Fireworks: A crowd pleaser in literature?

Last night I went to see the Labor Day fireworks and my friend told me two interesting things about them. One was that seeing fireworks is one of the top romantic plot lines to a romance novel/movie. While she had serious bias involving this statement and it wasn’t based on statistics, it’s interesting to reflect as to why this statement seems true. I can remember many storylines where a couple goes and sees fireworks together and it is indeed a “crowd pleaser.” I believe that the reason why fireworks seem so romantic is because of their blend of color, power, and intrigue. Also, there are no gender bias based on fireworks. It’s not that only boys go to fireworks or only girls do so therefore, one could argue that fireworks hold something for everyone. That is, in a romantic scene, neither girl nor boy is bored and that’s what makes it romantic. It’s something that both can enjoy. I think that writers realize this and they also realize the setting. The setting is a dark (usually clear) night, sitting on a blanket in the grass, watching children run around with glow sticks hanging around their necks, and feeling completely alone even in such a crowded place. This, I believe, is what pulls writers to fireworks as a romantic activity. The second thing that my friend said to me is that, “Fireworks are like life, they know exactly where they are going until they break into a million little pieces, and then they become beautiful.” Again, my friend was being silly in this statement and was joking around but I believe it to have some significance to story lines as well. Therefore, I am going to draw a parallel between literature and fireworks. A firework starts and there is the beginning. It shoots off and it knows it’s going up. But as it spirals upwards it realizes that there is no way to go back, what’s done is done. Then all of a sudden, it has gone up too high, it has reached a conflict, burn out (be a dud), or KABOOM!!! It breaks into a million little pieces and little children scream at the horrendous loud noise it makes. But then those little pieces are beautiful red, blue, green, and yellow hues and the little children that aren’t still cowering in their mother’s lap say “ooooooo!” or they reach out to grab the beautiful new stars that are lighting up the sky.

While I definitely exaggerated the imagery in fireworks to accommodate my point, I still think that my imagery worked well to identify the parallels between fireworks and a basic plot of a story. The beginning is the shoot off, the spiral upward is the lead up to the climax, the KABOOM is the climax and conflict, and then the beautiful colors are a resolution. I find it to be interesting that fireworks match a storyline so well. Maybe this is a contributing factor to the romantic feel of fireworks in novels. Maybe writers recognize the parallel and realize that it’s like a refreshing mini story to renew characters’ feelings or attitude.