Captivity Narrative: Romance in Time

On Votaries, I discuss the captivity narrative and its power in our culture.

One  popular variation on the captivity narrative in romance is the blind-date-scenario. Not literally. In fact, quite often the couple already know each other as best friends or co-workers or neighbors. But they end up in a captive scenario. One or both of them can't leave.

It's basically "potential lovers stuck on an island."

What makes a captivity narrative different from "stuck on an island" is that usually one person is the captor. But the fundamental idea is the same: by meeting on the edges of their lives, the couple get to know each other better.

Naturally, the captivity narrative gets criticized for the potential Stockholm Syndrome--in which the victim empathizes with a thug, not because the victim and thug truly connect but because the victim has no choice. (The incident that gave this supposed psychological phenomenon its name is often misunderstood; the kidnapped didn't empathize with the bank robbers; they simply didn't trust the police).

The critics miss the point--the captivity narrative is precisely about an unwilling encounter that becomes willing over time. Unfortunately, the discomfort of "you treated me like crap--but I'm supposed to trust you?" still lingers.

One excellent solution from the romance perspective is time travel. There is still that sense of forced captivity--I can't leave--without the unpleasantness of a brutish captor. There is too, if the story is written well, the sense of trying to come to terms with a different way of thinking.

M/M Examples:

Downtime by Tamara Allen: contemporary FBI Agent ends up in Jack-the-Ripper's London. He struggles with burgeoning new police methods, which still don't meet his standards. He also, interestingly enough, deals with male platonic affection and sentiment being actually more of a given than in his own time.

Hemingway's Notebook by Jackie North: contemporary college student ends up in the Great Depression about the same time that Hemingway had become a household name.

In both cases, the authors manage to capture the aura of another time period. They also do a fine job portraying the main character's sense of discombobulation. Even more impressively, both authors show how the "modern" assumptions of the main characters can mislead them. Morgan's indifference to class distinctions very nearly gets the scullery maid in trouble. Jake's desire for creature comforts leads him to use up too much of his host family's coal.

In the midst of all this, a loving hand to cling to (and learn about) becomes not a sign of dysfunction but a light in the darkness.