Allie Bel Bruno
Senior
The media has a pretty big hold on society. From movies, to (mostly trashy) TV shows to the internet, our lives are consumed by what the media chooses to show us. Such a statement couldn’t be more applicable to a single demographic than the teenage girl. Whether we are obsessing over “The Bachelor”, taking endless Buzzfeed quizzes like, “What’s the name of your soul mate?” or watching The Notebook for the millionth time, teenage girls are consumed by what they see on their busy screens. Now, I love a night with Netflix as much as the next, but one has to wonder how all these movies and shows have influenced girls’ expectations of love and relationships. From what I can tell, the media has created two scenarios, completely opposite of one another and both equally unrealistic.
The first picture that the media paints when it comes to love is the classic fairytale relationship. This is your classic Notebook, Walk to Remember, One Tree Hill classic love story with a perfectly polished, hair-flipping, chiseled prince charming that sweeps the girl off her feet and rides off into the sunset. Hollywood never fails to try and sell the idea of the perfect fairytale ending to young girls whenever it gets the chance, and sadly, being the hopeless romantics we are, we fall for it almost every time.
That’s not to say that all girls are home on Saturday nights with a tub of ice cream and Netflix as the only other voice in the room, but at one time or another we all let ourselves slip and imagine what it would be like if we got to have one of these perfect love stories that Hollywood so flawlessly creates. Maybe that’s why when Monday morning rolls around you can’t help but notice the lack of Nate Archibalds and Chuck Bass’. You cringe at your reality and want to go cry with the only two men that ever seem to understand you; Ben and Jerry. It’s as if our free time becomes an escape into the relationships we wish we could create and once the school week sets in we are left wandering the halls, the closest thing to love being the nauseating PDA couples that don’t come close to a Chuck and Blair power couple.
Additionally, while some are quick to blame the male species for their lack of manners and dedication, lets not forget that the media has made their actors almost impossible to contend with. Girls have to understand that the media has raised the bar pretty high when it comes to men, and while no one should settle, part of the reason girls are left unsatisfied is because they expect to find this “Prince Charming” in a setting and at an age where that just isn’t realistic.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the anti-fairytale portrayal of relationships. While there is a lot of time and money dedicated to the idea of the perfect gentleman and ideal relationship, more and more screen time is now being given to grotesque reality shows. On such shows, women are desperate and disgraceful to fellow females, and men are pigs who only care about how many girls they can get in one night. Both sexes show time and time again that feelings and maturity play little to no part in modern day “relationships”.
Just take your classic Jersey Shore episode; the guys only cared about the girls who were DTF, most of the time not even bothering to learn the names of these drunk and attention-hungry women. Really both girls and guys are to blame here. Girls learn that the only way to get a guy is to be desperate and guys learn that girls should be willing to do anything to get their attention. While these shows can sometimes be entertaining, they leave girls with whiplash wondering if they should be looking for a Nathan Scott and the classic relationship, or a Pauly D and the now classic hook up.
In the end, Hollywood has done a pretty decent job at altering people’s perception of love, and leaving us girls with more questions then answers. What one should remember is that when all is said and done both of these scenarios are just that, scenarios, which really don’t apply to the average high school kid and shouldn’t be the guiding factors that create our expectations of love.
