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Lauren Placer

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 2

23 April 2021

Romantic Comedies: The Foundation of False Hope

In today’s cinema, romantic comedies are one the most popular genres presented,

bringing in millions of viewers year-round. Although this genre of movie brings in a large sum

of money and the majority of viewers, it can cause detrimental effects on the mind and often

create high standards for relationships. Romantic comedies depict relationships that ultimately

affect how people view relationships outside of the virtual world. This newfound depiction of

what a relationship “should be” causes issues in and outside of relationships worldwide.

Romantic comedies create unrealistic expectations by causing relationship satisfaction to

plummet and by playing into the infatuation of theoretical relationships.

By contrast, some people contend that although romantic comedies cause detrimental

effects, they make individuals believe in love. The overwhelming amount of love shown in these

movies allows viewers to open themselves up to their more sensitive side. The exposure to this

sensitive, more emotional side of a person forms a feeling of love (Abrams, Page 1).However,

there is a difference in believing in love and seeing the fictional image of love. People are often

deceived by this mistaken idea that the “love” shown in romantic comedies is the only kind of

love in this world. Love is a feeling that most everyone can experience. The love most people

find is not the kind of love portrayed in movies. To conclude, even though some believe that

romantic comedies create hope for love, movies only create an image of the idea of love.
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Another possibility is those who believe romantic comedies are beneficial to the idea of

love claim that romantic comedies allow the viewer to live through the characters in the movies,

allowing the same feelings of love and passion to come about. Romantic comedies can often aid

the unattached with hope and inspiration (Harrell, Paragraph 7). Although true to a certain

extent, even if the viewer lives through the characters, they aren’t truly getting a taste of what

real love is. The creators of romantic movies purposely create movies that make the viewer feel a

certain way about love. Viewers feel like they are in love when the characters in the movies are

in love. Although this doesn’t seem like a bad issue, it actually creates an unrealistic version of

love inside most individual’s minds. It can cause a wide variety of feelings from hope and love to

sadness and anger. To end with, romantic movies allow people to live through characters that are

in love, which creates unrealistic feelings and ideas of love.

Furthermore, abstract and far-fetched expectations, formed from romantic comedies,

cause satisfaction in a relationship to plummet. Every day, people compare their own

relationship with those of people in the fictional world. The comparison of a real relationship to a

fictional relationship causes a form of dissatisfaction in the mind of individuals who watch

romantic comedies. People often feel their own relationships are not good enough or are not

“perfect”, like the ones portrayed in cinema. Ultimately, dissatisfaction can lead to issues in any

relationship. In addition, after watching a romantic comedy, people often create a higher standard

for themselves and relationships. The misconceptions formed in these movies cause individuals

to create a standard higher than their partner can reach. Overconsumption of romantic comedies

creates social myths in the viewer’s head, which creates issues with distinguishing between the

manufactured and the reality of love (Wayne, Paragraph 4). In addition, in romantic comedies,

most often the couple ends up together, which isn’t always the case in real-world relationships.
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The characters in the movies often go above and beyond in relationships, exceeding any or even

all the expectations the viewer has. The cinema forms standards that are often too high in the

viewer, which can cause that individual to settle only for the best and most perfect companion,

which isn’t realistic. Flaws are often not shown in movies, but they are found in everyone.

Moreover, the misconceptions and comparisons that come from romantic comedies often create a

decrease in satisfaction in most relationships.

In addition, romantic comedies play into the infatuation of theoretical relationships.

Romantic comedies often form images they portray as love, but the images indeed show forms of

infatuation. Infatuation and love are often mistaken as two similar concepts. In theory,

infatuation is actually an intense, short lived passion or admiration for something or someone. In

comparison, love is truly knowing someone and still loving them for all the good and bad they

are or have done. Infatuation typically lacks friendship, commitment, and a true relationship. The

image of love is often unrealistically conveyed in romantic comedies, causing a misconception of

what a relationship truly is. Research has shown that the make-believe cinematic world that

people often project themselves into prevents them from true love in real life (Harrell, Paragraph

1). Romantic comedies most often glorify an unrealistic idea of love, often causing the formation

of infatuation in a person. Movies included in the romantic genre show extreme movie depictions

of love, causing real damage to relationships outside of the fictional world. A view is held in

most that if someone wants to be with them, that individual should know what they want whether

it is communicated or not. All in all, infatuation and love are two different ideas: one portrayed

in the fictional world and one depicted in the actual world.

In conclusion, romantic comedies create unrealistic expectations by causing

dissatisfaction in relationships and by playing into the infatuation of imaginary relationships.

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Comparisons and misconceptions are made about love from the ideas presented in romantic

comedies, causing standards to be held higher and satisfaction to be lowered. These movies also

give in to the unrealistic infatuation of love, putting ideas into the minds of countless people

about love that isn’t real. If individuals continue to compare their love lives and relationships to

romantic comedies, they may never find a love they are satisfied with.
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Works Cited

Abrams, Sean. "Romantic Comedies Make You a Better Person, Says Science."

Elite Daily, 12 Dec. 2016, www.elitedaily.com/p/

10-justin-biebers-lifetime-lyrics-for-romantic-captions-pics-with-your-darling-68

163033.

Harrell, Eben. "Are Romantic Comedies Bad for You?" TIME, 23 Dec. 2008,

content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1868389,00.html.

Wayne, Rachel. "'You Hurt the One You Love': Toxic Ideas in Romantic Movies."

Rachel Wayne, rachelwayne.medium.com/

you-hurt-the-one-you-love-toxic-ideas-in-romantic-movies-aa4e1aea0a8d.

Accessed 9 Jan. 2019.