Sheilas and Blokes

We Australians are reputed for some funny sayings. Though these names are not used so much in today’s vernacular, in times past the Aussie slang for woman was ‘sheila’, and for man was ‘bloke’.

A few years ago during a Uni lecture - Cinema Screen and Theatre – we were shown a reel that highlighted the Australian movies of the last 100 years. In the reel they had a section entitled ‘Sheilas’ and specifically focused on the way women had been represented on the screen over that time. I watched with a combination of amusement and cringe as the documentary-maker honed in on the early movies from the 1920’s through to the 1950’s where the female characters were depicted as helpless, pathetic and always in need of rescue. The scenes chosen were done so in a deliberate attempt to show the attitude toward women in the pre-feminist era. There was a very obvious scoffing at how the hero had to come in to lift the heroine from her downcast position, her head lolling back as she stared up in awe at her rescuer. Cringe. It did make me want to say: ‘toughen up princess!' Then as we moved on past the 1970’s the heroine became much more aggressive, and was able to fend off attackers herself, using bricks and other bits and pieces that came to hand.

Mind you, the way the blokes were depicted in this collage during the early years showed men who were condescending and verging on arrogant. Sitting in our post-modern era, even I felt like giving them a good shellacking. 

As I was pondering on what I had seen during the class I had fully understood the message that was intended: the helpless damsel in distress is pathetic and needs to be an independent, self-sufficient woman. The rescuing hero is a self-important, arrogant, oppressive personality.

 But something wasn’t quite right with the message, and I was upset by it. I’m a writer of romance, and a strong self-sacrificing hero is essential. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of a useless heroine. She needs to have some gumption and presence of mind, but having need of a rescue and assist every now and again can lead to some nice romantic interaction.

Examining this idea that exists in my mind at least (though I suspect I’m not alone as evidenced by the popularity of the romance industry) raises a question: Where does this fascination for a rescuing hero come from?

In the past I have talked about an innate need for a hero/saviour. The old Webster definition for romance included these words: a fabulous story of love or of war. Romance is all about strong heroes; Action characters who rescue situations and damsels. Why do we, men and women both, enjoy a story of heroism? My immediate response is: all mankind need a hero/saviour, and that hero is Jesus Christ who has effected the great rescue of all time. We do not rescue ourselves from sin and death using a brick or anything else. It is the sacrificing blood of Christ, and our grateful response of surrender to Him. Are we pathetic and useless? Perhaps, but we are also saved, and without Him as our hero we wouldn’t be able to make any sacrifice or be involved in any works that would give us the eternal life we have through His work. 

The Biblical picture used is that Christ is like the husband, head of the church - the bride. It isn’t a popular picture in terms of modern feminism, but if we think back to that documentary reel I viewed, Christ doesn’t fit that pattern. He has never been condescending, arrogant or oppressive. That is not who our hero saviour is. And I don’t think he calls us to be pathetic and useless either; Grateful, gentle, trusting, submissive perhaps, but not useless. He calls us to courage and action. He tells us to submit our burdens to him and that He will be our strength.

So has post-modern feminism killed off the great hero? How does that affect our view of the need for a saviour? Can the princess really save herself? 

For me, I think I will continue to enjoy a strong, self-sacrificing, take-charge hero in the romance I read and write and keep in mind the Saviour who is all those things and more.

 ‘How Sweet The Sound’ by Meredith Resce is a fantasy story about a hero, Prince Justin, sent to the Island of Terranin to save the governor’s daughter, Christina, from the violent usurper, Lucien. It is a parable of the story of Christ the redeemer.

Meredith Resce – author of the ‘Heart of Green Valley’ series, ‘Mellington Hall’, ‘Falling for Maddie Grace’ and many other novels.

Follow Meredith Resce on her Face Book page

For more details go to her website - www.meredithresce.com 

First image is the painting Chivalry - Sir Frank Dicksee (1853-1928)

Redeeming the Bad Boy Hero in Christian Romance (plus book giveaway)

By Narelle Atkins 

If you browse a number of romance titles, you’ll find the bad boy hero is a popular story line in the romance genre. 

Why is the bad boy hero appealing to romance readers? 

I confess to having a soft spot for the bad boys in romantic fiction. They’re far from perfect and have made their fair share of mistakes. A bit rough around the edges, they’re not afraid to take on the challenges of life and they exhibit many heroic traits. I’m an Aussie and it’s a national sport to back the underdog. In a romance the underdog is often the bad boy hero, fighting seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve his goals. 

