature, especially speculative fiction with women protagonists.

Time commitment

6hrs/ week for 30 weeks