The last couple of Wednesday evenings, when the kids are with my parents and the manpanion is at school, I've been coming home and eating my dinner while watching The Thorn Birds. Have you seen this miniseries? It came out in 1983, and stars Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. I bust it out once a year or so when I'm in the mood for a resonant romance.
Father Ralph is a priest with high ambitions that drive him up, up, up through the church heirarchy...even as he battles within himself over his forbidden love for Meggie Cleary, the woman who desperately loves him back. The miniseries chronicles their story through the decades.
Last night, I watched the part where Father Ralph and Meggie finally make love. After years and years of keeping himself away from her, of torturing himself with deep longing and hunger for her, he goes to her and finally claims what he's wanted for so long.
*sigh* I'm getting all swoony just typing this. LOL. Anyway, the manpanion called during a pinnacle scene in that episode, and I was crying (even though I've seen The Thorn Birds several times by now)--poor guy, he thought there was something wrong. I told him I was just watching The Thorn Birds and having a good, cathartic bawl.
Every time I watch The Thorn Birds, it lingers with me for days. This happens to me when I listen to romantic music too, and when I read a really, REALLY good romantic book.
What is it about romance that beckons me like this? What is it about that kind of love that pulls me? I think I'm drawn to the craving, if that makes sense. Watching two people who desperately want each other is magnetic. Compelling. Amazing!!
I've been a hopeless romantic since the 2nd grade, when I developed my first crush on a dreamy boy in my class. And through the years, through school and college and "real life", I've had the highest highs and lowest lows when it comes to love. I think those situations, those experiences have enriched me as a person. I'm stronger, I'm more self-secure, but I also love deeper now.
When I write, I always have romance in my stories. For me, it's one of the greatest, most painful journeys a person can undertake--risking the heart to fall in love. Risking pain and suffering for the hope of finding and keeping love. Writing about that experience allows me to feel those sensations again. And that's why I love reading romances, too--I want to feel that rush, that embarrassment, that fear, that hurt, that awakening to self-awareness, and then that ultimate satisfaction of two people finally able to love each other completely, wholly.
I used to be embarrassed about how I feel about romance. That it was too "girly" or silly or fluffy or something. But why should I be? Love is one of the most important elements of life for both men and women...what's embarrassing about that? Yes, we all have our times where we think we'd be better off without love. That love is a weakness.
I've realized, though, that loving someone isn't a weakness, but a strength. It's a courageous act, one that deserves respect and honor. And I try to honor it the best way I can. I proudly tell people I write romance in my stories.
What about you? Do you enjoy romance? Are you ever a hopeless romantic? Are there any things that you return to time and again to evoke those feelings--music, books, DVDs?
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5 comments:
I'm a sucker for romance. I watch When Harry Met Sally at least once a year, more if I can get away with it!
I was just telling my fiance last night that once I grew up I thought I had to read adult lit, even though I found those bestsellers torture and boring. Until I realized that reading chick lit and romance is not bad, it's what I enjoy. And reading should make you happy.
I totally feel the same way. I love reading stuff that makes me feel good, or evokes a strong emotion out of me. I'm definitely drawn to those types of stories.
I have a collection of DVDs I call my feel-good movies and they are mostly romance. A lot of Jane Austen in there, movie and mini-series adaptions.
I nearly require some kind of deep love or romance in the books I read, too.
I'm a sucker for it, always have been!
Gosh, I haven't seen the Thorn Birds in for-eva...I vaguely remember the storyline but I did think it was awfully romantic. I'm with you, when I write, I really have to have that element as a central focus. Maybe that's why I like those Nora Roberts made-for-movies...these were and are a great escape from the everyday dreariness. And don't be ashamed of loving 'girly' movies--I will yell it from the rooftops... :)
I am a sucker for a good first kiss in a movie, set to the perfect background music. One of my favorites: the end of Never Been Kissed. Every time I see that movie, I have to rewind that part at least four times. It makes me all tingley. Not every teen movie or romantic comedy generates that feeling, and I'm not sure why. But when they get it right, boy do they ever!
Another random romantic favorite - the BBC production of "The Buccaneers." Because Edith Wharton didn't finish the book before she died, someone finished it for her, probably with a happier ending than she would have chosen. In the BBC production, there is a scene in the end with Carla Cugino and Greg Wise that gave me chills.
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