Stories situate themselves at the juncture between meaning and being, offering embodied encounters with the complexities of thriving versus merely surviving in current times. I have been interested in the gothic as a representation of the potency and powerlessness at the core of the woman’s experience, ways in which these stories invite the possibility of a re-telling of the woman’s story in her own terms and reclaiming disparaged meanings from the mire. In current times, there is an assault on embodied truths that threatens to leave us even further dis-enfranchised from what we might know from our own experience. How then, might we envision the heightened interest in the Romance, as a genre, as a point of insurrection, a possible rallying cry that might help to salvage the profoundly human values and aesthetically-driven meanings from the disparagement inherent in relegating the feminine to the terrible morass of the Dark Continent? And how might we challenge the move towards empty rhetoric and arm ourselves with truths carried from these deeper realms to survive and perhaps even thrive in these very dark and dire times?

This paper explores the surge in popularity of contemporary romance novels, particularly within the BookTok community, and its impact on adolescents' understanding of relationships, gender, and sexuality. Drawing on Lacanian theory, it examines the appeal of idealized romance, escapism, and identity exploration within the "Imaginary" realm, where young people can safely experiment with subject positions and desires. This idealized vision, exemplified by narratives like Bridgerton and even seemingly more "realistic" portrayals like Bridget Jones's Diary, appears to clash with Lacan's assertion that "there is no sexual relation," highlighting the inherent limitations and misrecognitions in romantic pursuits. The paper investigates whether these narratives foster healthy relationship expectations or perpetuate harmful stereotypes. It analyzes female character representations and how the "Symbolic" order influences traditional gender roles and internalized misogyny. It also examines the narratives' potential impact on young people's understanding of consent, healthy boundaries, and real-life relationship complexities, considering how unconscious anxieties surrounding these issues may be reflected and mitigated. The analysis considers the psycho-social context, including peer influence, social media trends, and cultural norms, particularly in contemporary adaptations like Bridgerton. Finally, the paper explores how the "Real," the unrepresentable, might intrude upon idealized romance narratives, creating tension and potentially prompting deeper engagement with human relationship complexities, including the inherent impossibility of a complete sexual relation.

Through the dystopian TV show Severance, I will explore the social fears of modern technology that plague and further alienates us and examine how the show uses psychoanalytic concepts of mourning, regression, desire and agency to reclaim our humanity. Severance is a high concept story that maps the intersections of technology, capitalism, proximate power, isolation and loss. The show centers on a central figure Mark, who after losing his wife in a car accident, falls into a deep melancholia. To escape his depression, he chooses to work in a sterile and absurd company called Lumon that severs, or splits, his psyche, so he can abandon his trauma while he works. The split creates an innie, or work, self that has no connections with his outie self in the “real” world. The show explores the importance of finding one’s own humanity in a regressive innie state through intimacy and literal unionization, and includes vitalizing romances that occur for the central figures in their work—but not their dreary and lonely personal lives.