I don’t know if you pay much attention to the book sections at Barnes & Noble. For the most part, I don’t. But today I was in my local store looking for a particular title, and I happened to notice a section I’m certain I’ve never seen before: “Teen Paranormal Romance.”
Now, it wasn’t that long ago that books such as Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenally successful Twilight franchise likely would have found their home on the shelves of the science fiction/fantasy section. (I think they still have one of those, anyway.) But it’s a measure of just how phenomenally successful that series has been that it has helped spawn enough imitators to warrant its own section—a section that took up the better part of an aisle.
Looking at these books—which presumably merge dark tales of vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures with those creatures’ longing to be loved just like anyone else—I was immediately struck by the one-word brevity of many of their titles. Among those I noticed in a quick, non-scientific sweep of the shelves were: Thirst, Shadowlands, Shiver, Linger, Before I Wake, Endlessly, Surrender, Possession, Arise, Hereafter, Fallen in Love, Torn, Silence, Fracture, Incarnate … the list could go on for a while.
But something deeper stood out to me as well. Looking at the titles randomly compiled above, the composite picture that emerges involves some common themes: a yearning for love and a taste of immortality amid a fallen world.
Does that sound familiar? It should, because it echoes the gospel story Christians have been proclaiming for two millennia. Just as fictional vampires (and those who love them) long for something whole and eternal, so we who are living in the real world must grapple with our own yearning for healing and wholeness in the midst of a fractured creation. Into that realm, the gospel story tells us, Jesus came to bring hope, forgiveness and restoration. He promised that those who trusted in Him would experience fullness and abundance, and that one day He would wipe every tear away.
Mind you, I’m not saying that any of these stories are intentionally seeking to represent the gospel. I suspect mammon, not ministry, is what motivated the majority of these authors to leap aboard the Stephenie Meyer-inspired paranormal teen romance bandwagon.
Copycat cynicism aside, however, readers—young readers—are responding in droves to the genre’s established paradigm, a narrative that fuses elements of yearning, brokenness, true love and the desire for everlasting life.
These readers may not consciously realize how hungry they are for spiritual truth as they plow into these phantasmagorical gothic romances.
But this genre’s white-hot popularity suggests that they are hungry for the “good news” of paranormal teen romance—a “gospel” that’s not as far removed from the genuine item as you might think.
Recent Comments