To understand the rapid change in cultural norms, the author investigated modernisations of Harlequin formula elements that dealt with socially relevant themes. Harlequin novels were chosen in this particular investigation due to their highly fixed, formulaic nature which suggests that any changes in the formula elements are deliberate modernisations, meant to preserve the formula’s relevance and relatability to its readership. A database of thirteen novels was examined and narrowed down to four novels which were paired (two novels written by the same author with at least a half decade difference in publication date). A New Historicist outlook was used to get a preliminary understanding of the formula in the novels and the outside influences upon them. Then, a combined approach of comparative literary analysis and structural analysis was employed to analyse these novels as manifestations of the overarching system of the Harlequin formula. It was found that in the 1980s (which was the peak of second-wave feminism), there was a significant rise in agency in the heroines in regards to their sexual agency, their reasons for deceiving the heroes, professional careers, and a less significant difference in life experience as compared to their 1970s counterparts and the male heroes. There is also a development in the formula’s treatment and resolving of female infertility that incorporates a more inclusive reconceptualisation of motherhood. In effect, more care is given to the heroine’s own desires and demands by authors than in the decade prior. As a result, it can be argued that during the peak of second-wave feminism, modern conceptions of female agency had become cemented in society to such an extent that even Harlequin romance novels, a notoriously conservative and formula-driven genre, had to adapt to remain relevant.
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