Romantic Media Research Articles

Mediating Authorship: Wordsworth, Copyright and Media History

ABSTRACT This essay presents William Wordsworth’s advocacy for the reform of copyright laws as an event in Romantic media history. Previous scholars have discussed the poet’s engagement with Thomas Noon Talfourd’s petition in the 1830s as indicative of the period’s larger negotiation of the economic and cultural values of literary art. This essay argues that beyond issues of economic and aesthetic recognition, Wordsworth is aware of the significance of copyright as a central means of shaping the author’s communication with his readers. Within the proliferating mediascape in print in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Wordsworth draws on the agency afforded by copyright to intervene in the process of mediation. Proposing mediation as an important new analytical approach to the discourses and practices of Romantic authorship, this essay outlines Wordsworth’s efforts toward controlling the codes and channels of communication as crucial concerns in the period’s evolving print culture.

Career Persuasion Attitude and Anuptaphobia: The Moderating Role of Exposure to Romantic Media Contents

The aim of the study was to explore the association between career persuasion attitude and anuptaphobia and to see the moderating role of exposure to romantic media content between these variables among unmarried women. Unmarried women (n=282) aged 25-35 (M = 26.24, SD = 1.45) were collected from universities. The sample was purposive taken from Lahore, Pakistan. A correlational research design was used for the study. Career aspiration scale-R (Gregor & O'Brien, 2015), perceived realism scale (Rubin, 1985), fantasy rumination scale (Segrin & Nabi, 2002) and fear of being single scale (Speilmann et al., 2013) were used to collect data. Results revealed a non-significant correlation between career persuasion attitude and anuptaphobia. However, a significant positive correlation between romantic media content and anuptaphobia was found. Regression analysis showed that the number of hours spent on romantic media and its exposure to romantic content was the predictors of anuptaphobia. Regarding the moderation analysis, exposure to romantic media was not a moderator between career persuasion attitude and anuptaphobia. However, findings of the t-test revealed significant educational aspiration and anuptaphobia among the PhD and M Phil groups. The research highlighted the importance of balanced media consumption as this could potentially help reduce anxieties related to being unmarried.

“We Found Love”: Romantic Video Game Involvement and Desire for Real-Life Romantic Relationships Among Female Gamers

Despite the increasing popularity of female-oriented romantic video games (RVGs, also known as otome games) in Asia, research on this topic is scarce. Drawing upon social exchange theory and social cognitive theory, the current study examined the association of RVG involvement and desire for real-life romantic relationships (RLRRs), and tested a SEM path model delineating the possible pathways linking RVG involvement to RLRR desire. A survey method was adopted to collect data from female RVG players on an online otome games forum in China. Results from a valid sample of 353 respondents (aged 18 or older) showed the direct, indirect, and total effects of RVG involvement on players’ interest in real-life dating and marriage relationships were all negatively significant. It was found that gamers’ avatar identification and parasocial relationships with romantic targets significantly mediated the relationship between RVG involvement and RLRR desire. Adding to a comparatively under-explored line of inquiry on the role of computer games in shaping real-life romance, this study contributes to both game effects and romantic media consumption literature.

