Feminist Praxis Project Final Podcast

Rom-coms and romantic movies can create unrealistic expectations about love and relationships. Watching these movies repeatedly can lead to disappointment when real-life relationships don't live up to the movie standards. Watching rom-coms together can also cause relationship satisfaction to plummet as couples compare their own relationship to the idealized ones on screen. Rom-coms often rationalize toxic behavior, leading viewers to accept and even romanticize unhealthy relationship dynamics. Mixed messages and the idolization of first love and soulmates also contribute to a potentially harmful mindset. However, there are some benefits to watching rom-coms, such as increased self-awareness and the recognition of unhealthy patterns in relationships. Romantic books, on the other hand, can have a stronger impact on mindset due to the emotional connection readers form with the characters. Escapism and falling in love with fictional characters can lead to unrealistic expectations and a dis Hello there, my name is Alexis, and this is a podcast slash rant about me talking about rom-coms and also romantic books To begin with what are rom-coms, and how do they differ from? Romantic movies well rom-com is a romantic comedy where the economy is still important in the movie and a romantic Movie is just romance with a more serious in tone Dramatic elements and really does doesn't rely on laughs, but character development So let's get into it rom-coms, and how can they affect a mindset a certain way well watching rom-coms? repeatedly or if you start watching it at a young age it develops a expectation in your life towards either Romance or just this general relationship kind of expectations and watching these romantic films repeatedly can cause a person to develop these unrealistic expectations where they begin to feel disappointed in the pursuit of love or just their experience in it because by comparison to these movies they are lacking and Then they feel disappointed with their partners when they don't act a certain way or when their love story doesn't play out like a movie And for a person to continuing believe in these love stories It's promoted from the rom-coms another reason rom-coms may be met bad from my say is a Recent study examining the habits of successful couples and then their least fortunate counterparts Had found that watching rom-coms together causes relationship Satisfaction to plummet because they are watching this together and when you watch a rom-com you think oh That's looking so adorable To see this improbable romance play out on screen and then together you're thinking oh This could happen to me, but for some reason my partner is not doing this So your relationship status or satisfaction in each other causes the plummet because you lose confidence in what your partner is doing because Why is it he giving me flowers or oh that person surprised that character with a romantic getaway? My partner never does that for me. It's just kind of sad that they get these unrealistic expectations and The other person doesn't know of these expectations causing them to already disappoint their partner another Downside of rom-coms is that toxic behavior is rationalized We see in rom-coms. There is either a Overprotective boyfriend, or they just do things that like stand out that seem toxic to us, but in the movies They're rationalized, and we just move past it if we don't Recognize the behavior now. It's just gonna get worse so toxic behavior rationalized off of the top of my head in a Romantic movie would be the Twilight's like Edward is this overprotective boyfriend where he doesn't let Bella go to The beach because he knows Jacob would be there or that he watched her sleep through the window Before they were even really a couple and that's just like Red flag red flags. It's to me that oh, we're rationalizing this Oh, it's so sweet because he just didn't want her to get hurt, and he had to make sure he was alright like why? Why are we saying? Yeah, that is all right all nice and green flag behavior When Edward acted like this so much mature person Acting like Bella's own choices in the matter didn't Need to be considered because oh, he's the older one so he deserves not deserves, but Definitely needs to be the one to make these decisions because he has more experience like This toxic behavior was rationalized, and I don't think it's talked about often enough that in this romantic movie He does this but we just moved past it because Bella and Edward belong together that they were each other's true love so that's a why a reason why rom-coms or just romantic movies in general could set a really bad mindset for a person another reason why rom-coms or just romantic movies in general may affect some kind of Expectation it's this mixed mixed messages We see these romantic movies where there's a lot of mixed messages being given out. Oh, she is a partner Oh, no, she doesn't oh they hang out together, so they must be together. Oh, no, they're not They're friends, so they definitely have to be together like these mixed messages are more handed out over and over again that People realize oh this messages this happen when we should be promoting communication rather than just accepting mixed messages and another idea of why rom-coms romantic movies may be kind of wrong it would be idolization they repeatedly show in romantic movies the idolization of First love at first sight first date And then we're married love her love conquers all and childhood sweetheart And we find them in a lot of romantic movies because they are the perfect ideal of just a warm movie, but People begin to idolize these oh There has to be love at first sight There's so many movies about it or first date, and we just know he's the one or they're the one Is that just you could begin to feel like this has to happen to you because It's in so many romantic movies so many rom-coms that why doesn't it happen to you. Are you different or? Love conquers all when we know for a fact that love can't conquer all but there's just this Unconscious feeling of I know in a lot of a lot of movies love conquers all why can't love conquer all in this why is it my love enough and that's just brings down a Person's just self-esteem when they realize they can't have that so they are just disappointed in themselves And that's something what that is continuously promoted in rom-coms and romantic movies However, I don't have all hate on rom-coms and romantic movies I do watch them