I have a question for you. If romantic films didn’t exist, what would relationships be like today?
Romantic films can give you a grandeur sense of love, and romantic comedies perpetuate the ideas that are completely unrelatable to real-life relationships, or real people for that matter.
Romantic comedies create the idea that everything is serendipitous, maybe there are a few bumps and bruises along the way, but we, as an audience, never ask the question, “Will they get together in the end?”
We only wonder, “How are they going to get together and when is it going to happen?”
If only finding someone to love was as simple as it seems in these films.
Romantic comedies create this illusion that when you meet “the one” you will know it the moment it happens, love can change any fault in a man, or even the idea that no matter what happens, you will find each other again.
It seems some female screenwriters have decided that when they create male characters they are going to create their ideal man, the perfect man. So the men who fill our screens are all these gorgeous men with great jobs and big hearts.
No wonder 43 percent of all marriages are projected to end in divorce.
Women have unrealistic expectations for the way men should act; in the same way that men have expectations for girls to have unrealistic body proportions.
Writing hundreds and hundreds of fanciful love stories is bound to affect society; it’s just like Photoshopping the picture of an already beautiful girl and making it appear as though she has no physical flaws whatsoever.
Both have good intentions of trying to give us something more aesthetically pleasing to reflect on, but in the end, all it does is hinder us by creating unrealistic expectations for a potential partner.
In the film “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks meet in an online chat room, quickly become friends and chat frequently.
As the story progresses, it turns out Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan happen to live in the same part of the city and have even met without knowing who the other really is. I
t is difficult to believe that the couple would meet in real life and hate each other, but they would have instant chemistry over the Internet.
I personally prefer the original version of this story: the 1940’s film “The Shop Around the Corner” starring James Stewart.
It is a more realistic portrayal of how two people meet and their relationship evolves as the get to know each other.
“Notting Hill” and “Pretty Woman” are examples of films that send out the message “love knows no socioeconomic bounds.”
In “Notting Hill,” Julia Roberts portrays a famous actress and is interested in average (British) Joe, Hugh Grant. In what universe would that actually happen?
In “Pretty Woman,” wealthy businessman Richard Gere decides to make-over a prostitute, Julia Roberts, and in the process unexpectedly falls in love. I don’t even need to go into detail about how this movie is unrealistic.
“The Holiday” starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz depicts the life of two women who switch houses for the Christmas holiday hoping to get over their exes, only to arrive and meet their new love interests a couple of days into their trip.
I personally know many girls who have said they feel depressed after romantic comedies because they know they will never find love as portrayed in films.
After people watch these films, they have certain expectations, and when their partner does not meet those expectations, the couple will fight or break-up.
The Heriot-Watt University Laboratory of Family and Personal Relationships completed a study of 40 Hollywood romantic comedies released between 1995-2005.
They found that people who watched more romantic comedies were more likely to have misconceptions about relationships.
Couples who expressed their problems in counseling reflected the misconceptions about love and relationships depicted in romantic comedies.
Relationships are full of problems and personalities and are much more complex than portrayed in films.
Don’t get me wrong, romantic films are a great way to escape into a land of laughter and love, but people should keep in mind that not every relationship is choreographed by Hollywood.
