Thanks to Mel Francis and Funky Bunny for the tip: as part of a promotion of Danielle Steel’s new book, the Today show is hosting a quiz: Do you Read Romance Novels?
And of course, there’s no “yes” or “no” option – there’s “yes” or “no” with patronizing embellishments! And no room for comments for me to say, “BITE ME you sanctimonious fucknuts.” You can say, “Yes, yes, yes! Bodice-rippers are my ultimate escape” or “No way. I don’t touch those books.” Or, if you’re feeling really ambivalent about the state of your bodice, “Sometimes, while on vacation or at the beach.”
The poll results reveal that many, many respondents seem to equate “touching a romance novel” akin to “cleaning out the sink trap,” “fishing a really noxious booger out of someone else’s nose,” or “taking out the trash.”
Here. Have a More Funner Poll:
Why are these called bodice rippers? I haven’t read a bodice ripper since the ‘70s. No one writes them any more. They write Romance—Happily Ever After—Good Grief General Public, get it right!
Is a bodice a requirement in romance? Does the yoga loving, Prada wearing executive heroine wear a bodice under that suit just in case she meets a hero dying to rip it? Well? Is it?!
NBC and the Today Show = Clueless!!!
Oh, I went with all of the above.
🙂 BTW, there’s an email addy at the bottom of the page for those who’d like to email their hulk-smash, bodice ripping, enraged comments…
today @ msnbc.com
bodice rippers??
No kidding. I definitely don’t consider her books to be romance novels, generally speaking. (She’s not even shelved in Romance. Why should she get credit for writing romance novels?)
I look down on romance. I’m a supreme hater.
BUT.
Who the hell has the right to openly condescend to a legitimate fanbase on TV? That’s damn inconsiderate, and I share your outrage.
I know I’m completely misinformed about the genre, as my opinion has largely been swayed by dealing with Harlequin and its execrable marketing, which I find condescending itself. But I feel your pain because the stuff I enjoy—animation, cartoons, comics—is treated similarly. It’s a neverending battle to explain to some people that you like what you like and, for god’s sake, that’s your problem.
Below is the email I sent to today @ msnbc. I wrote and sent it before I read the comments here. I don’t usually include my qualifications, but I felt obliged to do so in my closing to this message.
Kay
[I copied and pasted the “quiz”; under it I wrote the following:]
This is a joke, right? Don’t “romance novels” account for at least 25% of all books sold? If you wanted to do a real readers’ survey, why did you add those ridiculous qualifiers? I don’t remember Matt L. asking Danielle Steele about the “bodice-rippers” she writes.
My answer is “Yes, I read romance novels, but very few of them are bodice-rippers.” I like romances with mystery/suspense elements and paranormal elements; I read historical and contemporary and futuristic romances. Maybe you should interview Nora Roberts who has written in all those romance genres, with nary a “bodice-ripper” among the over one hundred books she has crafted.
With disdain,
Kay Webb Harrison
B. S. (Secondary Education/Spanish), Old Dominion University, Jan., 1972
M. A. (Spanish), University of Virginia, May, 1975
Teacher of Spanish, retired
Norfolk, VA, USA
I’m an all of the above, Mel dahlink.
And as far as the Today Show goes, they are so yesterday.
Sorry about the bodice, sweetums, but at least you’ve got major league cleavage. Those gals are game day players.
You have to love Danielle Steele being held up as a standard.
wrd: south84
That’s a Mel-O note!
Uhm. I just want to be able to look good in a bodice. Where do I express my outrage over this injustice?
Wow. This from a network that launched “Women@NBCU” with all the fanfare a few months ago (a, and I quote: combination of media targeting the valuable female demographic). No wonder they are the number four network. Geez.
I agree time to wear some bodices to the Rock. Or at least write some letters.
Well said Kay. I share your comments. I’ll have to think long and hard about my email to NBC. I wonder if enough romance readers and authors email them if they will apologize. I doubt it!
It’s funny how people like to sneer at genre, and then genre turns around and outsells everything. When did we become so embarrassed of fun? *clutches fantasy novels to bosom*
Like Poe and Dickens and Shakespeare were all high-brow. Yeah right.
