Most of us might not consider this – especially if we’re in the camp that is sick to death of billionaire stories, but billionaires have been with us in their more archetypal forms since the time of telling stories in the cave around the fire.
The truth is that power and control, in all their guises have a facet of raw, primal lust, and few things are more darkly and secretly fascinating than the idea of being forced to give up control and finding that we like it. Being possessed, being under someone else’s thrall, being taken to the realms of ecstasy, whether it’s on Mount Olympus, in Dracula’s dungeon lair or in a penthouse apartment, is a part of that dark fantasy that makes up, not only the mythological seductions, but every vampire story, every monster story, and yes … every billionaire romance.
Why is that? What makes that dark fantasy such a powerful one. Well, I have a theory, and I’ve been toying with it ever since I penned my first PNR story. I think that no matter how appalled we are by the thought, no matter how stubborn and independent we are, we want to know what it’s like to be with and to be taken by a force so much greater than us that we have no control. What’s it like to be bitten and seduced by a vampire? What’s it like to make love to a monster? What’s it like to be seduced by a god? What’s it like to be the object of lust for a billionaire? And ultimately what price are we willing to pay for entrance into Club Billionaire, Club Olympus, Club Undead?
It’s more than lust. It’s more than love. In fact it’s all a little mercenary really. We want, we long for, a chance to take into ourselves all that we’re not. We want to know their secrets. We want those divine, powerful, filthy rich, forbidden lovers to reveal to us their inner workings just as much as they want to possess us. The ultimate question then becomes can we pay the price and survive to tell the tale? Can we achieve our HEA and find some sense of balance in a world to which we are the interloper? Oooh! It’s always so much fun to find out. And what I am discovering as I delve deeper and deeper into Magda/Medusa’s world and that of her Consortium, is that the answer is … complicated. Sometimes the Happy Ever After looks more like “what the f*ck is this then?” Sometimes the true adventure only begins just when the HEA is lost in a constantly changing landscape in which we’re strangers. Sometimes there are far greater things at stake.
Being whisked away into the arms of a demon or a vampire, or even a gorgon also means while there may not be a need to wear a condom, there is quite literally no such thing as safe sex. You never know what will happen if you sleep with the monsters, and once that decision is made, in a world where rules don’t apply, we can’t help but be affected. The question then becomes, will we survive the change?
Interesting theory, but I find billionaires incredibly boring (unlike the other dark creatures whom you evoke with such skill). Ultimately they don't have any real power; they are as vulnerable as anyone else.
ReplyDeleteThat's just me, though.
Bring on the vampires and the demons, though. I definitely think you're right about the awful temptation of power, taking us over.
What I think is that most women are still feeling the pain of slut-shaming, or they fear it, so they won't admit, even to themselves, what they really want: down and dirty, nasty sex, the kind that leaves you sore the morning after, with a throat hoarse from all of the screaming with ecstasy that you did the night before. You want it, you crave it, but if you admit that, you will be shamed for it, by those who still want to enforce patriarchal rules. Some haven't ever even thought about why the rules are there.
ReplyDeleteIn anthropological terms, ancient humans could always see who the mother was...the baby dropped out of her. But they only had the mother's word for who the father was. The solution, if you were a brute who wanted to be sure that you were leaving your worldly belongings to an actual heir? Make sure your woman, and all others as well, knew their place. And knew how severely punished they'd be, if they succumbed to their totally human and normal desires (with a Scarlet Letter, of course! Slut-shaming at its finest.)
So the idea of being forced, against your will, of course (yeah, right!) to do the kinds of things that you dreamed of, waking up in a sweat, with an itch you weren't even supposed to scratch for yourself...well, you can see the temptation to succumb to such a fantasy. "He made me do it!" Of course, I loved every minute of it, but I pretended to fight...I pretended I didn't want to do all of those nasty things he made me do. I'm not a dirty slut!
Me? I embraced being called slut at an early age, and rejected the idea that I was supposed to feel bad about it. Maybe that's why I don't really like the uneven power positions of the omnipotent male seducing the virtuous female. I find those kinds of stories boring. I want a story like the kind I write, with sexy independent women who know how to please themselves while they please their man. My husband says I'm an anomaly, and that's why my books don't sell well. He says more readers want to be seduced, than want to be the seducers. He's probably right. Sigh...
You're not as much of an anomaly as you think, Fiona! Sometimes I think you might be my twin ;^)
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think there's some merit to your argument, at least for some women and some readers.
Separated at birth, eh, Lisabet? I've met a few women who think like me, over my lifetime, but very few. Most are uncomfortable with the honest exploration of the enjoyment of sex, that I feel to be a birthright.
ReplyDeleteI had a reviewer say she didn't like Analysis of Love because she so disliked the independent, sexually-voracious heroine. I kind of identified with that heroine, so I was verklempt! To each their own.