I'm lucid, but I still can't think

[sovay]

Good news! According to the ENT this afternoon, I do not have a sinus infection. I have the aftermath of two months of sinus infection and therefore get to put steroids up my nose until it gets better. We live in a wonderful world.

1. I had never heard of Jinwar, the Yazidi women's commune and I strongly feel I should have. Especially since "Jinwar grew out of the democratic ideology that has fuelled the creation of Rojava, a Kurdish-run statelet in north-eastern Syria, since the civil war broke out in 2011 . . . The women's revolution, as it is known, is a significant part of Rojava's philosophy. Angered by the atrocities committed by Isis, Kurdish women formed their own fighting units. Later, Arab and Yazidi recruits joined them on the front lines to liberate their sisters." I should have heard about that.

2. I'm mostly boosting this article about Mesopotamian stargazing because I studied with the professor quoted within. He was one of the best parts of my time at Yale.

3. Discussing the fading of the Ruritanian romance as a popular genre with moon_custafer a few months back, I said that I thought its scarcity in the second half of the twentieth century had more to do with the fact that the landscape of Europe shifted so comprehensively that any further entries would have to be period pieces—after 1945, Europe was simply no longer covered with plausible small monarchies into which English or American strangers could wander and be caught up in swashbuckling intrigue. The essential conceit of creating fictitious, generally Central European countries never died out, but I think the majority of it was diverted into secondary-world fantasy or into more realist modes like Jan Morris' Hav or Ursula K. Le Guin's Orsinia or even Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), which is explicitly a romance until it runs into history. Does this hypothesis actually match other people's experience? Is there an entire school of contemporary Ruritanian romance that I've just missed? Are they just mostly post-Soviet states these days?

It's snowing outside, quietly dusting down into the street. Earlier this evening I watched Johnny Eager (1942) because it was on TCM and I will never cease to love that movie; I ate some goat's milk custard for dessert and kindly did not take pictures of Autolycus while he had his head stuck in the plastic container. I have hopes of actually sleeping tonight.

Comments

[alexxkay]

Not sure if it counts as *romance*, but I've always thought of Doctor Doom's homeland of Latveria as Ruritanian. Mainstream superhero comics had regular appearances by odd little countries in Eastern Europe or the Middle East at least into the early 2000s (when I largely stopped following them).

[sovay]

Not sure if it counts as *romance*, but I've always thought of Doctor Doom's homeland of Latveria as Ruritanian.

It's romance in the sense of high adventure rather than romance in the sense of smooching: I'm willing to entertain superhero narratives under that umbrella.

Okay, so: does Black Panther (2018) count as a Ruritanian romance? It's got high adventure and intrigue, outsiders in a fictional country, and even, eventually, the restoration of the throne.

[niqaeli]

I don't read enough romance to comment on 3 directly but I suppose it's somewhat relevant that, whilst plotting a rock star AU of the MCU, I posited the Odinsons as heir(s) to a non-existent (and Ruritanian) monarchy. The royal line being unbroken, but the country itself no longer existing -- it crumbled apart in the various stresses of the first World War, the royal line ended up in exile, the country got snapped up into various other bits of Europe, etc.

It seems like the logical solution, really! Swashbuckling is perhaps a bit of a difficult sell, but royal family without a country seems ripe with opportunties for romance.

(The rockstar AU cannot be considered a romance as it contains remarkably little romance, or even sex (or drugs) for that matter. I, being a predictable parody of myself, focused rather more on the logistics of putting on a rock show than anything else. *g*)

Off-topic comment is off-topic

[rydra_wong]

But in the middle of the night I suddenly thought ".... has sovay seen A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night?"

So I am here to say that if not, you should; I think you would probably like it, and it has the single finest performance by a cat in a film I have ever seen.

[swan_tower]

Not Ruritanian romance in the narrative trope sense, but I do agree that the role of "small fictitious country somewhere in Europe" is generally filled by post-Soviet states nowadays -- places like Sokovia (Avengers) or this entire list of fake -stans. Alternatively, they get stuck somewhere in Africa. And Brenda Clough's recent time-traveler trilogy involves a fictional Southeast Asian country, Jalanesia. Basically, we're still willing to accept the notion of Country We've Never Heard Of so long as it's someplace we think of as politically unstable; most Americans couldn't list every existing real-world -stan anyway, so it's easy to make room for one more that maybe just came into being or just got overrun or whatever.

But the "small monarchies into which English or American strangers could wander and be caught up in swashbuckling intrigue" part . . . these days, our Ruritanias are more likely to be tinpot dictatorships than monarchies, and the swashbuckling intrigue is more likely to be espionage or military fiction. Which says a lot about global politics, of course. But also our entire relationship with travel and tourism has changed, so that I think we don't imagine the same kinds of narratives in foreign countries as we used to.

[watersword]

Harlequin/Mills & Boon/etc. definitely still do a version of Ruritanian romance, although they lean more to the Mediterranean and Arab states geographically, I think. The fake small monarchy (it's always a monarchy) is pretty much there to frame the kissing and the manliness, and the occasional dramatic ballgown.

[selkie]

I'm so glad you're only irritated!

I am back in the office. We'll see how that goes. Bronchioles are nonsense.

*hugs*
*and Ishtar*

[sartorias]

I think you're right about Ruritanians. They were already an old trope by the thirties (far more popular before and around WW I)/

But Black Panther has the feel, spot on.

[larryhammer]

The Mouse That Roars? Though that's political satire, despite the adventure plot, rather than outright romance.

