Is Love Overrated? by Val Ramirez

It's girls night out and you decide to hit the movies to see a romance with your girls. You are preparing yourself for the many tears that are bound to come. After the movie, you all are left with the perfect image of love. Your night is spent dreaming about “the one." However, do movies really display love with all of its flaws?

Romantic movies tend to exhibit the perfect love story as a new girl in town, love at first sight, and all that cheesy stuff that comes with it, while leaving out the part after the “happily ever after.” Let’s talk about after the whole “happily ever after." Is it really that happy? Maybe yes, and maybe no; but movies tell stories to make us believe it is. Is that a reality in the real world? Not so much. Divorce is an issue that definitely gets rid of the whole “happily ever after." But how come movies never tend to go farther than the whole falling-in-love scene? I believe movies do not include what happens after the “happily ever after” because who would want to go see a movie with a crappy ending? In order for viewers of the movie to be satisfied with the film, directors conclude the film with a happy ending, not reality.

Society has portrayed the man in the story to be handsome and charming and to be the perfect boy everyone wants to be with. Many of us after watching a romantic movie look for our prince charming, believing the perfect guy is out there with no flaws; but, in reality, we all have our flaws. We tend to base our expectations of love on a 160 minute film. Funny, right? 

Typically in romantic movies, love is being portrayed as something simple and everlasting, but that’s not always the case in the real world. Since we were little, we've learned that being in love is like being in a fairy tale. It started by our mothers reading fairy tale books to us and from watching kids' movies with princes and princesses. We have grown up with the idea that a prince who is charming, generous, handsome, strong, and loving will arrive soon with his carriage to sweep us off our feet. Does that really portray men in reality? Princesses are illustrated as women who are beautiful, perfect, kind, and loving, but that’s not the case with real life women.


The film Dirty Dancing, is an example of the dreamy love women dream of. Baby, who is one of the main characters, falls over heels for a much older dance instructor who she comes across with .The scenery of the movie makes it captivating for the viewer; from Johnny teaching Baby how to dance, to the connection between them being portrayed throughout their time together. The scenes of Baby and Johnny dancing allows the movie to be filled with passion and intriguing love that has you day dreaming after seeing it.

Media, fairy tales, and movies have all contributed to the image we have of love and our expectations that we have for it. Those expectations are out of reach. While being in love with someone has its perks, the real understanding of love will come when one experiences love for one's self.

For a blog with similar content go to this link:

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/are-your-expectations-setting-you-up-for-disappointment/