Negative Effects Of Romantic Movies

In today’s society, it seems that there has been an increase in the word slut. Girls are depicted as either good girls or prudes that “save themselves till marriage” or bad girls or sluts who are very sexual and promiscuous. They are either labeled as prude or sluts, which are both derogatory terms. We have begun to take away the idea of someone being a victim, and this idea of victim blaming stops. Films have helped embed this within our culture. In horror movies women, are killed for having sex; in comedies, women are called sluts and whores for being too flirty. This has caused society to believe it is okay to call women sluts. Slut shaming in movies turns high schoolers into bullies and college men into perverts. This causes negative effects on all women. This also creates a rape culture that we have been hearing about in the news, dealing with main actors/actresses, movie producers, politicians. Women are not allowed to be sexual human being, so that’s when they are labeled as sluts and men use that idea of them being a slut as their chance to rape a women and victim blame the women for being sexual.

When one looks at romantic love, one would conclude that it is a social dyad that brings about certain responsibilities between two people in a relationship such as honesty, protection, openness and expressions of love. (William, 2008: 76). Contrasting with

In the movie Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, two different kinds of love are exposed. The love relationship between Ilsa Lund and Rick is a more passionate relationship while the one between Ilsa and Victor Laszlo is more intimate. Love is composed of different feelings and because of that it can be expressed, as seen in Casablanca, in different ways. “The Intimate Relationship Mind”, a text by Garth J. O. Fletcher and Megan Stenswick, helps support that claim providing a scientific background on how love is shaped by those different feelings. It says that “love is composed of three distinct and basic components that each represent evolved adaptations; namely, intimacy, commitment,

Many romantic films do not have fairy tale stories or happy endings, although love serves as a shield against the harshness of the real world. Romantic films often elaborate the main theme of love at first sight. Romanticism refers back to the romantic characters of the Middle Ages and also modern films. Romantic love on film is a universal human experience that produces intensely powerful, strong feelings. Romantic Literature has had a strong influence on modern day films through pathos, folklore, and love.

The human idea of love is quite possibly the most misunderstood in today’s society. Love can be between a man and woman, mother/father and their kids, or even really good friends. However, these relationships of love go through many interactions and stages to start and progress. Many psychological events must occur and be worked through in order to be successful. All relationships must endure the five perspectives of human behavior. These perspectives are biological, learning, social and cultural, cognitive, and psychodynamic influences.

* For teens, television is a major source of information about sex. A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 per cent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health. This should concern parents because although two-thirds of TV shows contain sexual content, only one in ten includes any reference to safe sex or the consequences of unprotected sex.

Most people are guilty of wishing that they could find their own Leonardo DiCaprio with whom to fall in love on a boat destined to sink, or even wishing they had a friend like Samwise Gamgee from the film production of The Lord of the Rings, always urging his friends to carry-on through difficult times and willing to help them to do so. When people submerge into these fantasies, they tend to forget reality; while a woman may expect a man to give his life for her after only five days, it probably will never happen. Same goes for the unrealistic friend expectation; nearly all friends have their own problems with which to deal—they do not have time to carry their best friend up a mountain to dispose of a wicked ring. Silly daydreaming set aside, this idea has truth to it. “It’s not like in the movies” is a popular phrase that is used in accordance to relationships. Hollywood has created a standard of companionship that probably is not going to happen. Hollywood tends to build romance to seem perfect, that he will always say the right comments when she is sad, or she happens to like all the same activities, music, and movies as her significant other. Film-based romance appears knowing and effortless. For example, someone will know when he or she meets the one, and if the relationship is too much effort then it is clearly not meant to be. These expectations of “love at first sight” and “if it is meant to be it will

The average American teenager watches three hours of television a day. Scientist Rebecca Collins conducted a study to see if watching sexual behavior on TV influenced teenagers’ own behavior. In her results, she found that watching shows with sexual content has a considerable

Throughout history, the media has shown many different sides of love. Weather it be peaceful, violent, dangerous, beautiful, almost all forms of the media have shown love in some way. In the novel The Great Gatsby, love is shown between many different characters in different ways. The reader experiences love at its best and worst. We see relationships flourish, rekindle and end between the different characters. The most controversial relationship is the relationship between Daisy and Tom. Through infidelity, and mistrust, tragedy occurs. Other characters become associated with their marital problems, showing different kinds of love and relationships. In the play Hamlet, the reader also experiences many different kinds of love, ranging from

Most romantic comedy movies fulfil the viewers’ expectations of the perfect love story whilst incorporating comedic elements. Typically there is always a pretty girl who falls deeply in love with a male character, often less popular and less attractive, who makes multiple comedic attempts in winning her heart until eventually they both fall madly in love and live happily ever after, in this case a genre movie is expressed as “those commercial feature films which through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters in

Watch the classical film Grease and one can understand how relationships function in Western Society. The film tells a story of a boy (Danny) and a girl (Sandy) who falls in love. Through a series of misunderstandings they break up, but still somehow care for each other. Through ballads such as Summer Night’s that are still popular today, the film shows how differently males and females view relationships. Films like Grease are like a mirror, reflecting societal values and how it socializes its members. It makes it clear that in relationships, males are socialized to view relationships as mostly a physical, sexual endeavor, while females view it as a perpetual bond –a deeper connection between the two individuals within a relationship.

Research has greatly indicated and proven that media exposure has an impact on the normative perceptions of substance use and relationship behaviors among adolescents. Studies have shown that media content and patterns of usage are considerably related to adolescent perception of gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual behavior. Repeated contact or subjection to sexualize subject matter on television or different forms of media has been related to individuals perceived normative gender roles (Herrett- Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Negative and socially impaired beliefs about relationships, for example such as ‘‘fate brings soul-mates together, disagreement is destructive to a relationship, partners should be able to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Holmes, 2007). Also with persistent disclosure to sexually explicit content related with more positive attitudes or norms toward “uncommitted sexual exploration” as well (Brown and Bobkowski, 2011).

This literature review will first define romantic relationships and explore what exactly happens in the development of these relationships. From the research found, individual’s age or sex did not necessarily affect the differences in communication. Some research claimed that communication itself defined a romantic relationship; while other researchers said that a couple having the conversation of, “what are we?” was enough to define the relationship. Sometimes it was mutuality in a relationship that helped define it. Mutuality in relationships was often increased with positivity and compliments between partners (Doohan and Manusov 2004).

In addition, romantic comedies also give the wrong impression on relationships. If viewers are getting the wrong idea about love itself, then that leads them into expecting more out of relationships as well. “Almost every romantic movie is generally targeted toward women and has the same basic format: Boy meets girl, mutual feelings develop, conflicts arise and are overcome. Then, the story concludes with a happy ending as the two characters live happily ever after together” (Hefner). The article “Contradictory Messages: A Content Analysis of Hollywood-Produced Romantic Comedy Feature Films”, written by Kimberly Johnson and Bjarne Holmes, explains a study that they had conducted together. Their study analyzed the romantic content of a sample of 40 romantic comedy

Television doesn’t just affect children, it also affects teenagers and young adults, but more so their self-identity and self-esteem than physical development. Television sends messages to these immature self-identities and shapes them according to popular cultures beliefs and values, modifying healthy and realistic self-identities to unrealistic standards of beauty and popularity. This effect is found more with females than with men; but men are more likely to have their standards modified through music videos than television (Ward 2002).