Does watching romantic films affect the viewer’s interpretation of romance, love and relationships? Watching romantic films creates an enormous amount of negative influence on the viewer’s interpretation of what love and relationships should be like. These films give a false sense of reality in terms of marriage, dating, having children and how to manage a relationship. Viewers all to frequently try to relate their personal life to that of a dramatized screenplay and they are left searching for that happy ending indefinitely; the viewers are using these films as a guide on life.
Have you ever been sucked into a romance film so deeply that can almost put yourself in one of the character’s shoes? If you have, I need you to admit to yourself that you are not that character and that happy ending you saw was just an unrealistic fantasy. You might ask, “How could Jerry Maguire be just a fantasy? ” That’s because in real life men are not perfect and women are not that receptive to men that aren’t perfect.
Unfortunately there are many Hollywood interpretations on what love, romance and relationships are supposed to be like and with screenplays like “Jerry Maguire” its no wonder why there are so many hopeless romantics out there. Watching romantic films creates an enormous amount of negative influence on the viewer’s interpretation of what love and relationships should be like. These films give a false sense of reality in terms of marriage, dating, having children and how to manage a relationship.
Viewers all to frequently try to relate their personal life to that of a dramatized screenplay and they are left searching for that happy ending indefinitely; the viewers are using these films as a guide on life. Theater and television films are becoming the social “how to” guide on relationships. While influences can include family, peers, religion and literature: popular culture is probably the most influential on relationships.
Some individuals who are exposed to these influences tend to put their new philosophies into practice while others become discontented realizing that certain standards are not being met in their relationship. This often leads to a distorted relationship because unnatural emotions and attitudes are being enforced. According to Tan (1996), movies project a vision of how reality should be. It is normal for people to try to emulate what they think are models of success.
In other words it is easy for people to think that their success in relationships and personal goals can be enhanced by following the lead others. Romantic movies are designed to be realistic enough so that the viewer can relate. As a result the viewer relates just a little too much. One theory by Atkin (1985) suggests that some individuals choose film themes that already relate to their beliefs and by watching these films it strengthens their beliefs even further (p. 23). This fuels the fire in terms of the viewer loosing their grip on reality.
