But Why Princes and Billionaires?—The Romantic Fairy Tales Universe

• Princes everywhere
• The noble hero—literally
• We live in a material world…
• Castles and such
• The Sex Hospital
• Kick it up a notch…
• William McGrath
• Sometimes, though, it’s not easy to tell who’s the Prince and who is the Princess: Heated Rivalry

Princes everywhere

Have you ever wondered, why the magical realm of the fairytale romance is so densely populated by Princes?

I mean, in our Western magical lore of mostly European origin, one of the most prominent heroes is The Prince. No specific name—just a generalized character on the quest to win his beloved’s heart.

Another stock archetype is Prince Charming—originally featured in multiple folk tales, always ready to safe every damsel in distress out there. Disney eventually assigned him specifically to Cinderella. Then, further diversified his personification into Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty), Prince Adam (aka the Beast), etc.

Looking East, we find the very popular Snake Prince—both in India and Persia. Plus, the Ruby Prince… And Aladdin might’ve started as a street urchin (in his Disney reincarnation ) or as an idle son of a poor tailor (in the original source material), but through his quest he comes to immense riches and becomes first a prince, and then a king.

And don’t get me started on Russian romantic chronicles of mighty warriors, enchanting princesses, and evil sorcerers. Whether passed along from the days of yore or written by the literary giants, they are studded with princes: Ivan Tsarevich (literally—a son of Tsar, basically an equivalent to our Prince), the high-born knight Ruslan, Prince Elisei, Prince Gvidon…

And let’s be honest, neither classic nor contemporary romancing stray all that far from the concept of princeliness. The central character doesn’t need to be royalty per se. But at the end of the day, they must prove to be a Prince among the regular folk to ensure the proper swooning of the target audience. At the very least, we expect inner morality, honor, integrity, valiance, generosity…

The noble hero—literally

Quite exceptional qualities rarely found in reality. But we aren’t talking about that. We are in the world of limitless possibilities.

Regardless of his personal struggles and turmoils of self-discovery, we ultimately expect a Prince to end up on the side of Good. He is the force that firmly stands in opposition to all that’s Evil. Princes slay dragons, imprison heinous sorcerers, banish to hell malevolent witches. And it’s inconceivable for a Prince—always guided by his own moral code and the sense of honor—to be cruel to the ordinary creatures, big or small.

Now, the primary romantic function of a Prince is Rescuing. They are on a mission to find the object of their affection and break them out of whatever perils they are in. So, they search, and battle, and throw themselves in flames and waters, and do whatever it is necessary to perform their task. Je suis prêt and somesuch swashbuckling… And that includes rendering a kiss of such magical quality, it can wake a beauty from her eternal slumber.

In the process, they frequently manage to liberate forests, villages, castles, and even entire kingdoms. Naturally, such deeds call for uncommon valor and staggering endurance, which all Princes invariably possess.

That said, we can’t ignore a small matter of feasibility. How exactly do these Princes manage to devote themselves entirely to all this heroism and goodness? And the answer is: They can afford to do so. That’s why we need them to be who they are.

Someone else might’ve tried to apologize here for linking romanticism to practical concerns. I won’t. Finances matter. Especially when we talk about that generosity…

We live in a material world…

And I don’t mean it ironically. I don’t mean it derisively either. The concept of wealth was not invented yesterday and it’s not always negatively fueled by our contemporary consumerism! The ambition to have sufficient resources in order to fulfill your destiny is as old as this world.

Of course, in true romance we don’t fall in love with wealth. (Ew, gross! That’s a completely different genre of storytelling altogether.) In true romance, we get swept off our feet by the power of attraction. We follow our passion and fall in love with the person. And, if it’s mutual, we get further seduced by that person’s yearning for us. And once feelings are declared… Fuhgeddaboudit!

But! Having nothing is a terrible detriment for successful affairs of the heart. There is hardly anything as burdensome to the fairytale elation as the money woes. As Regina Cohen said: They poison your soul and make you crazy… Poverty puts heavy constraints on the possibility of love’s enduring burn.

There is this Russian proverb spoken from a woman’s perspective. My closest translation into English would be: With my darling, it’s heaven even in a hovel. And every time my utterly unromantic, practical mother heard somebody saying that, she never failed to retort, “Only if the hovel is layered with Persian rugs.” And you know what? As much as I hate to admit it: she was right.

And Princes need their treasures. I mean, the grooming, the pretty clothes, the jewels, the weaponry, the quest horses and those that draw their fancy carriages, the armies and the quest entourages… The fucking armor alone is like a small fortune…

Wealth empowers Princes to do things mere mortals simply can’t. Here is where that mind-blowing generosity comes to play. And it goes hand in hand with the ability to make Princesses’ dreams come true. Because, you see, rescuing from evil captors and awakening from spells is not enough. I mean, only after Prince Charming bails her out, Cinderella can quit working her hands to the bone.

