Getting Out From Under: Transcending Genre and Trauma

Nick and London haven’t seen each other in years, since college graduation, until London arrives at Nick’s bar one night, clearly in trouble. On a whim and with a surge of sympathy, Nick invites London to stay the night. This one night turns into many as the two have to maneuver living with the other, one struggling with mystery, the other with trust. Their walls slowly begin to come down and they fall in love. But London still has secrets that keep her closed off. It takes a lot of strength for her to reveal these secrets and get past what they mean. This project seeks to study how trauma can affect an individual and those around them. It is the story of London overcoming trauma in order to build relationships that have trust and transparency in them; to build relationships that allow her to fully be herself. The genre of chick lit plays a role in some of the conventions in the story, most notably with the romance that forms. The romance is actually a mode of healing for London which pushes back against the large feminist debate that romance plots are a patriarchal structure that don’t allow for autonomy. Getting Out From Under allows romance and autonomy and healing to coexist as well as thrive.