Re: Danielle Steele as poster child—isn’t she the highest selling author in the galaxy or something? That’s probably why, even if she’s pretty much her own genre, if you ask me. (Does she even write her own stuff anymore, or does she have a team? Or has she been replaced by a computer program?)
So many truly terrific, hilarious comments I don’t think there’s anything more (and certainly not better!) that I can hope to add.
Thank the inventor of bodices I wasn’t taking a sip of water as I read; I’d still be trying to clean up the mess.
I noticed that, as well as Danielle Steel, they added a link to an article about Jackie Collins beneath their quaint little poll. I think it’s general lack of understanding about the differences between women’s fiction with romantic (or, sometimes in Collins’ case, blatant sexual) elements, and the romance genre, that confuse non-romance readers.
As for the Today show, I think they’re pretty clueless about pop culture and women in general these days. (Adding Kathie Lee
is a huge giveaway about that.) How are they staying on the air?
I had no idea the prickweenies from my English department ran the Today Show! Damn, you’d think they’d be making enough money to get out of my hair….
I’m too busy giggling to be outraged, as I’m now picturing the Incredible Hulk doing HULK SMAAAAAAAASH while wearing a lacy little bodice.
Oh, now I gave up on DS years and years ago,
Nadia, when I read this, the first thing I thought of was my Nintendo DS Lite because we often refer to it as a DS. My second thought was, WHY have you given up on the DS?
Then I read the rest of your post and realized we weren’t thinking of the same things. I’ve never read D.S. and I’ve never been inclined to either. I’m always surprised at how many of her books get made into TV movies though. I’m also surprised at how many hardcovers she has out. No one I know seems to read her books, so who is buying all of them???? Even when I worked at the public library we used to buy a bizillian copies of each of her books and they’d take up so much space.
I knew it! She’s in cahoots with the public library! Oh, sure, you librarians all look so innocent in your pearls and pince-nez, but I know what you’re up to, and the day will come, Mrs. Steinmetz, when you and your card catalogue will get your comeuppance! Mark. My. Words.
Bwahahahaha!!!
Heh—you know, in my Translation Studies class we had lectures on romance novels, how the get translated differently both in other languages and in other countries, and what elements are changed, and what audience is targeted. (I think one English-language line that went something like “The ranch goes to whatever brother can hold onto it!” changed to “The ranch goes to the oldest brother!” in Italian. The story involved a woman who was trying to hold onto aforesaid ranch after all her brothers died, or disappeared, or turned into crappy people or something. And apparently the Italian books took some of the sex out. I think. This was a while ago.)
As if the Today Show actually had any intellectual content! Maybe if this poll were done on TV shows that had audiences that could read a book (and would know that Jackie Collins and Danielle Steele are not what most Romance readers consider the epitome of the genre), you would get the higher than 40% who said they read these books to escape.
I teach U.S. History and I let my students know that I read contemporary and historical romance. I, of course, also let them know that I read a great deal of non-fiction. At the History Association meeting I asked the students if they read historical romance or historical fiction – the answer was a resounding “yes”!
Writers like Jo Beverley really research their work and give us pedagogical types a flavor of the time period.
Kathie Lee, get a life- read a book- any book!
Kathie Lee Gifford doesn’t strike me as the type who can read. And just thinking about her makes me want to gag as her brand of brainless perkiness is nauseating.
And when someone asks me what I read and write I say romance with a look that dares them to say something. And if they say something stupid and show misinformed they are about the genre I call them on it and make them look dumber than they already are.
Just like the Today show people.
I posted at the MSNBC Today Show message board. It was a little easier to deal with than Newsvine.
Today Show message board
In March of this year. And the hero was a satyr.
word: wish92
No, I don’t wish for 92 more stories featuring hermaphrodites and satyrs.
How very annoying!! I voted at MSNBC and posted about it on my Facebook.
This mainly happens to translated category romances, which are published either by an international Harlequin/Mills and Boon subsidiary or by a local publisher affiliated with them. Some changes are made to suit local customs/laws, which is what I imagine happened in the case cited (in much of Europe, it is still a traditional if not legal requirement that the oldest son inherits the farm). However, more commonly, scenes are shortened or cut altogether to meet the length requirements. In Germany, for example, anything from a 55000 word Harlequin Presents to a 85000 word Harlequin Superromance are published in the same 250 page booklets, which are much thinner than your average US/British category romance. Plus, English texts translated into German tend to turn out approx 10% longer than the source texts, due to differences and grammar and syntax, i.e. needing more words to say the same thing. I assume the same is true for Italian.
