Elina Valovirta
Collegium Research Fellow
Turku Institute for Advanced Studies
University of Turku
Finland
Romance novels taking place on Caribbean cruise ships are yet another example of how popular literature caters to audience expectations; readers need exciting settings and spaces for romances. Writers, likewise, need new fuel for their books to succeed in the literary marketplace. Titles such as Caribbean Cruising, Cinderella at Sea, Santa Cruise and Onboard for Love offer a unique vista to the Caribbean seascape from the deck and the cabin of the luxury cruise liner sailing usually from the US to places like the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and St Kitts. These adult fairy tales are hardly invested in promoting sustainability; their motivation is the same as going on a cruise – pleasure and leisure. But can they inadvertently steer audiences to consider ecological and other sustainability issues?
The answer is a hesitant yes, because romance fiction is embedded in values; both value as capital in a booming industry, but also values in terms of content, such as healthy relationships and notions of a good life. There is every reason to believe, that these values might also feature sustainability, because the texts suggest that the environment matters for romance. As a Caribbean getaway is synonymous with hedonistic leisure and pleasure on the sea and on the beach, several marine activities fill the pages of romances. The story needs activities and opportunities to develop, so the narratives are highly dependent on their surroundings. For example, it would be impossible to enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving, if there were no coral reefs to admire in their breathtaking beauty. A polluted ocean as a setting could hardly elicit romantic feelings to emerge and hence, bring value to the cruise or reading experience.
Another value-laden issue in the novels is the characters’ worldview. Genre conventions dictate, that the reader must glean enough information about the cast of characters in order to follow the story effortlessly and, upon finishing quickly, be ready to purchase another title as the market booms. One way to signal who is who in the narrative is through actions, where good guys respect nature like they respect women. A conscientious attitude towards natural elements like underwater flora also denotes to the reader that this would-be lover comes with earnest intentions and the romance works. In turn, bad guys like the evil tycoon in Nora Roberts’ The Reef, destroy the whole sea floor in search of sunken treasures.
Romance literature’s subtle interaction with environmentally threatened natural phenomena, like corals in the Caribbean, play a part in sustainability matters, whether consciously or not. Popular romance is produced for readers’ escapist pleasure needs, not to preach or politicize. But it is clear, that they must contain elements that readers want from their books, such as value consistency. One such example is the consistent practice of safe sex in the novels that contain erotic scenes. Another is a disclaimer accompanying the novels that explicates that there is no cheating in this story. These elements, just like the characters’ treatment of their surrounding environment, means that they are what reader-consumers want – as without them the books would not sell and thus exist. Values matter.
Yet, beyond the paradise discourse lies the industry’s sustainability dilemma: factors like climate change and overtourism force sustainability front and centre. It is no wonder that cruise tourism’s benefits to the Caribbean and the effects of tourism on the islands and its people have been questioned. Using Caribbean seascapes for the purposes of commodity fiction, invites us to consider water as a commodified space, something used for capitalist purposes like the tourism and cruise industries. Popular romance is a part of that framework: we consume and use water for romance as an investment. We cannot escape how we are all interconnected by the waterways we use – for leisure or for necessity.
This scrutiny of cruise board romance novels joins a growing body of research calling for more holistic approaches to the cruise industry in an effort to fully come to terms with its inner workings and challenges. This provides an opportunity for development in the same way as another field of recent development, ecotourism, does. Romance literature is very quick to pick up on recent trends thanks to the impact of readers as active agents of change.
Readers of bestselling fiction are active, networked global consumer-readers eager to promote, recommend and connect in various ways with their co-readers. In this interesting conjuncture of the literary and cruise industries, there is every reason to believe that multimodal – and mobile – readers could influence industries across the board and for the better, more sustainable experience should they so desire.