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I just read two paranormal romances in quick succession and watched episodes of Moonlight and BloodTies. That's a lot of "tough women and weird events" for one day, and I've come to a conclusion:
A lot of stories with women detectives/investigators and paranormal elements can be read as a sort of inversion of the Film Noir/Raymond Chandler aesthetic.
In the Raymond Chandler/Film Noir type story, you've got the guy detective. He's approached by the sexually attractive woman, or by her agent. A series of events occur, which threaten the man's life and also represent an alienation from the normal daytime world. The movement is one towards deeper and deeper shadow and uncertainty, and successive revelations cause both the detective and the viewer/reader to question the honesty and stability of the world the characters move in. The man usually experiences his romantic and sexual interest in the woman as a destructive force, and the woman's interest in the man is manipulative and dishonest.
In paranormal detective fiction with female detectives, it seems to me that the aesthetic journey is reversed. The woman typically begins from a place of knowledge about the dark or disordered elements of her world: she knows about demons, werewolves, psionic powers, etc. She is aware that the local government is or can be corrupt. She begins the story feeling alienated from her world and environment, which she already knows does not share her values. The man she meets or helps has a romantic interest in her, but she typically experiences this interest as a constructive force, and the man's interest is genuine. Rather than working at cross purposes, the woman and the man typically work together to confront a common enemy. The series of events that follow deep the woman's ties to her community, profession, family, or other network. At the end of the story, the woman has a more coherent, not less coherent picture of her world. She feels more comfortable emotionally, not less comfortable.
I think I read too many vampire stories today, but that's how I'm seeing it.
A lot of stories with women detectives/investigators and paranormal elements can be read as a sort of inversion of the Film Noir/Raymond Chandler aesthetic.
In the Raymond Chandler/Film Noir type story, you've got the guy detective. He's approached by the sexually attractive woman, or by her agent. A series of events occur, which threaten the man's life and also represent an alienation from the normal daytime world. The movement is one towards deeper and deeper shadow and uncertainty, and successive revelations cause both the detective and the viewer/reader to question the honesty and stability of the world the characters move in. The man usually experiences his romantic and sexual interest in the woman as a destructive force, and the woman's interest in the man is manipulative and dishonest.
In paranormal detective fiction with female detectives, it seems to me that the aesthetic journey is reversed. The woman typically begins from a place of knowledge about the dark or disordered elements of her world: she knows about demons, werewolves, psionic powers, etc. She is aware that the local government is or can be corrupt. She begins the story feeling alienated from her world and environment, which she already knows does not share her values. The man she meets or helps has a romantic interest in her, but she typically experiences this interest as a constructive force, and the man's interest is genuine. Rather than working at cross purposes, the woman and the man typically work together to confront a common enemy. The series of events that follow deep the woman's ties to her community, profession, family, or other network. At the end of the story, the woman has a more coherent, not less coherent picture of her world. She feels more comfortable emotionally, not less comfortable.
I think I read too many vampire stories today, but that's how I'm seeing it.