From the Editor

Previous articleNext article FreeFrom the EditorCharles W. MahoneyCharles W. Mahoney Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThe 2022 review issue of The Wordsworth Circle includes appraisals of 20 books under consideration for the Marilyn Gaull Book Award, which the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association created in 2021 in honor of the founding editor of the journal, to recognize “the most outstanding monograph, biography, or scholarly edition reviewed during the previous year in The Wordsworth Circle.” The charge to the review committee is to determine “the book that best represents the spirit of wide-ranging inquiry, critical acumen, and enduring influence on the field that Marilyn Gaull always championed.” In its inaugural year, the 2021 Marilyn Gaull Book Award was conferred upon Andrew Stauffer for Book Traces: Nineteenth-Century Readers and the Future of the Library (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021); please see the announcement above. The recipients of both the 2021 and 2022 awards will be recognized at the annual lunch of the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association at the January 2023 meeting of the Modern Language Association in San Francisco.Among the books under review this year are three diverse studies of Wordsworth that were published in 2021: Jeffrey Cox’s William Wordsworth, Second-Generation Romantic: Contesting Poetry after Waterloo, which joins a growing list of studies of the later Wordsworth; Jessica Fay’s edition of The Collected Letters of Sir George and Lady Beaumont to the Wordsworth Family, 1803–1829, the introduction to which (according to our reviewer) is “so substantial it could almost have appeared as a monograph on its own”; and Cecilia Powell’s Canals, Castles and Catholics: Dora Wordsworth’s Continental Journal of 1828, the first edition to be published of Dora Wordsworth’s travel journal.We are thrilled to include reviews of the first monographs published by Bysshe Inigo Coffey (Shelley’s Broken World: Fractured Materiality and Intermitted Song), Tom Marshall (Aesthetics, Poetics and Phenomenology in Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and Jacob Risinger (Stoic Romanticism and the Ethics of Emotion). It is also a pleasure to review Wild Romanticism, edited by Marcus Poetzsch and Cassandra Falke, whose work in a similar register appeared in The Wordsworth Circle vol. 52, no. 3 (2021), a special issue on “Romanticism and Wilderness” guest-edited by James C. McKusick. The review of Orrin Wang’s Techno-Magism: Media, Mediation, and the Cut of Romanticism continues the journal’s promotion of work on Romantic media, as highlighted in last year’s review issue (vol. 52, no. 4) as well as in this year’s special issue on “Romanticism and Data” (vol. 53, no. 3), guest-edited by Yohei Igarashi.In addition to the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association lunch at the 2023 meeting of the MLA, the Association is sponsoring the session “Romanticism and Sexuality” (please see the announcement above), a selection of the proceedings from which will appear in The Wordsworth Circle vol. 54, no. 3 (2023). Looking ahead to the 2024 meeting of the MLA, the Association will be sponsoring a session on “Pan-European Romanticism”; the call-for-papers appears above.Finally, it is a great pleasure to announce that Jacob Risinger (Ohio State University) has joined the journal in the capacity of Associate Editor—a significant addition to the editorial staff. Among his other responsibilities, Professor Risinger will be overseeing the review issue beginning in 2023; please direct all queries regarding reviews and reviewing: [email protected]—CWM Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Wordsworth Circle Volume 53, Number 4Fall 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/724441 Views: 21Total views on this site © 2022 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Towards ‘romantic media ideologies’: digital dating abuse seen through the lens of social media and/or dating in teenage narratives

ABSTRACT The article addresses the teenagers’ perception of those forms of teen dating violence that occur on digital media (i.e., ‘digital dating abuse,’ DDA), such as snooping around, controlling behaviors, and aggravated sexting. It contributes to the strand of studies on DDA and those on the mutual shaping relationship between technology and society by focusing on the interplay between social media usage practices and dating practices among teenagers narrating DDA. We carried out 7 focus groups in Rome with 43 high school students aged 14–16 years, in order to explore whether and how the negotiation with social media platforms and the interaction between dating partners affect the adolescents’ perception of DDA. The thematic analysis reveals that participants refer to idioms of practice informed by media ideologies when seeing DDA as an issue related to social media, or to dating scripts supported by romantic ideologies when seeing it as an issue related to dating. They oscillate between these two interpretative ‘lenses,’ thus intertwining the platform social usage norms and broader societal beliefs surrounding dating relationships. In doing so, they give rise to ‘digital dating scripts’ and ‘romantic media ideologies’ which nowadays rule their dating relationships in a very specific way.

