Consuming the Romantic Utopia

To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels the mass of images that define our ideas ...

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To what extent are our most romantic moments determined by the portrayal of love in film and on TV? Is a walk on a moonlit beach a moment of perfect romance or simply a simulation of the familiar ideal seen again and again on billboards and movie screens? In her unique study of American love in the twentieth century, Eva Illouz unravels the mass of images that define our ideas of love and romance, revealing that the experience of "true" love is deeply embedded in the experience of consumer capitalism. Illouz studies how individual conceptions of love overlap with the world of clichés and images she calls the "Romantic Utopia." This utopia lives in the collective imagination of the nation and is built on images that unite amorous and economic activities in the rituals of dating, lovemaking, and marriage.

Since the early 1900s, advertisers have tied the purchase of beauty products, sports cars, diet drinks, and snack foods to success in love and happiness. Illouz reveals that, ultimately, every cliché of romance—from an intimate dinner to a dozen red roses—is constructed by advertising and media images that preach a democratic ethos of consumption: material goods and happiness are available to all.

Engaging and witty, Illouz's study begins with readings of ads, songs, films, and other public representations of romance and concludes with individual interviews in order to analyze the ways in which mass messages are internalized. Combining extensive historical research, interviews, and postmodern social theory, Illouz brings an impressive scholarship to her fascinating portrait of love in America.

Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Sociology of Love
Romantic Love as a Cultural Practice
Romantic Love as a Utopia of Transgression
Overview
On Methodology
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Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Sociology of Love
Romantic Love as a Cultural Practice
Romantic Love as a Utopia of Transgression
Overview
On Methodology
PART I. WHEN ROMANCE MET THE MARKET
Chapter 1. Constructing the Romantic Utopia
The Secularization of Love, or Love as a New Religion
Love on Sale
Romance vs. Marriage
A Romantic Tale Spectacle
Conclusion
Chapter 2. Trouble in Utopia
The Price of Love
Alone in Public
Dating and the Spirit of Consumerism
Conclusion
PART 2. ALL THAT IS ROMANTIC MELTS INTO AIR: LOVE AS
A POSTMODERN CONDITION
Chapter 3· From the Romantic Utopia to the American Dream
"You Could Be Here, Now"
Such a Natural Love
Romance as Invisible Affluence
Codes Are Getting Tired
Conclusion
Chapter 4· An All-Consuming Love
Reenchanting the World
A Consuming Romance
The Luxury of Romance
Travel, Nature, and Romance
Romance as Liminality
The Commerce of Love: Ideology or Utopia?
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Real Fictions and Fictional Realities
Love at First Sight
Realist Love
Reality as Fiction
Fiction as Reality
A Postmodern Romantic Condition
Conclusion
PART 3. THE BUSINESS OF LOVE
Chapter 6. Reason within Passion
Charting the Heart
Passion within Reason, Reason within Passion
The Uncertainties of the Heart
The Science of Love
Therapeutic Discourse as Reflexive Discourse
Chapter 7. The Reasons for Passion
Agapic and Erosic Love
A Very Reasonable Madness
Socioeconomic Boundaries
Moral and Personality Boundaries
Educational and Cultural Boundaries
I Talk, Therefore You Love Me
Love for Free
Conclusion
Chapter 8. The Class of Love
The Elementary Forms of Romance
Love as Difference
Love and Symbolic Domination
Class, Romance, and the Structure of Everyday Life
Conclusion
Conclusion: A Happy Ending?
The Story of Love
Appendix 1. A Few Words about Methods
Appendix 2. Questionnaire
Appendix 3. Images of Romance
Notes
References
Index
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