I've commented several times, for example, about my love of Apple Computer products, a la "Stuff White People Like," an instance where the bog actually rings true for me, unlike the stuff about recumbent bikes or int'l travel or yoga or whatever. I need not mention punk rock (Killing Joke anyone!?) & its related cultural products as another love.
More to your point, I'm actually kind of fascinated with a certain genre of book and television that seems to appeal mainly to women -- books like VC Andrews' _Flowers in the Attic_ (nice explication of this on a blog somewhere awhile back by a female writer whose name I forget), Lifetime Movies about sexual abuse and incest, and/or soap operas that generally contain stock rich male characters who somehow mysteriously provide an income (they're always doctors, "writers" [because we all know writers are rich -- always], or "businessmen" whose business is very vague - things that simple serve as a conceit for the male character to bring in money, it seems. The en are rarely actually seen working, of course, just emotionally interacting with the female protagonist while the dough mysteriously pours in in the background, invisibly.
In the meantime, the female protagonist is always a) headstrong, yet is tested and must summon all her resolve to face an emotional crisis no else understands, and/or b) must also "keep the family from being torn apart." A big theme in Lifetime movies is "X threatens to tear a family part, and female protagonist Y must do such and such to hold it together." "X" is either an addiction suffered by a family member, a social problem popular in the media at the moment (like cyberstalking), or an encroaching sociopathological rival woman. The Life Time Movie "Her Perfect Spouse" is a good example.
Also, I don't think there is anything cult studies CAN'T draw deep meaning from.
-B.
shag wrote:
"Further, and not just to MP, there's a famous cultural studies approach to the study of romance novel reading women, _Reading the Romance_. I've summarized it here before, so search on archives if you're interested. It worth reading about this study b/c it uncovers a distinct subculture in the u.s. and is a demonstration, i think, of carving out some sort of middle path between sneering and uncritical embrace of every cultural product."