Castles and such

If you think about it, this whole Prince status has a lot to do with real estate.

All those lovable bloodsucking Princes plowing the field of romantic storytelling ever since the first publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre in 1819! Their wealth is usually not even a matter of note. It’s just a given that if you are eternal, you eventually figure out a way to be very rich. And then, you can afford pretty spectacular housing.

Just imagine for a second that Edward Cullen lives in a small two-bedroom clapboard house in the gloomiest part of Forks, Washington (I’ve been there, by the way. Believe you me, people, it ain’t pretty.) and not in the fabulous redwood-and-glass breathy modern architecture marvel built straight into that luscious mountain in the Pacific Rain Forest. It would be the end of Robert Pattinson’s career. Guaranteed.

In old times it was all palaces and castles, of course. Some even filled with singing utensils made of solid gold. Naturally, that got scaled back a bit in our contemporary times. Still, most Princes end up impressing their Princesses with some outstanding residential options—multilevel lofts, mansions of various calibers, chalets, lakefront cottages…

And once in a while they simply must take their Princess’s breath away with a gigantic rustic chalet, built just for two of them on 30 acres of Vermont farmland—complete with an apple orchard and a greenhouse. Or, alternatively, with their vast and astonishingly beautiful woodsy land overlooking the Puget Sound.

And if that Prince starts contemplating even a possibility of selling the land, the Princess starts to worry: “Are you still You?”

The Sex Hospital

And speaking of that particular neurosurgical “knight in shining whaever”...

It’s not surprising that our contemporary fictional romance has so many medical Princes. After all, rescuing is an essential part of their job descriptions. Super-doctors of international caliber and renown, especially the uniquely gifted ones, make perfect Princes. They have the ability to positively impact lives of numerous people throughout their careers. They are also the ones with fat multimillion-dollar paychecks.

Novels and feature films about doctors as well as long-running medical dramas, have always been tipping their toes into romantic waters. If for no other reason than the aspirations of realism. So, there were always love affaires and marriages in addition to the primary curative activities…

But it’s Shonda Rhimes who actually made a hospital drama not just medically thrilling, but also swoony and sexy. She broke through by daring to mash up all imaginable hospital tropes with those that came straight from the romantic classics. She took Romance and Sex out of the background and brought them front and center—with all the hot and steamy accoutrements she could possibly imbue onscreen within the constraints of the network television.

I came to Grey’s Anatomy in a backwards way. Never watched it when it started airing on ABC back in 2005. Then Scandal in its second season became all the rage. And I was very impressed. After that, I simply had to check out ShondaLand’s first installment in what I personally call Shonda’s Quest for the Love of Your Life. And I am not ashamed to admit that to this very day the first ten seasons of that show (the ones Ms. Rhimes ran first-hand) successfully serve me as antidepressant and anti-anxiety remedy during my darkest times.

Naturally, I shared it with my friends and one of them very appropriately renamed it The Sex Hospital. After all, it introduced its first sex scene within 22 seconds of the very first episode and it continues boldly integrating numerous sexual encounters into its various plot lines.

The brilliant treatment of romance in that show became an idiomatic gold-standard of the contemporary TV-making, homaged in dramas all over the world. I’m not even surprised anymore when I catch subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) references to it in French, British, Korean, etc. series.

Yet, the main reason I adore Shonda Rhimes is her social impartiality. Race, gender, sexual orientation—she gives room to all and any type of romances in her shows. I practice the same egalitarian principles in my own life.

So, it goes without saying that the Sex Hospital is entirely gender-neutral and is peppered with Princes of various calibers and appeals. Including a prominent cohort of True Female Princes: Miranda Bailey, MD, FASC, Christina Yang, MD, PhD, FASC… They reach their professional stardoms by saving thousands of lives, while repeatedly rescuing their Princesses from all sorts of emotional prisons.

And I don’t really know that much about Ms. Rhimes herself, but from what I do know—she definitely comes off as a Prince.

Kick it up a notch…

Now, there is wealth and there is wealth of mythological proportions. And even though an average person is not really prepared to grasp what it means to have, let’s say, $10 billion, everyone understands that if someone achieved that kind of level of affluence within their lifetime, it’s—how shall I put it?—very impressive. It’s an indication of super-human efforts. A heroic accomplishment suitable for a Prince.

Of course, attempting to make a real-life billionaire into a romantic hero is virtually an impossible task. I actually have met a few. And let me confirm your suspicions: pretty much all of them are assholes. Sad, but true—there is no other way to describe them. Not a shred of a Prince in any of them.

