Men instinctively know it and now science proves it to be true: Romantic Comedies are bad for you. Psychologists and relationship experts at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh say that romantic-comedies promote unrealistic expectations of love.
They found fans of films such as Runaway Bride and Notting Hill often fail to communicate with their partner.
Many held the view if someone is meant to be with you, then they should know what you want without you telling them.
In one study researchers subjected volunteer students to a “rom-com” and found the students were more likely to believe in fate and destiny. This finding verified another study that showed that fans of romantic comedies had a “stronger belief in predestined love”
Research for research’s sake is meaningless unless we do something with the findings. Obviously the right thing to do is to avoid romantic comedies. The social cost is too high. There is no way men can fulfill the unreal expectations that women come to expect because of media portrayals of love and romance. Just as porn provide men with an unrealistic expectation and portrayal of women so do romantic comedies provide women with unrealistic expectations and portrayals of romance, love and men.
The article specified a few movies by name including: You’ve Got Mail, Maid In Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and While You Were Sleeping. I would think that, while not romantic comedies, anything by Jane Austin should also be included. No man can be reasonably be expected to give the look of unrequited love and inner turmoil that make women swoon as Colin Firth’s character Mr. Darcy does in Pride and Prejudice. Believe me; I tried. All got for my efforts was a gale of laughter from my wife and a chaste peck on the cheek, for the effort not the effect. And I practiced too. The man has made a career from “the look” It can’t be duplicated.
Romantic comedies are like a seductive drug cooked up in the crack house of Hollywood by smart script writers and then thrust on the public by polished Oscar winning pushers that deliver great lines and seduce you with look. Sure, the romantic high is great but can never be matched by a reality that lacks a sound track, great camera angles, soft focus and a team of writers. Oh yeah, they are usually pretty dumb too.
Do what is right for your relationships, mental health and for society as a whole: avoid, no, boycott romantic comedies. Cold turkey is the way to go.
Dion Rebalkin
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve been telling people for years that You’ve Got Mail is pure evil incarnate.
Agree very much. In fact your porn analogy is dead on. I say if your spouse makes you sit through ‘You’ve Got mail’ she should in turn sit through ‘Nothing But Hooters Vol.3′ and then you explain , “Yep this is what men expect in a healthy normal relationship”
While I see your point, I must disagree. Romantic comedies are not the enemy here; it is the women who actually believe that fairy tales can happen. I love romantic comedies and I always will, but I don’t expect to live one. Now maybe I am just jaded, but life is cruel, people are imperfect, and happily ever after is a myth. You may have the butterflies and all that jazz at the beginning of a relationship, but in my opinion, that is not love that is lust. The movies never show what happens after the “honeymoon period” has passed and they let their true colors show. A relationship is something that you have to work on for the rest of your life. Maybe I just missed the female education class that brainwashed so many women to believe that fairy tales can come true, but I would take the ups and downs of real life over a fairy tale any day.
I beg to differ. I bet if you asked my husband, he’s all for tolerating a rom-com now and then, because for some reason it usually comes with rewards.
Jessica- First, Getting to eat popcorn while watching a chic flick doesn’t constitute a “reward” and secondly you can’t disagree with science.