The media has always played a key role in creating unrealistic expectations for relationships. While Eli focuses more on the social media aspects of media, I’m focusing on films and how they derive unreasonable expectations in real life.

There are many movies, TV shows, and even books that set false expectations to their viewers/readers, making people think that love is something it’s not. If you’ve ever seen To All the Boys I’ve Loved before, you may know how Lara Jean’s little sister Kitty sent out love notes as revenge for telling her crush she likes him. Somehow that led Lara Jean to fake dating one of the  guys who received the letters. I’ve never in my 18 years of living heard a real life story where people fake dating someone to make their exes jealous. The heartwarming story that ended up bringing the couple to date for real is unrealistic. 

Media also moderately sugar coats dating in high school. They make it seem like you’re going to meet the love of your life in highschool which isn’t always true. Also, not to mention half of the actors playing 16-17 year olds are literally in their 30s most of the time. This molds teen’s minds to think that their relationships should meet this standard. Which only negatively affects teens by making them feel as if they aren’t as attractive as the actors who play teenagers in the movies.

Not only does the media sugarcoat dating, they also glorify toxic relationships. Euphoria, a popular TV show amongst teens has romanticized many toxic and even violent relationships. It promotes toxicity through actions as well as influences young minds into thinking that toxic relationships are fun and adventurous. 

 Let’s be real, movies and TV shows are far fetched from real life. Media only highlights tropes and glorifies any topic, good or bad, for all they’re worth to make the shows entertaining. Teen’s eat up these movies because it gives them ideas of what they want in a relationship but in reality it never comes close to the movies.