On the other hand, within the domain of romantic fantasies, creators have the freedom to ignore the disappointing traits of real humans and go wild with idealization. And that’s how the literary concept of a Prince as a young beautiful billionaire— with his own personal moral code and a chip or two on his shoulder— has developed into a recurring scenario. It’s an identifiable sub-genre now.

And let’s face it, nothing kicks up the magic of a romantic experience to a completely new level like unlimited resources. They can turn the whole wooing and vowing process into the rollercoaster of over-the-top possibilities. Not just mind-blowing real estate, but also extraordinary adventures, life-changing prospects, unimaginable opportunities…

Even more importantly, the immense riches broaden Princes’ heroic horizons. A Prince like that doesn’t just kill a local dragon. He accomplishes quests that have global impact—like protecting the environment or ending hunger. On occasion, even saving the universe from the total destruction.

William McGrath

So naturally, the romantic hero of Fireworks and Other Illuminations, William McGrath, is one of the richest people in the world. Yet, because his holdings are largely private, the full magnitude of his wealth is known only to a relatively small number of trusted individuals.

Conceptualizing this definitely princely character, I was determined to give him abilities, powers, and, yes, resources to affect lives and environments in the most significant ways I could imagine. I was determined to materialize within the pages of the novel my fantasies of a better world. A world with recovering Earth and diminishing personal isolation.

Rescuing is William’s mission and his MO. He is out there saving air and water from contamination, trees from extermination, the planet from dying, humanity from social media imprisonment, arts from obsolesce, and his Princess from the clutches of guilt and despair.

He alters realities of people and nations on small, large, and global scales. So, I accommodated him by tweaking ever so slightly our past, present, and the near future—embellishing them with some bits of scientific advancement that are beyond our grasp just yet.

There is no question that his ethos and his actions make him a Game Changer.

If you are interested to learn more about William McGrath, you can visit Firework’s Landing Page or read about his Ethos. For a more extended introduction into his life I invite you to read the novel’s Chapter Two.

Sometimes, though, it’s not easy to tell who’s the Prince and who is the Princess: Heated Rivalry

Speaking of game changers…

In my earlier post Rules of Romantic Engagement, I assured the readers that the concept of Princes and Princesses is just as applicable to same-sex romance as it is to hetero affairs. And I promised to eventually demonstrate that with an illuminating illustration.

At the time, I thought that Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) and Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison) of Queer as Folk would be a perfect case study for that. I was even planning to explain how violating the natural order of the trope and forcing the Prince into a sacrificial act tainted the final season of that show.

However, two weeks ago, Heated Rivalry happened to me… It was on my Must-Watch list since the trailer came out last year, but it’s a long list. So, I only got to the show now. And it turned out to be a quintessential romantic fairy tale! The Gold Standard, truly!

Moreover, the romantic heroes at the center of the show present a far more compelling case study in relation to the trope at hand. Because—at first glance—it is not all that easy to distinguish who’s who between those two: which hockey superstar is the Prince and which is the Princess.

And obviously it’s not their gender that makes it difficult. It’s the appearance of a virtual parity. Further accentuated by the creator’s choice to cast actors of pretty much the same height. In contradiction—as I’ve learned—to the source material that puts Ilya at about 6″ taller than Shane.

Damn! That Jacob Tierney! He surely knows what he’s doing! It’s not just casting. Every choice he made—the selection of the storyline beats, the strange timeline lapses, the dialogues, the sequences, the montages, the music, everything—is there to make you fall in love with his characters. He took Rachel Reid’s skimpy soft-core outrage with homophobic hockey culture and turned it into a candy so luscious and addictive, millions of viewers got hooked. Admirable craftsmanship. I applaud that.

And how about that casting! That je ne sais quoi combination of talent and scorching chemistry! And did you realize that the way these two boys look together subliminally triggers you into recalling Heath and Jake? “I wish I knew how to quit you…” Right?

So, Ilya and Shane are also the same age. Professionally, they are both natural centers. Widely recognized generational talents, constantly competing against each other for the same trophies and awards.They both possess the same star quality and celebrity status. Equal intensity and astonishing confidence on ice. And it is clearly a part of the concept that their competitiveness is a major contributing factor into that unquenchable wanting they feel for each other.

They are similarly rewarded for their athletic efforts with multi-million dollar compensation packages and endorsements. They are not billionaires, but by the time these boys are 23 and captains of their respective major-league teams they are already very wealthy. With prestige lofts, spectacular houses, hook-up buildings, and custom-built lake cottages most people can only imagine in their dreams.

