I don’t remember when it started… My absolute love and obsession with Hallmark movies. Well, maybe it started when I was young, and I smuggled Harlequin Romance novels home in high school; secretly reading and devouring love stories – love where a delicate and vulnerable girl was captivated by some rugged, handsome, and a little rough, man and they had a happy ever after.
I would imagine that I was that girl and that one day I would have a happy ever after. After I graduated, I found my fix in college through soap operas. They allowed me to move from the books to the screen and to have more ways of imagining myself being chased after, to imagine someone falling in love with me, and being part of the intrigue and suspense….
I scheduled my classes around soap operas: One Life to Live, General Hospital, As the World Turns, Guiding Light. I took all my classes in morning to make sure that all afternoon, I could rush back to my home or residence hall to watch my shows.
For freshman year, that was my world, immersed in a fantasy. I was also hooked on the soap opera “Dallas.” And then, Bobby Ewing died, but wait, No, he didn’t die, because it was just a dream. In the 1986 season, my sophomore year, I protested. I wasn’t going to be treated like a fool: “Bobby was dead and how dare you bring him back like it was a dream.” And, so I stopped watching soap operas and tried to start living one.
Looking for romance, having one-night stands, dating an ex-con, dating a medical student, dating a military man. Dating and getting engaged! By the time I left undergrad, I had been engaged 5 times!
Why not, say yes? Someone wanted to marry me! How exciting, even if they were lost, confused, and also looking for love from someone who didn’t even know what love was.
Almost 30 years ago, I got married. There was no Instagram worthy proposal, no Instagram worthy wedding pictures (no one was there other than the minister and two witnesses and an empty church), and back to business. Back to law school, PhD in sociology, operating a frame shop and art gallery. Life was full and busy for the next 25 years. After finishing school, it was working, raising children, moving jobs, spending time with my mom, moving again, finally arriving in Blacksburg in 2016.
In 2017, my cable company was Xfinity/Comcast. I just had a basic subscription. I rarely watched TV. As a former professional tennis player, I usually just watched tennis, especially if Serena or Venus was playing! But, Xfinity/Comcast started carrying Hallmark that year.
A few years later in 2019, I changed my prescription, and not only did I have the Tennis Channel, I had Hallmark! On weekends, after long work weeks, to escape reality, I started watching Hallmark. White men and women fell in love after a little plot tension in small town America, always ending with a final kiss! Often, the only persons of color were supporting characters, a Black woman or man, who was the “best bud” of the main couple. That did bother me. I wanted to see and believe that we, Black women, Latinas, Native women, Asian women, that we were desirable, sexy, and could be loved and fallen in love with.
I was still, though, hooked on Hallmark, and all its White small town love. I did a bit of research on the history of the channel after I heard about its religious influence.
“The Hallmark Channel traces its history to the launch of two separate religious cable channels, the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN). The two networks began alternating time on a shared transponder slot on the Galaxy III satellite in 1992.Despite largely being an apolitical brand, Hallmark Channel has garnered a following among politically conservative viewers in suburban and rural areas who, according to Manhattan Institute for Policy Research‘s Steven Malanga in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, feel the network and its original programming feed their desire to “express traditional family values and also to steer away from political themes and stories that denigrate religion.”
Wikipedia
In December 2019, after a protest and call for a boycott associated with the absence of LGBTQ storylines and a decision by Hallmark not to promote an LGBTQ brand, the channel decided to engage in more inclusive programming, because ultimately diversity is also a revenue source.
In August, 2022, they started Mahogany, an “an entertainment brand focused on Black culture and Black women.” Moving from greeting cards to film.
Recently, I have started noticing more women of color in starring roles, not a lot but more, and a bit more Latine and Asian diversity. I have also started seeing more LGBTQ couples, scenes, and storylines, not often the main character, but much more visibility.
And then there was a beautiful storyline with a Downs Syndrome couple falling in love. It was called, “Color my world with love” It was so beautiful, I cried. https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2022/06/10/hallmark-to-air-movie-starring-actors-with-down-syndrome/29890/
But, I often shed a tear or two with Hallmark. Some actresses are really amazing: Alison Sweeney, Danica McKellar, Jill Wagner, Kimberly Sustad, and Erin Krakow. I like Ryan Paevey and Tyler Hynes as dudes. I love the royal Cinderella plot lines – unsuspecting girl falls in love with prince and palace! I am not fond of Christmas in July, because Christmas is not in July. I usually take a break from Hallmark then. But in the fall and at the start of the year, the new episodes snag me back in!
As my own life seesawed in marriage, I was blessed at different times to enact a Hallmark romance with vow renewals – a sweet sixteen vow renewal in the Bahamas, and a 25th vow renewal in New Orleans. They were both wonderful events with family and friends.
And then, my life transitioned and I was alone. Me and Hallmarks, every weekend. I realized it is important to love one’s self and so, in 2021, I wrote “I am an African-American Love Story” as part of a Menah’s Matinee.
But, I also wanted romance in my own life. A few years ago, I wrote in my journal since I’ve journaled since the age of 8, “I want a Hallmark romance.” I think it is important to declare our intentions in writing.
Because they can and do come true….
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I found a song called Singing in the Rain and a line in the song, that says “I’m ready for love.” And I’m ready! I’m ready to love life in all its ups and downs, sun or rain; clouds or rainbows! I hope you are ready, too!
I’m singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin’
I’m happy again
I’m laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun’s in my heart
And I’m ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ve a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin’,
Singin’ in the rain
And, I’m ready for love.
a photo shoot in my favorite dress!