As a child my mother used to tell me ,”Don’t worry, it’s just a movie.” She assured me that I could go to sleep because my action figure/doll would not come to life and kill me, nor would Freddy Kruger kill me in my sleep . As I grew older, I slowly started to believe her more and more. She was right, for the most part my nights were harmless and my toys never came to life. I finally realized that my fears were unfounded because it was all just a movie! This same lesson I learned as a child with horror movies is a lesson I want to apply to adults about romantic movies.
Movies tend to feed us unwanted emotions that are difficult to control. Movies can SERIOUSLY have us go through an emotional roller coaster. Romantic movies filled with drama and scandal can have a big influence in your relationship. Researchers believe that Hollywood instills a warped sense of the “perfect” relationship within society and provides unrealistic expectations about romance. Watching movies can also make bad memories resurface and next thing you know, you get angry all over again for something that happened ages ago for something your friend did (guilty by association, that’s the worst).
A while back I took my girlfriend out on a date; everything was perfect date until we ended the night with a movie. My plan was to top off the awesome night with a romantic comedy that would make her happy. Little did I know, the movie turned out to be the worst possible move I could have made. I mean what could go wrong with a romantic comedy right? But this romantic comedy was filled with drama, scandalous behavior, heartbreak, and worse of all cheating.
At the end of the movie I found myself annoyed and running for the hills. I don’t blame the move for the ruined night, I believe my girlfriend had a bad reaction to the movie. She took her frustrations and emotions out on me. I didn’t understand why I was getting yelled at for something that happen years ago. This movie had her thinking about all the times I’ve disappointed her and even the negative characteristics of men in general. This obviously, is evidence that movies influence people’s perspective, thoughts and moods. I tried to tell her to relax because it was just a movie, but that didn’t work.
I guess the point i’m trying to make is to be aware of the movie you choose to watch with your significant other. Believe it or not, most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are more influenced by what a movie portrays than we realize. Unfortunately, people tend to believe the Hollywood idea of a perfect relationship or that Hollywood knows everything about being in a relationship. But at the end of the day, we should always keep in mind that it was just a movie and it will not come to life!