Media Consumption: Association With Implicit Theories of Romantic Relationships

Media has grown in popularity throughout time, and with it, so has media’s ability to influence those who watch it. Specifically, romantic media has the potential to influence personal romantic beliefs. However, to date, research has typically relied on self-reported questionnaires for determining associations. Therefore, the present study examined the influence of romantic reality media on a specific set of romantic beliefs (i.e., individuals’ implicit theories of relationships) using an experimental procedure. Participants from a small liberal arts college first completed an online, prevideo survey (N = 128) assessing their prior romantic media consumption and their current romantic beliefs. A subset of the participants (n = 81) then came into a computer lab and watched 1 of 3 videos: emphasizing growth beliefs, emphasizing destiny beliefs, or a nonromantic media video. Immediately after the video, participants filled out a postvideo survey assessing their romantic media consumption and postvideo romantic beliefs. Analyses revealed a significant 3-way interaction between implicit theories of relationships, wave of data collection, and video condition, Wilk’s λ = .80, F(2, 74) = 9.38, p < .001, ηp2 = .20. Specifically, participants who watched the growth video had a significant change in their implicit theories of relationships beliefs; there was not a significant change in beliefs for participants who watched the destiny video. Results are discussed in relation to cultivation theory, professional implications in the counseling fields, and future directions.

The Bridget Jones effect: The relationship between exposure to romantic media contents and fear of being single among emerging adults.

The Bridget Jones effect: The relationship between exposure to romantic media contents and fear of being single among emerging adults.

Paper and the poor: Romantic media ecologies and the Bank Restriction Act of 1797

AbstractRag paper is a common denominator for many Romantic‐era medial forms. The term “media ecology” has become increasingly accepted in media theory, and its spatial and ecological affinities connect it to the urgent topic of climate change. Media ecology invites book historians to consider the labor as well as the origins of the materials that underwrite our culture. This consideration of paper recasts the literary archive as an accretion of physical as well as intellectual labor. The physical labor necessary for the making of rag paper included increasingly industrialized agricultural work and textile production, as well as rag collecting and sorting, as many period authors were aware. At the inception of the Bank Restriction Period (1797–1821), the introduction of low‐denomination paper banknotes changed the London media ecology in ways that had a devastating effect on the English poor, including the very orders of agricultural and textiles workers, rag collectors, and papermill rag‐room women who had a hand in paper making. The Bank of England investigated and prosecuted hundreds, resulting in poverty, transportation, imprisonment, and executions. Paper notes and their forgeries invited considerations of other forms of cultural value and circulation, including literary authorship, and the article ends with the Bank of England's current celebration of Jane Austen as a literary icon by including her portrait on the polymer £10 note.

Exposure Time to Romance Depicted in Media and its Influence on Beliefs about Romantic Relationships among Adults

Media has become saturated with messages about romance. Yet, very scarce work has been done in studying the effects of romance oriented media on beliefs about romantic relationship. The present study aims at investigating the relationship between exposure to romantic media, perceived realism of the media and beliefs about romantic relationship among adults. An Expost facto research design was used and a sample of 439 individuals (121 males and 318 females) over age 18 was selected through purposive sampling. Online portals were used to circulate the survey. Sprecher and Metts Relationship Beliefs Scale (1989) and Rubin’s Perceived Realism Scale (1985) were used. The data was analysed inferentially by using Person Product Moment Correlation to establish relationships and t- test to study gender differences. The findings revealed that exposure to romantic media was not significantly related to beliefs about romantic relationships (except for beliefs about love at first sight), but perceived realism of media was significantly related to scores on Relationship Beliefs Scale. No significant gender differences were observed with respect to scores on Relationship Beliefs Scale, Perceived Realism Scale and exposure to romantic media. Thus, it was concluded that mere exposure to screen romance alone did not influence beliefs about romance; rather it was influenced by the extent to which people internalised these messages.

True love lasts forever: the influence of a popular teenage movie on Belgian girls’ romantic beliefs

The current experimental study (N = 88) investigated the short-term effect of a popular teenage movie on early adolescent girls’ beliefs about romantic relationships, with particular attention to the moderating role of parasocial interaction with media characters and age. The results indicated that 11–14-year-old girls with higher levels of parasocial interaction were more inclined to endorse idealistic romantic beliefs after watching High School Musical. In addition, the effect of watching a romantic movie decreased with increasing age. The present study provides further insight into the causal order of the relationship between romantic media use and romantic beliefs and warrants attention to girls’ consumption of unrealistic romantic media contents.

