Melodrama Makes Money

Part of my research paper is about Nicholas Sparks and his novel, "The Notebook". I used this novel because it has not only been adapted and put onto the big screen, but because it is probably one of the most popular romantic melodramas. Even though romantic melodrama will always come with a negative connotation, it will never stop making authors, screen play writers, actors/actresses, directors etc.,. very very very rich. I found an article from, The New York Times, called "Romance Novels Discover a Baby Boom", written in April of 1991 by Alessandra Stanley. This article states that, "romance fiction, once dismissed as escapist fiction for bored housewives, has in the last two decades grown into a major industry, with annual revenues that publishing analysts say reach hundreds of millions of dollars." This article might have been written way before Nicholas Sparks wrote "The Notebook", but is proof that even though the romantic melodrama has and has had a negative connotation for so long, people still go out and use their hard earned cash on an escape into a character's fairytale.