If you’ve paid much attention to BookTok or even the shelves at your local bookstore, you’ve probably realized that romance is having a moment. And that moment extends far beyond the days of grocery store paperbacks with Fabio on the cover. Whether through cozy holiday stories, contemporary meet-cutes, or sweeping romantasy series with swords and dragons, books with a HEA (happily ever after) are everywhere. And why shouldn’t they be? In a time when we’re experiencing one “unprecedented” thing after another, we need a little more predictability, a little more joy, and a lot more healing in our reading lives.
This reminds me of the students who used to complain to me about how someone died in everything we read. I sympathized with the sentiment, but ultimately thought that this was what it looked like to graduate into big kid reading. But here’s the thing: I’m not so sure anymore. Why should reading need to be traumatic in order to be accepted for its literary merit?
There’s a whole lot of misogyny to unpack in a field where genres of books have been consistently de-legitimized despite being consistent sellers in the publishing market. And, though there are plenty of examples of novels in the romance genre having terrible sexism, lately I’ve found that, in my own reading trends, romcoms – especially YA romcoms – actually tip the scales of the books on my shelf that pass the Bechdel test in favor of being more progressive and inclusive.
I’m not here to argue that we should replace all the literary fiction in our classrooms with so-called ‘beach reads,’ but I do think that we need to question when and why we dismiss books as only having a place on the beach. It’s time to welcome some romcoms and other HEAs (Happily Ever Afters) into our classrooms as being worth our instructional time.
Teaching Writing with HEA’s
While there’s plenty of opportunity to teach through a reading lens using the genre (How do authors of romcoms use romantic relationships as a vehicle for characters’ bigger lessons about themselves and the world? How and why have authors employed tropes like mistaken identities throughout literary history?) romcoms and other HEAs offer an especially exciting opportunity for writing instruction as a vehicle for teaching the craft of literary analysis. For a genre that often begets its own book clubs and fan followings, readers have no shortage of opinions. And since genre reading also comes with reading in volume, the context is rife with opportunity to analyze what works well and what doesn’t.
The amount of instructional time spent supporting students in understanding the genre itself and its reading would depend on the needs of the students in the class, but because the reading itself is often engaging and accessible, the majority of class periods could be spent focusing on the harder skills of developing claims and writing analysis.
Analysis of romcoms could include (but is not limited to!) conversations around narrator reliability, effectiveness of pacing and foreshadowing, and critique of character development. Genre study also offers a unique opportunity to leverage the very tropes that are so often dismissed for being “predictable” or “overdone” by studying when tropes work well vs. when they fall flat. This, then, offers an authentic entrance into conversations about criticality in identity, racism, and misogyny.
Some example frames for analyzing romcoms within a literary analysis unit might include:
- When the meet cute isn’t
- Forced proximity: believable or not?
- Predictability and pacing: What makes a book un-put-down-able when you already know how it’s going to end?
- Missed communication: when do you sympathize with the character and when do you just want to scream at them?
- Grumpy vs sunshine or toxic masculinity?
- Archetypes and representation: inclusive or stereotypical?
Mentor Texts to Support Literary Analysis
The below list is just a sample to get you started in supporting your students’ writing about romcoms. Though most are not written about HEAs, as I looked for mentor texts for this purpose, I found myself asking “could I see writing about romcoms in this way?”
Analyzing twists, the unexpected, and exceptions to a rule or formula:
- The Good Place Series Finale Broke The Show’s Formula in the Best Way
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Reanimates the Corpse of Tim Burton
Analyzing why something is compelling or engaging:
- Why We Don’t Talk About Bruno is the Biggest Disney Hit Since Let it Go
- The Great New Movie about What Goes Unsaid…
Analyzing the impact of earlier texts on modern:
- From Midcentury Confessional Poetry to Reality TV
- How the Real World Created Modern Reality TV
- From Beouwulf to Foucault
Analyzing the merits of a format /structure of a text
Romcoms to Get You Started
If you aren’t already immersed in the genre, it can be tough to know where to start. There are SO many good ones out there, it’s impossible to name them all, but a few high school romcoms that I’ve loved lately are:
Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q Sutanto
With or Without You by Eric Smith
The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor
Twenty Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds
Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner
How are you welcoming romcoms and other HEA genres into your classroom? I’d love to hear from you! Comment below or reach out: megankortlandt@gmail.com
– Megan
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