and there is some pros to I guess watching them there was a study conducted from the Department of Psychology at Harvard which found that a couple to Discuss scenarios from scented in romantic movies and rom-coms and then compared it to their own relationship awful often display higher levels of self-awareness and relationship in Insight because this is a proactive approach to understanding each other's viewpoints and can address potential areas of conflict or concern Furthermore watching a romantic movie or rom-com can give a reality check some couples may realize unhealthy Patterns behaviors mirror it in the characters on screen and recognize this could be the first step in addressing Themselves in their own relationships, so I guess that is more of a how it Could be potentially used as a good mindset where you can watch these and see these examples play out where there is Awful behavior shown and you realize oh, we are marrying this behavior. We should definitely try to change that and People who just enjoy rom-coms they As I was talking about before are the strongest believers in the idea of love conquers all People who truly believe in that have reported and more successful relationships status or more relationship certification because I would assume that they are more willing to Give in to their own beliefs because love does conquer all and Maybe they're giving in and so is their partner I don't know. I just I hope so and in some romantic movies or rom-com movies like 27 dresses we see a Couple that we begin to love because of what they go through with each other or just these cute little moments but then we are betrayed by the main guy and that just stands out to me that we are watching this and We just accept that he betrayed her but then he she's chasing after him in the end like why do we Just didn't love this because that's my favorite one of my favorite moment rom-com movies that 27 dresses I love the concept behind it, but it always does hurt me to think that the movie is basically a Always the bridesmaid but never the bride movie and that does hurt me because I do love that movie And I did grow up watching it, it's just eventually it just hurts because in 27 dresses there's lying going on her sister lies to Her boyfriend that she's a vegetarian and she's this great person and we just accept it because eventually the truth is revealed and I just I don't know a lot of Romantic movies or rom-com movies just have this same stuff going on in my eyes that after watching Same movies over again over and again and learning more on the concepts from this class I began to pick out and I guess no longer enjoy the movie but moving on to romantic books and Romance books and how they could affect a person's mind state Well growing up reading romance books And yes, the romance books weren't the heavy-duty kind of romance books that as to know as adults today we Guilty pleasure read but they are introduced in the fairy tale romance kind of love stories the fairy tale format which was The prince and princess they fall in love they defeat the grand evil and then they write off into the sunset That kind of fairy tale romance that we get introduced at a young age kind of Shapes our dependence on the romance genre in romance books We get unrealistic expectations just like romance movies But in books, I always kind of Have a harder time differing because in movies we know that it's not real. We know these people are actors but in books we can Put ourselves in the character's shoes which brings up my other point of escapism We escape into these romantic novels from our everyday lives so we put ourselves in this character's shoes and we fall in love with the main character or The male character whoever the main character is having a romance with we fall in love with them We again a emotional connection so I Would say that Romantic novels are definitely a harsher on a person's mindset than rom-com movies or romantic movies because with romance novels we evoke strong emotions because we Really fall in love with the characters I know there's a nice song called fictional fictional men where it's about falling in love with fictional men because We read these books we truly get to try to feel like the character so all of a sudden we fall in love with the main the main male character and I would say Romantic book romance books can Definitely change your mindset because if you're reading them too young it may scar you or just Kind of enter you in a stage you're not ready to because romance novels they do have some descriptions of physical intimacy Where in movies like the romance movies or rom-com movies there is this like brief of oh Yes, they slept together, but in movie in the book we get a like vivid Description and I know that can be some scarring to some people with romance books there is a same thing to deal with in romance movies or rom-com movies with they always end with a happy ending and in Romance books or romance novels we are more in tune with the characters so that Happy ending may not be happy for us So I would assume that just as in romance movies are This people who differ on why it ended that way that there are for romance novels but I would Say that most people read romance novels just for the you need to live Hardly through the characters and experience all the drama and passion of their love lives without having Actually put any effort into your own as a movie person You don't really get to do that, but with novels you definitely get to do that and I Would definitely say go read some romance books if you want to go do that without having any potential danger Affecting your real life, but I would also say that can affect your mindset and all of a sudden you are giving into these unrealistic expectations of oh Mr.. Dreamy in this romance novel definitely did this for the main character And I felt that I felt that special because mr. Dreamy did it and I never felt that special in real life So I guess I have to continue living through romance novels because where else am I supposed to find my mr. Dreamy and that just Wrecks a person's mindset because they already acknowledge that they can't find it in the real world So they have to live it out through a novel Okay, this is all I have to say is thank you for listening to me rant on about romance movies rom-coms and Romantic novels. I hope you have taken some insight of my little rants, and if not well kudos to you for having Strong opinions that you didn't let my little rambles affect them Have a good day