It seems as though everyone is looking for love, romance and a happy ending. Girls are looking for a man that can tick every box; sweet, romantic, handsome, funny, rich and well.. sexy. To say the least, they are dreaming. This man, the perfect man; does not exist. Our minds have been tainted by this perception than non other than the Hollywood film industry.
Hollywood, Disney and well every movie company that wants to be successful teaches society and the up and coming generations completely exaggerated versions of how relationships work and this is a reflection of the increasingly media driven society. It is a general expectation among many today that relationships will work out in a way that is in no way possible in real life. It is both sad and frightening to know that numerous people turn to relationship comedies as means for advice.
Movies are just movies, and all instances that occur are sugarcoated, this is not only bad for our teeth but our views on relationships too. This hype is beginning to place unrealistic expectations on relationships letting people pass by a perfectly good relationship for the want of a relationship of impossible standards.
But it isn’t just views on love and romance that films are distorting, yet a wide range of different life experiences and concepts.
For example, Disney teaches children from a very young age that:
– Ugly girls look like Anne Hathaway (Princess Diaries) 😮 definitely not true!
– If you’re pretty enough you can communicate with animals…. that’s a pretty obvious one, but it has a large effect on the younger community (Pocahontas/snow white)
– Hot, rich and popular guys are husband material (pretty much every Disney film)
– Pocahontas was a romantic tale between two consenting adults…. turns out she was 12 and he was 40
– Life was good for women in all periods of history (Jasmine- ‘I’m not a prize to be won’)
And most importantly;
Everything, absolutely everything has a happy ending.
NO. This is in no way shaping our minds to reality or allowing room in our lives for rejection. Hollywood is setting us up to fail.
As a matter of fact, the only movie that I can recall without a happy ending is ‘The series of unfortunate events’ and well, the title speaks for itself. Maybe we need more films like this, allowing us to see life how it truly is sometimes.
All in all, society today relies far too heavily on the substance of movies distorting our views on relationships, scaring us half to death and making us fear rejection.
Romance does exist, you just need to look deeper. We aren’t all princesses with hundreds of suitors lined up for our hand, so recognise the effort. Nice guys don’t always finish first, but they don’t always finish last.
^ Inspired by true events, but NOT reality!
Reference: http://candornews.com/2012/07/26/romantic-movies-distort-reality/
maddymccoy 