In a Christian romance, it is God’s redeeming love that saves the bad boy hero and enables him to form a lasting and loving relationship with the heroine. Of course, the heroine will usually play a role in helping the hero in his spiritual journey, but it’s his faith that gives him the strength to become a better person.

The Christian romance genre, and Christian fiction in general, has been criticized for having characters who are too perfect. Iola Goulton wrote an excellent response to an article that claimed Christian romances feature Mr Perfect. You can read Iola’s thoughts here.

We don’t need to read very far into the Bible to discover that many of our Biblical heroes were far from perfect. King David is a good example, and one of my favorite heroes from the Bible. David was a mighty warrior and a man after God’s own heart. He was also human, like the rest of us, and made his share of mistakes including an adulterous affair with Bathsheba that had deadly consequences. 

My new release, Winning Over the Heiress, features a former bad boy hero. Sean has made plenty of mistakes in his life, and you can see his bad boy past in full flight in Her Tycoon Hero, the previous book in the series. Julia, my heroine, is the good Christian girl who has mostly done everything right. Sparks fly when she ends up becoming Sean’s boss in the church office. Sean’s very aware of his need for God’s grace, and he challenges Julia’s thoughts and ideas on many levels.

CAN SEAN MITCHELL BE REDEEMED? 

His new boss, Julia Radcliffe, isn't so sure. A year ago, Sean walked out on his brother's wedding—and her. Now the bad boy with the surfer good looks is back and determined to make a new life with Julia. She wonders whether she can truly trust that he's a changed man. 

It took time and faith, but Sean is finally on the right path. And his feelings for Julia have only grown stronger. But when Sean's past threatens to jeopardize their future, can he convince Julia they both want the same thing—a love that can overcome every mistake?

~~~~~~~

I’m giving away a print copy of Winning Over the Heiress (worldwide, wherever The Book Depository delivers) to a reader who leaves a comment on this post and enters the Rafflecopter giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Honouring the Least

Who doesn’t love a hero/heroine? Don’t we all look for the hero in the stories we read, and build one into the stories we write? I find this a challenging task as a Christian writer. Usually heroes are those who rise to the top, who conquer, rescue, who win others over with charm, achievement, chivalry, strength. Yet if we want to write a story which mirrors the teaching of Scripture we are faced with honouring very anti-cultural values.

In Biblical stories we see that God chooses the powerless, the weak, the little ones, in order to show His power. From the very beginning, God uses unlikely figures, and in one way or another, they are always unable, inept, unprepared, and incapable. Sarah and Abraham, Moses, Rachel and Rebecca, David, Jeremiah, Job, were all ‘powerless’ in some way. Being at the bottom, the edge, the outside, is the privileged position spiritually. This is where God seems most often to choose to work. Those at the centre of God’s stories are those who fail, who run and hide, who are outcast, often unlovable or weak in human terms.

Throughout the Gospels, we find numerous
teachings promoting downward mobility. "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be your slave." Matthew 20: 26-28). Jesus consistently honoured the least, the outsider, the sinner, and the handicapped. None of these images are glamorous, nor the most desirable place to be, but Jesus challenged His disciples to find greatness in being a servant, to die to self and put others first. 

In the Old Testament we love to see how Daniel, David and Joseph persevere through enormous struggles and end up in privileged positions in their society, but still the real success was in their inner changes. Many of the characters central to biblical stories have sad ends to their earthly life. The only real hero is God, of course, and the glory goes rightly to Him. But how often are we tempted to make our heroes into figures that many readers will be attracted to; those who rise up from lowly, broken, powerless positions, to places  of strength, achievement, success, and of course, happiness? Don’t we want our readers to aspire to be like our heroes? Don’t we write stories in which we at least hope to emulate our heroes and heroines? Don’t we all want the happy ending?

I think it’s difficult to write stories where the heroes are truly heroes in the spiritual sense, where their greatness is seen in servanthood, where their strength is shown in self-sacrifice, and their success and charm is portrayed in the way they honour others above themselves. I’d be really interested to hear about the heroes you love to read and write about.  

As I’ll be on my way home from Africa when this is posted, I’ll look forward to responding to your comments a few days later.

Carol’s novels are based on her family ancestry in Australia from the First Fleet and include the Turning the Tide series; Mary’s Guardian, Charlotte’s Angel, Tangled Secrets and Truly Free. Her earlier novels Suzannah’s Gold, and Rebecca’s Dream have now been re-released by EBP. You can see more about Carol and her novels on her website.

 www.carolpreston.com.au

Or on  FB      www.facebook.com/writingtoreach

Her novels can be found at EBP   www.evenbeforepublishing.com

                                                     Or Amazon  www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston