Recently, I have been re-watching Dawson's Creek (and yes I am aware of what a sad commentary this is on my lack of social life). This show came out when I was ten and I remember thinking that I could not wait for high school. The kids on the show seemed to have such exciting lives and I definitely wanted to experience it for myself. And while I loved high school (and yes, now I am aware that I look even more lame), it was nothing like Capeside High. Thoroughly disappointing.
Hollywood has a way of making even the most mundane activities seem exciting. High school dramas are filled with scandal and intrigue and love stories. Little to no mention is made of the deluge of school work most kids find themselves under these days. Actual classes take a back seat to the social importance to high school, setting up a very unrealistic expectations for what high school is like. After high school is even worse. Often dream jobs are just handed to the main characters. The show One Tree Hill is a prime example of this. Fast forward five years and the friends are now successful fashion designers, authors, pro athletes, musicians and more. Because who doesn't have all that achieved by 23?
The most unfortunate dramatization by Hollywood is in romance. The romantic genre is one of the highest grossing every year. Women (and men) flock to these films and shows, wanting to believe that they too can have their fairy tale esque ending. It sets up these guidelines to romance that few couples ever match. Women expect men to fill the shoes of these characters who make sweeping romantic gestures.
The whole Hollywood concept of the one has women across the nation waiting for their soulmate. But what most people don't realize is that any given time in your life, you have different criterion for a soul mate. So how could there just be one to suit you? Movies like the Notebook with their whole "meant to be together" and "destiny" themes create the illusion that true love is dramatic and heart wrenching. But true love could just as easily be steady and strong. It doesn't have to be a passionate whirlwind to be real.
I have friends who have had high drama relationships filled with highs and lows, infidelity and scandal. But does that make their love any more real than the friends who have more sedate and calm relationships? Is it about the better love or the better selling story? People watch movies and TV and read books to escape their own reality. For a little while to be immersed in someone else's fiction and pretend to be someone they are not. But with the prevalence of this today, more and more people forget that movies are fiction and not how to guides for life.
In movies there are writers to make sure the romantic lead always knows what to say to make the leading ladies swoon. There are editors to call for a do over if the passion doesn't feel strong enough. Stylists so the couple looks flawless and beautiful, because that's what we are trained to believe love is. However it is important to remember that, those scenes are just illusions designed to resonate and tug at the heartstrings. Because I know if, in real life, someone slow jogged toward me with their blonde hair flowing in the breeze, a la Dawson Leery, I would probably be overcome with the cheesy factor and lose it to laughter, not lust.
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