I am going to submit the
theory that movies and television are responsible for the downfall of proper
romance. This is a bold claim to make. It is like my bold claim that cheesecake
is the most awesomest food ever. And much like my cheesecake claim, it is true.
My evidence for this claim is The Notebook, reality TV, and the entire Twilight
series. Let’s start with the Notebook, shall we?
I’m not going to
sugarcoat it: Noah Calhoun might be a psychopath. In the Notebook, he asks
Allie out at a carnival. This isn’t so bad, but he asks her out while she is
already on a date. He couldn’t wait until some other time when she wasn’t so…busy?
What is worse is that he asks her out while she is on the Ferris wheel. He wasn’t
in the same cart as her; he was holding on to the wheel while they were in the
air. As if this wasn’t enough, he scares her while in the air when he pretends
that if she doesn’t answer, he will kill himself. I am a firm believer that no
one should use suicide to get the attention of others. It is just an unclassy
move. Still, Allie isn’t without fault either. She is married to an okay guy in
the movie, but when Noah comes back into her life, she forgets all about that
and proceeds to make sexy time with him. This is what experts call incredibly
stupid. I realize it was the 1940s and divorce was frowned upon, but no guy (or
girl) deserves to be cheated on even if the other guy is Ryan Gosling. This
movie is ruining romance because it is giving women unrealistic expectations.
No guy should behave like Noah because Noah was a lunatic. And no woman should
behave like Allie because Allie was a bit of a jerk.
Reality TV isn’t much
better. You have entire shows devoted to the idea of romance. The Bachelor, The
Bachelorette, Temptation Island, various wedding shows, and others which I
cannot list because I don’t bother ruining my life by watching them. Think
about the logic behind The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. One man or one woman
is manipulating a group of individuals into showing him or her who loves him or
her the most. That’s not love. It also seems to promote cheating on others
because you’re not really in a relationship. It makes for great television, but
it just seems to be promoting terrible ideals for what makes a great
relationship.
And finally, we have the
fantastic series which is Twilight. I am, of course, being completely
sarcastic. While I doubt anyone is truly taking this franchise seriously, I
have a feeling that some teenage girls might develop horrible beliefs about
relationships by watching Edward and Bella (or even worse, Jacob and Renesmee).
Edward pretty much stalks Bella. He watches her at night, and he did it for a
while before she found out and encouraged it further. Furthermore, Edward
pretty much tells Bella that he is a bloodthirsty monster and would love to do
nothing more than kill her and drink her blood. And Bella’s only reply is “sounds
cool.” When you think about this, their relationship is a metaphor for abuse in
a relationship. Edward constantly threatens Bella and even inflicts emotional
abuse upon her, and she’s totally okay with all of this because she loves him. Another
horrible aspect of all of this is the stupid love triangle between Bella,
Edward, and Jacob. In no way does Bella ever say that she’s going to leave
Edward, but she still keeps Jacob around, leading him on in a terrible fashion
which results in Edward and Jacob wanting to kill each other. I think that
people reading this should understand that abusive relationships are not worth
the trouble (AT ALL PEOPLE), and that having guys (or women) fight over you is
not something to be proud about at all.
So there you go. My
reasons for why television and movies are slowly turning romance into a joke. I
can only hope that I’m not the only one who realizes this. There is a
difference between love and obsession and recognizing this will prevent people
from getting hurt in the future. If you disagree, please feel free to explain
why.
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