Relative to the general populaton, they are well off. And their fiscal freedom and independence facilitates their affair—providing them with opportunities most young people, caught in the tempest of passion, don’t have. Things can always be arranged when you have means.

Now, as William Burroughs never failed to point out, it’s always a power struggle in men’s relationship to begin with. But with these two—it’s another level altogether. They are extraordinary über-athletes in perpetual physical training, conditioned into mind-blowing physical endurance. And while their levels of comfort with themselves are diametrically different, Shane is no pushover. Moreover, both of them demonstrate an uncommon degree of valor by refusing to walk away—in spite of the emotional confusion and the unfathomable risks.

So, they effortlessly throw at each other “dick sucking” commands—both literally and figuratively—as men can… And their foreplay involves shoving one another against walls and on the bed. For years they call each other by their sport monikers aka last names IN BED, for fuck’s sake! “Come here!” “No, you come here!”—while slowly walking towards each other. And they can equally get hard just by being in the same place at the same time. And every time they touch, their knees go weak.

And yet—in spite of the astonishing depth of the closet, where he hides from himself, his initial inexperience, the bottom positioning, the yearning for intimate instructions, the subtle mannerism of a good boy, the social anxiety, and a very-very pretty face—it’s Shane who is the Prince here. Not the rugged, bold, brash, sexually domineering, and self-accepting rockstar Ilya. Who is, consequently, the Princess.

If you look closer, there are plenty of Prince vs. Princess behavioral indicators all throughout. Ilya almost instantly feels that incredible sexual pull he has with Shane. And his Princess’s sensitive heart is also the first to recognize that something unimaginable has happened inside his traumatized soul.

And at that point, he is willing to take tiny steps forward. Let’s not go to the hotel—come over to my home. Stay, I’ll hold you while you sleep. I’ll make you a tuna melt, and here’s your ginger ale. Let’s have an open conversation—I am bi, but your mouth… Let me cuddle you… And at the climax, he breathes out, “Shane”—like a gentle caress.

In return, Prince gets overwhelmed, has an emotional meltdown, and runs away. Disastrously beds a very cool, hot, smart, sensitive and intuitive female movie star—out of pure denial. Confusing companionship for attraction.

Which is, by the way, quite typical for practically all Princes of contemporary fairy tales. Especially the good boys caught in the conundrum of “Right” versus Real. Out of confused sense of propriety, they end up muddling their own feelings and wounding the Princesses in the process.

Classic case in point: Dr. Derek Shephard abandoning Meredith in an attempt “to make it work” with Addison. And then again with nurse Rose. Makes me wonder: Is Rose Landry an homage? “He is with Rose, he is with Rose, he is with Rose…” You know what I mean?

However! Once Shane sorts his turmoil out and comes to terms—both with himself and the life-altering power of True Love—he is as steady with his protective sword as only a Prince can be. He is on the hero quest. He is the one thinking of the possibilities of redefining the relationship into “something”. He wants to get as close as the Princess would let him—with his questions about the family, and the emotional support, and the cottage invitation…

He is the one with the forward thinking and the long-game commitment… He is “the knight in shining whatever”, obsessing over the need to rescue his Princess from the terrifying clutches of homophobic Russia as well as to heal the wounds of the oppressive childhood. He wants to wrap Ilya into his arms and shelter him. And, God forbid, he’ll marry that Svetlana for passport, thus committing a felony under the US laws.

His determination to shield Ilya and ensure their future together keeps him awake at night—devising elaborate, step by step, plans. And on top of that, in honor of his beloved’s mother, he also wants to help depressed people on the verge of killing themselves. What did I tell you about Princes?

Needless to say, in alignment with his Princess nature, Ilya pledges himself to his Prince’s vision. He is willing to sacrifice his loyalty to his team as well as his chances to win more Stanley Cups, so that he can be closer to Shane. Shane is more important.

And let’s not forget that Shane is the one with the power of parental support behind him. The driven mother with endorsements outreach.The father with governmental connections.

I have not read the books. But I am hoping—as a writer, as a fan, and as a mother—that Yuna will do whatever she can to take care of her only son’s loved one. If for no other reason than to unburden herself of the maternal guilt she must be feeling after finding out that her golden boy has been hiding from her in his closet.

That’s what I always did for my only daughter and that ‘s what Regina always did for hers in Fireworks and Other Illuminations.

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Now, for you, the readers who bore with me all the way to the end, I would like to suggest this idea:

Imagine for a second gender-reversing Heated Rivalry—recasting all male roles with women. A confident bisexual and a beautiful, yet insecure, lesbian hockey stars? Hot, right?

It’s not surprising, of course, that a thought like that would come to me. After all, my Regina Cohen is bisexual, and so is her daughter Cassandra…

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