Hence, cuts are necessary in order to fit a translated category romance into the designated 250 page length. Sex scenes tend to be cut particularly often, because these are frequently the most superfluous bits of a book, which can be cut without losing much. Oh yes, and translators cannot be blamed for the cuts, because that’s usually the editor’s doing.
Regarding the topic, I read one Jackie Collins novel as a teenager and wouldn’t consider it romance. I may have read Danielle Steel, but don’t remember it. And I probably watched the Today Show at some point while in holiday in the US, but don’t remember that either. And yes, the poll was condescending.
Fern Michaels has the dishonorable distinction of having written one of the first (and nearly last) romances I ever read, Valentina, first published in 1978. I got my hands on it approximately ten years later. That books could definitely be classified as a bodiceripper, featuring slavery, rape, torture and even a bit of lesbianism (with spanking!) during the crusades. And yes, it was as bad as it sounds.
When I got back into reading romance after having been nearly turned off the genre for good by the likes of Valentina, I was stunned to realize that Ms. Michaels was still writing, though she seems to be doing contemporaries these days. I’ve never tried another, the memory of Valentina was too painful.
Um, I think I’ll take reading an old-fashioned bodice ripper over watching the nimrods at the Today Show allow Fergie to grind her crotch and shake her tits at a bunch of twelve year olds in the front row of her concert on the plaza.
serious96: yup, 96% serious that there are bunch of dumbasses over at NBC
Im not sure if y’all saw this already, but on the subject of bodice rippers:
http://pics.livejournal.com/magnetic_rose/pic/000qbgtf
That cover totally rocks! 😀
Okay, I voted all of the above. I’m not sure that I could add anything else to all that has been said above, and rather than risk repeating or looking/sounding like an idiot compared to all you smartypants… I just say… “Ditto”
And, ajie… that cover is hilarious. So, does that mean HIS bodice got ripped?
All I can say is “OUCH!”
Anyhow, the “bodice rippers” have now taken the lead. Ha! How do you like that, NBC?
Holly- I am considering a breast reduction. Everyone I know that has had one loves that they aren’t hanging below the equator anymore.
were19
The results as of this morning:
TODAY’s Question
Do you read romance novels? * 8271 responses
46% Yes, yes, yes! Bodice-rippers are my ultimate escape.
31% No way. I don’t touch those books.
23% Sometimes, while on vacation or at the beach.
since “sometimes” is a “yes” it looks like 69% of the 8271 people who participated do, in fact, read bodice rippers. Gee, who knew?
Of course, it not being scientific at all, I’m sure the percentages will be discounted…
Oh and thanks to everyone who ripped my bodice yesterday. I woke this morning, thoroughly ravished and very satisfied.
Cora—I read one of her contemporaries at my parents’ place a couple of years back, and I was *appalled*. The plot was some sad sack making a life for herself, which involved a make-over. The book was written and published in the mid- to late-90s. The makeover? Would’ve been haute couture in the mid-80s. And we all know how weird haute couture is anyway.
Plus, the plot just … it was weird. Characters appeared and disappeared with no rhyme or reason. There was a “mystery,” but it was profoundly stupid and ended with someone killing herself with a hot shower. Yes. A hot shower. Who knew?
Re: “bodice ripper” – there’s an untold Janet Jackson joke in here somewhere…
[quotethere’s an untold Janet Jackson joke in here somewhere… ]
LMAO
“Please excuse my book’s wardrobe malfunction…”
Ajie, that cover really twists it around doesn’t it, usually the hero is the prick.
badaBA! I’ll be here all week, try the veal!
Sonomalass….your poll is hilarious! I almost spit out my Starbucks (and received a few odd stares)!!
Oh Oh! could I have Hulk or rather David Banner (as played by Edward Norton) rip my bodice?
Morning and Talk shows make me vomit, I out grew them a very long time ago. I saw the Kathie Lee v. Dooce Interview on Dooces website. Kathie Lee sounded like an ignorant 60 yearold cheerleader. And Dooce was all class, ALL class.