Credence

Forbidden romance traditionally includes romance that crosses appropriate boundaries of familial relationships, age gaps, marriage, and class and social differences. In one sense, even Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet could be regarded as a forbidden romance as it features lovers of warring families. In a contemporary sense, though, forbidden romance refers to that which crosses graver moral and societal taboos. Romance which features relationships between people related by blood or marriage, or where one character is significantly older than another are typical examples of such taboo narratives. Taboo narratives—especially those featuring the incest taboo—are as old as Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex (circa 429 BC), in which Oedipus inadvertently has sex with his mother. Gothic novels of the 18th century often used suggestions of incest to increase the uncanny and grotesque quotient of the narrative. While in the older texts, the act and suggestion of incest is seen as cataclysmic—Oedipus punishes himself for his transgression by self-mutilation—20th-century writers such as V.C. Andrews (author of the 1979 bestseller Flowers in the Attic) present the incest plot in a romantic context.

While Tiernan is not related to the Van der Bergs by blood, Credence does simulate situations bordering on incest and pedophilia. Here, the inclusion of taboo adds to the thriller element of the plot. Scholars deem that the fascination with taboo and forbidden romances in literature is directly linked with the fascination for the uncanny, the chaotic, and the supernatural. Literature lets readers navigate this complex and fearsome aspect of human experience without destabilizing social and moral norms. Taboo constitutes a profound danger and transgression in Credence, and it invites conflict and tension. Critics of the genre emphasize its harmful messaging, especially when the taboo involves suggestions of large age gaps, pedophilia, and non-consent and these things are not presented as harmful. For example, in Credence, Jake and Kaleb both first touch Tiernan sexually when she is only 17.