Romantic Comedies

On the EBSCOhost database I searched with the key words "love at first site" which brought up many articles that included content about love.  Most of the articles used the love at first site theme to relate love to something else.  One article that I found particularly interesting was the article entitled "From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate: The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People’s Beliefs about Relationships" by Veronica Hefner and Barbara J. Wilson.

The reason I found thought this article related to my research project is that I am looking at the evolution of love as people age.  One of the socializing factors of love as people age is movies.  Romantic comedies, like the ones these two authors discuss, influence their audience's definition of love.  According the article, people who watch romantic comedies tend to have a more idealized definition of love.  I agree with this article because I think that I myself have a more idealized view of love because of movies.  When I think of love, I think of Crazy, Stupid, Love or Fifty First Dates.  Movies like these make love seem easy and as though love is bound to happen.  It makes love out to be something that starts out as funny tension that spirals in to love that can maybe not be admitted and eventually love conquers in a big romantic scene.  Although this would be really nice, not all people get to wake up to a movie with your soul mate explaining their love to you every morning or a big musical number where you fly off in a car like Grease.  Love can be difficult, confusing, and a lot more aggravating than the movies make it out to be.

I now understand people more, especially people from places where romantic comedies are popular and available.  These people have an idealized definition of love and when this idea is not met the first time, the idea of love goes sour faster because they were expecting something bigger and better.  I wonder though if romantic comedies tend to affect a certain ethnicity more than another?  Boys or girls?  If so, why?

Hefner, Veronica, and Barbara Wilson. "From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate: The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People’s Beliefs about Relationships." Communication Monographs 80.2 (2013): 150-175. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.