TRANSCRIPT
The DIsney version of the classic fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast' is an early example of a genre of story telling that's become known as 'Romantasy' - a mix of romance and fantasy.
It has a brave, strong heroine; a mythical beast; fantastical characters and - spoiler alert here - a happy ending.
It's a genre of literature that has become increasingly popular for adults, according to Christine Larson, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"Romantasy is such a popular genre right now. Romantasy is a combination of romance and fantasy. And when I say fantasy, I mean sort of high fantasy. Elves, dragons, magicians, sorcery, and humans coming together. And it is a subgenre of romance, which means that the central story is focused on the developing love relationship between the two central characters."
And while Romantasy novels have been enthusiastically bought in their thousands by a new generation of readers, Professor Larson says they're simply continuing a tradition.
"Everyone talks about romantasy as if it's new. But actually, the subgenre of fantasy or paranormal in romance has been around for decades. And we can look at things like Twilight. We can look at as far back as the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey in the '60s. Those always combine very strong central characters with adventure and strong women who find their equal and find true love and their happily ever after."
Irish American Author Anne McCaffrey was one of the pioneers of the genre.
She died in 2011, but in an interview in 1994 she explained her belief that fantasy and science fiction appeals to people because it offers hope for a different, better future.
"In the past 15, 20 years when we still had the Cold War and there was great concern that someone would be silly with a button, science fiction was talking about all kinds of futures, and it gave the adult reader the hope that, gee, maybe there is one. It might not be this one, but if these people are so busy writing about futures, we've got to have one too."
It's not known who invented the term "Romantasy".
The publisher Bloomsbury claims to be the first organisation to identify it as a genre, but in fact the term appears in the online Urban Dictionary as early as 2008.
Romantasy authors are hugely popular on social media, and on the TikTok platform, Bloomsbury says videos with hashtags connected to one of their most popular authors, Sarah J Maas, have gained more than 14 billion views.
Maas told NBC she believes in creating an imaginary world in considerable depth.
"I just have this encyclopedia in my head where I just keep track of it and maybe it's because the worlds and characters feel so real."
Fans on TIkTok dress up as characters, discuss the novels and what might happen in future stories.
Professor Christine Larson says the influence of TikTok has changed the publishing industry unlike anything before.
And she says there's no doubt that the fact that the genre features strong women is a major factor in its popularity.
"In general, I think romantasy has spread the way it has because people are feeling unsettled right now. Women, especially, are often feeling powerless. And the heroines in these books have power. They gain power and they find love interests who are their equals. And I think that's really important to women right now to imagine a different world."
Sarah J Maas agrees - and she's not afraid of some fairly explicit scenes as well, even if her family don't entirely approve.
"I've always been drawn to writing women that can't be placed in any definable category. They can be very feminine, but then also go beat the you-know-what out of the bad guy and save the world and then look good doing it. My first on-the-page sex scene was in my Court of Thorns and Roses, the first novel, not series, and I needed a glass of wine, to take the edge off. Felt like everyone was staring over my shoulder watching as I wrote these dirty words and then also thinking, oh my God, my grandmother is going to read this."
Grandma might be shocked, but Professor Larson believes Romantasy is a force for good.
I'm especially excited about romantasy because it is so imaginative, but it also has central love stories. And I believe that romance in general and these love stories portray relationships the way we want them to be between equals, between strong partners, and they celebrate the power of love.