[choco_frosh]

Yay steroids?

[moon_custafer]

I was thinking over the topic this morning, and I’d say Latveria definitely counts as Ruritanian, but that it has a built-in answer to “how does a small Central-European monarchy still exist, post-WWII?” with “this particular one is ruled by a super-genius inventor— your move.”

[moon_custafer]

I haven’t fully articulated this, but I’ve seen post-WWII variants on the trope that work by (a) separating the royals from the geographic location, and (b) using it as caper-of-the-week rather than a full movie or novel. I’ll get back t this, coffee break’s over.

[thisbluespirit]

I have the aftermath of two months of sinus infection and therefore get to put steroids up my nose until it gets better. We live in a wonderful world.

Er, good? I hope it works for you! <3

[moon_custafer]

What I mean earlier was that I’ve seen a WWII-or-later variant (Universal Sherlock Holmes programmer Flight to Algiers, an episode of Adventures of Superman, at least one Adam West Batman episode, various genre shows), in which an individual episode involves a ruler/heir-apparent being in town on some diplomatic visit, and our regular heroes have to protect them from a kidnapping/assassination attempt (or safely return them to their country so they can assume the throne).

The workaround for history in this variant, is that Ruritania’s existence is implied, but the story is not set there, which saves on location shooting but also skirts the issue of how such a country could still exist. Sometimes there’s also the hand wave of “it survived with traditions intact because it was a totally unimportant backwater— until earlier this year, when they discovered unobtanium there and now everyone wants control which is why the ruler suddenly needs protection.”

[kore]

I think Black Panther is more a pan-African utopian version of lost home, and it's also at least partly based on real places like Lesotho, Ethiopia and the Congo. Not sure of the romance angle either, but the MCU "Sokovia" seems to be more Ruritanian, especially in its mashup of the Balkan states?

[moon_custafer]

Oh, also— I haven’t been a tween girl in a long time, so I never got around to watching The Princess Diaries and it’s sequel— how do they handle it? Does the country keep a figurehead monarchy around for tourism purposes, or do they actually hold power? Does marketing it as fluff let them skip over concessions to realism entirely?

Re: Off-topic comment is off-topic

[sovay]

So I am here to say that if not, you should; I think you would probably like it, and it has the single finest performance by a cat in a film I have ever seen.

I have not seen A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night! I have heard very good things about it, but none of them until now have included a cat. I will look for it.

(I noticed when it came out because Sheila Vand had been one of the good parts of Argo (2012), but 2014 was a difficult year.)

[sovay]

a non-existent (and Ruritanian) monarchy. The royal line being unbroken, but the country itself no longer existing -- it crumbled apart in the various stresses of the first World War, the royal line ended up in exile, the country got snapped up into various other bits of Europe, etc.

That's a great solution and I want to read it. Would you mind if I asked for a link?

[sovay]

I'm so glad you're only irritated!

Thank you! I'm glad you're breathing well enough to be out of the house!

I am back in the office. We'll see how that goes. Bronchioles are nonsense.

*passes the laudanum*

*hugs*

there's romance, then there's romance

[dramaticirony]

Real political intrigues exists in this sort of film, with The Christmas Prince perhaps exhibiting it more clearly than the Princess Diaries.

I don't know if swashbuckling exists alongside European microstates, or any where else in pop culture other than the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The closest immediate analogue that comes to mind is lightsaber battles, but the lineage there is really samurai films, and further back westerns.

[sovay]

Not sure of the romance angle either, but the MCU "Sokovia" seems to be more Ruritanian, especially in its mashup of the Balkan states?

Sokovia is more traditionally Ruritanian in terms of geography and history, but Black Panther's got all the tropes—even the monarchy, which is difficult to pull off nowadays, and the opportunity for dramatic, well-choreographed one-on-one combat, ditto. I think it may go with swan_tower's comment about where American audiences will now accept countries they haven't heard of.

[sovay]

Basically, we're still willing to accept the notion of Country We've Never Heard Of so long as it's someplace we think of as politically unstable; most Americans couldn't list every existing real-world -stan anyway, so it's easy to make room for one more that maybe just came into being or just got overrun or whatever.

I was thinking about those last night. To your point: I can remember finding out that Kafiristan was a real place, not just the setting of Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King." I did not assume it was when I first encountered the story.

But also our entire relationship with travel and tourism has changed, so that I think we don't imagine the same kinds of narratives in foreign countries as we used to.

That makes me think of The Lady Vanishes (1938) as perhaps one of the last examples of old-style Ruritania and one of the first of the new: it has all the adventure of being a tourist caught up in local politics and then it has nascent Nazis. By the time similar material was revisited two years later in Night Train to Munich (1940), however defanged that film's history looks in hindsight, all its countries were real.

[sovay]

Sometimes there’s also the hand wave of “it survived with traditions intact because it was a totally unimportant backwater— until earlier this year, when they discovered unobtanium there and now everyone wants control which is why the ruler suddenly needs protection.”

Wakanda's definitely an inversion of that, then.

[sovay]

it has a built-in answer to “how does a small Central-European monarchy still exist, post-WWII?” with “this particular one is ruled by a super-genius inventor— your move.”

Legit.

[sovay]

The fake small monarchy (it's always a monarchy) is pretty much there to frame the kissing and the manliness, and the occasional dramatic ballgown.

Thank you for the data point! (I tend to think of traditional Ruritanias as monarchies almost by default, although every now and then you get a republic.)