Guilty Pleasure: Binge Watching Romance

I am an addict.  My brain is addicted to the high that romantic stories can deliver.  My newest happy hour (hours) is watching (and re-watching) all 49 episodes of the newly released Chinese Netflex series called, “Meteor Garden”.  It’s the romantic tale of a strong, highly principled, plain looking, female university freshmen from a middle class upbringing accidentally clashing with a highly popular, wealthy, smart, but ill-mannered male university senior.  I’m surprised that I wasn’t completely put off by the sub-titles nor by the physical violence that would have gotten the young man expelled from an American university.  But the show follows a romantic formula that my addict brain craves.  I seldom read the same book more than once, but when it comes to romantic storytelling on the screen, I find myself re-watching a beloved story many times.  I’m a huge fan of Jane Austin–I considered her my favorite author in my youth and so it makes perfect sense that the first romantic tale that I recall re-watching repeatedly was the 1995 six-night mini-series on PBS called, “Pride and Prejudice” staring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.  When it came out on VHS video, I purchased the set for $100 at Costco.  I watched it over and over.  Of course, I had to repurchase it on DVD when technology changed.

I’ve continued the trend of re-watching favorite romance stories.  My favorites were “The Bodyguard” starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, “You’ve Got Mail” starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and “Deliver Us from Eva” starring Gabrielle Union and LL Cool J.  For a while, I had a nice collection of romance flicks that I would re-watch to escape, relax, and enjoy on special occasions..

But then things changed. Several years ago, while in Las Vegas visiting my daughter and her husband, my son-in-law’s then teenage daughter was reading the “Twilight” series.  She was so into them that I asked if I could read the first one.  I read all three, staying up late into the night.  When the first movie came out, starring Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson, I was hooked.  I went to the theater to watch each of the movies at least twice and promptly purchased each on video on their release date.  For several years, the “Twilight” movies were my happy place.  And by the way, I was always on team Edward.

I didn’t think it could happen, but it did.  “Twilight” was supplanted by the HBO series, “The Newsroom” starring Emily Mortimer and Jeff Daniels and then by the PBS British Masterpiece drama series called, “Downton Abbey” with its full slate of love stories.  It became my primary addiction.  I don’t recall how I found out about “Downton Abbey”, but from the very first episode, I was hooked.  I purchased each season as it was released on video and enjoyed it until the start of the next season.  I have all six seasons and even purchased the beautiful collectors set during a PBS fundraising drive.  I think I’ve watched the entire series at least five times.

And now, I’m on to “Meteor Garden”.  I was shocked by just how euphoric I felt the other day when I sat down to turn it on after dinner the other night.  As Netflix was taking its time to load, I took a moment to question this very familiar feeling I’ve had since “Pride and Prejudice”.  What is it about these stories that excites me to the point that I’m euphoric in anticipation of watching something I have seen before?

I think my brain craves the sensation of watching people fall in love.  I’ve pin pointed the fact that I’m drawn to the dramatic journey through pain, euphoria, anger, and confusion as the characters slowly and painstakingly fall in love.  But not just any characters.  I realized a pattern.  Each of the women are strong, yet vulnerable.  The men, too, must be strong but vulnerable.  I think it is the combination of strength and vulnerability in the people negotiating a path towards love that keeps me coming back for more.  It’s so romantic and my female brain really craves it, no matter how corny.  I’m addicted to love stories on the screen and that is my guilty pleasure.