Pop Culture’s Influence on Dating Essay

Whats the best part ab proscribed dating? The rush of get to know a new person? The hope that it will lead to something more than lasting? For some raft its the dream to regard their trustworthy cognize and have them sweep them off their feet. For others its finding a person who doesnt mind a more casual relationship. Most of the time, they make it home only to think ab come forth what might have happened if their living sentence went as well as the scripted mavins they watch all of the time. They wish that they had a team of writers planning the next move in their romantic lives, and had award winning actors take on their role in life. These people have suffer victims of the modern age in dating. Be it movies, television, or books, pop culture has helped men and women set phantasmagorical expectations for dating and fancy. We all know that the silver cover song puts the rose-colored glasses over romance, exclusively it is how they portray dating in many different genr es that is unfeignedly skewed. Horror movies argon expected to end badly, and it is no exception for dating in this movie style. Typically the young couple are terrorized on a date by some knife-wielding maniac out for revenge.That can lead to many assumptions, depending on how the movie ended. If the couple was killed during the course of the film, then it can be concluded that the good die young. But if they both survive (and there isnt a sequel haunting them) then people may start to believe that line up do it is formed by going through a traumatic experience with some cardinal. Often times in Horror films, the couple goes out to get some privacy, only to find themselves the killers first victims. Not many people get the wrong supposition about dating from Horror movies, granted, but what about the touchy fare interest for everyones favorite Superheros? Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter, Lois Lane, and Jane Foster to name a few. These women have made a name for themselves by be charmed by Superheros. Their men (Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, and Thor, respectively) are either super strong, super smart, an alien, or any combination of the three. If that doesnt give people the wrong whim about romance, then the writers arent doing their job. The strong, but constantly endangered, women are intelligent and attractive, leading the hero in the audience to extensive for the proponent to fly in and free them from any and all perilous situations.With people wanting a hero, and heroes waiting for their fem fatal, no one is going to make it out of this dating game alive. Superpowers aside, perhaps the most disillusioning movie genre is the Romantic Comedy. Quirky but lovable characters are thrust together in strange situations and they always come out of it with the love of their life. This genre has capitalized on the nice-guy finally getting the girl, the best friends realizing that they were made for each other, a nd fairy tale endings that fervid the audiences hearts. Men and women alike are fans of the Romantic Comedy, in part because theyre designed that way the actresses are all attractive or funny, the actors are both, and the script is written for both men and women. Whether or not they admit to it, everyone enjoys a good rom-com after a long day of disappointment, and why not? The protagonist always comes out on top, and theres always that one great date following all of the duds. For as long as theyve been around, movies have helped the public set impossible goals for dating, but then television came along and sped up the process.From play dates to wedding dates, television has given a Step-by-Step guide to dating, particularly in shows such as Boy Meets World, Friends, and How I Met Your Mother. In Boy Meets World the viewers watched as Cory Matthews grew up, fell in love, and lived his life. Corys love-of-his-life was Tapanga Lawrence, a girl that he started calling his wife in Pre -School. Their relationship went through rough patches, but someone always knew that it was meant to be. The idea that one can meet (and keep) their first love from their childhood days is almost as improbable as thinking that Superheros can swoop in and save the day. Against all odds Cory and Tapanga actually survive dating through High School, and marriage in College. Young children are taught through weekly episodes that true love can be found on the playground, and that while it is imperfect, it is eternal. Boy Meets World was a family oriented show, but what about the shows that were geared more towards the working fully grown? Friends was a television sitcom that followed the lives of six friends.Viewers watched as their favorite friend fell in and out of love. Rachel and Ross had an on-again, off-again relationship that confused everyone, including the actors. Their relationship was establish on attraction but the way they treated each other was, at times, cruel. This couple was volatile at best, and a running joke for viewers Are Ross and Rachel together this week? Another couple in the show occurred later on in the series, and provides a foil to Ross and Rachel. Chandler and Monicas relationship was strengthened on friendship and as such was more stable. They were the fun couple whos lines were joking and who always put the other first. The show was casual with its ascend to dating, with non-regular characters coming and going throughout the series. Other shows were not as simple. Soap Operas fall in line with the over-dramatization of romance and dating, and there are many shows that digest on finding love. How I Met Your Mother is literally the drawn out retelling of how Ted Mosby found the mother of his children.These shows, while entertaining and sometimes informative, tell men and women that their true love can be found in everyday places such as work, at a coffee shop, or even on the playground. picture is guilty of helping with todays dati ng misconceptions, however the biggest offender is literature by far. Bodice Rippers may not be the only things leading to unrealistic ideas about love everything from Shakespeare to the Teen Romance section in todays book stores share some of the blame. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most well-known romance story of all time. The main characters are teenagers who pledge their love to each other, despite being from warring families. They kill themselves for love that they think is forever but, historically had they lived and been allowed to marry, one of the lovers would have had an affair or died of natural causes early on in their marriage. Poetry of that time was romantic and well written as well. It really is a pity that most of those poems were written about love affairs with already married people. They spoke of undeniable attraction, and how they really shouldnt be denying themselves the love of the other person. Romance novels from later centuries tell readers about an odd sensation of love-at-first-sight.Our eyes met, and I knew right then and there that we were meant to be together forever. This idea is the drug of romance novels, it is what gets readers hooked and coming back for more. People have spent countless hours pouring over books with lines like that acting as major plot devices. Most readers swoon over the muscled heroes, dreaming of being in the heroines place. Teen Romance novels take this idea and make it even more impossible. They write in supernatural beings for the awkward teenager to fall in love with. Even if they take away the fantasy element, at heart the stories are improbable. For the most part, teenagers in High School dont know what romantic love is (or if they do, it is never forever). Teen Romance novels teach teenagers that the love of their life is waiting for them in their Biology class, is the partner on a History assignment, or is the loner who they see in the library everyday.Teenagers who read these books get the id ea that they can find a true love in the hormone-ridden home of disappointment that is High School. Escaping the real adult male by reading isnt bad, but letting the fiction influence the thought process never ended well for anyone. Pop culture isnt inherently evil, but when it comes to dating and romance, it is believably best to stop drawing parallels with real life. Movies, books, and literature are supposed to be used as ways to escape reality, not as guidelines for how to live. It would be a little ridiculous to put disclaimers before movies, shows, and books reading Warning Relationships portrayed in this are fictional, and not based on real life but its starting to feel necessary. Not every story has a happy ending, and even those who do arent forever.If the public could just translate to stop accepting pop culture as gospel, stop looking for their soul mate where they never would have expected, then the dating world would be a better place. A place where true love doesnt mean a love against all odds, but a love that is real. Real love is when a couple can get into arguments, be mad at each other and that isnt the end of the relationship when it isnt all rainbows and roses but theyre happy with each other. No one wants to watch a movie about that, but then again, no one wants to watch a baby being born and they film the miracle of life every day. Maybe if more movies, TV shows, and books were realistic, more people would enjoy dating.