William Blake and the Emergence of Romantic Media Studies

AbstractThe following article is structured in two parts: the first half of the essay investigates the now‐emerging Romantic media studies paradigm, a vital sub‐field within contemporary Romanticist scholarship, and historicizes this critical paradigm while contextualizing its emergence and development in relation to competing historical and theoretical accounts of “media,” “medium,” “mediation,” and other terms most crucial to scholars working in this area. The essay's second half situates the role of the art and poetry of William Blake, often cited as the Romantic age's greatest multimedia artist, within Romantic media studies and does so by reviewing the general lack of critical and theoretical attention given to Blake within the nascent sub‐field. While Blake's poetry, painting, and printmaking have proven to be extremely generative of digital scholarly projects, Romantic media studies' implicit investment in his work (and especially the nature and function of his illuminated manuscripts) requires further investigation.

Playing for Love in a Romantic Video Game: Avatar Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Chinese Women's Romantic Beliefs

Previous studies have identified relationships between romantic media consumption and users’ romantic beliefs, but romantic video games (RVGs; i.e., games in which players attempt to foster a romantic relationship with a chosen game character, also called dating games or dating simulators) remain understudied. Using a cultivation framework, we conducted an online survey of female Chinese players to determine their consumption of the RVG genre, identification with their avatars, and parasocial relationships with the romantic targets they pursue in the game, as well as their beliefs about romantic relationships. Although the amount of time spent playing RVGs did not directly predict idealized beliefs about romantic relationships, the hypothesized mediation model revealed that it indirectly predicted romantic beliefs through identification with avatars and parasocial relationships with video game characters. We discuss the implications for studying romantic media, dating simulations, interactive narratives, and other video game genres.

Twi-dudes and Twi-guys

The Twilight franchise, based upon the popular Young Adult vampire romantic series, is, unquestionably, female-driven. However, the series’ romantic themes and enthusiastic female fans, as well as the public disdain they have received, have overshadowed the male fans of the series. To explore male fans’ interest in Twilight, how they reconciled their masculine identities with their attraction to a feminine text, and what they learned from Twilight’s romantic messages, we discuss our findings from surveys and group interviews with male Twilight fans. Both the lack of scholarly literature on male audiences of romantic media and the experiences of male Twilight fans reveal that we know little about the roles romantic media play in boys’ and men’s lives. We argue that studying male audiences of romantic media is a useful approach to begin to build an understanding of the roles feminine media forms play in boys’ and men’s gendered identities.

An experiment investigating the links among online dating profile attractiveness, ideal endorsement, and romantic media

This study was the first-ever experiment to test how ideal expressions in hypothetical online dating profiles and exposure to romantic media are related to profile attractiveness, romantic beliefs, and endorsement of ideal partner characteristics. The sample contained 249 undergraduate students from a small, southwestern university. The study is a one-way experiment, with five manipulations and one control group. Results revealed that exposure to the conditions featuring any ideal content produced stronger endorsement of romantic beliefs, but not ideal partner characteristics. Consuming romantic media predicted stronger endorsement of romantic beliefs and higher ratings of profile attractiveness. Results support the heuristic processing model of cultivation.

Is life just a romantic novel? the relationship between attitudes about intimate relationships and the popular media

Abstract This study hypothesized that subjects who strongly endorse unrealistic beliefs about intimate relationships would score higher on a measure of exposure to popular romantic media than subjects who do not. The relationship between exposure to media and satisfaction with one's current intimate relationship was also explored. Results for the 109 adult subjects support the hypothesis (r=.18, p<.05). There was also a trend for married women who were more exposed to the popular romantic media to be less satisfied with their current intimate relationships (r=− .26, p<.10). These results would seem to have significant psychological and social implications.