Does media affect youth concept of love?

As youth we are constantly connected to media, we have it at our fingertips. Whether is logging on to Twitter to see what’s trending, or going to the theatre to watch a romantic comedy, media has the ability to toy with our emotions, thoughts and beliefs. Thus is it possible to have a fake conception of “true” love because of what the media portrays to be the norm? I definitely believe so, because I myself have fallen into this trap of believing in soul mates and love lasting for eternity, but is it realistic?

For example, take Romeo and Juliet: the entire plot took place over four to five days, but is love in our world really that strong? Meeting a girl who’s your family’s rivals daughter, falling in love with her, secretly getting married, killing her cousin, she takes a sleeping potion, you find her thinking she is dead, then you too kill yourself, and finally she wakes up to find you dead and actually kills herself. Is it realistic, what are the chances that two teenagers that have met barely five days ago, not even a week, would get married and commit suicide for each other because of “love”? From Renaissance times, we have been fooled that love can be so strong. And incurable romantics like me would fall head over heels for the entire story, wishing to find a love that is so beautiful and serene.

Let’s forward into a Disney classic fairytale: the famous Cinderella story. Our protagonist Cinderella lived with her evil step mother and step sisters who made her work like a dog. An invitation to the ball was given out to Cinderella and her family, yet her evil step mother didn’t allow her to go. Luckily, her fairy god mother came to the rescue and completely transformed her into a beautiful princess, telling her she only had till midnight to live her dream. At the ball she met her prince charming who she danced with all night, but she soon realized the clock was about to strike 12 and was in a rush to leave, on her way out her glass slipper fell off her foot and the prince saved it but couldn’t stop her. He then decided to go around house to house to see if the slipper fit any lady’s foot. He arrived at Cinderella’s place where her evil step-sisters tried to squeeze their oversize feet into the slipper-except it didn’t fit, but then finally, it was Cinderella’s turn and it magically fit. After that they lived happily ever after.
Now lets take a moment to compare that love story to the reality of our society today. First of all, no guy would ever take that much time to find the owner of a glass slipper no matter how much he likes her. Secondly, what were the chances that Cinderella would even dance with the prince when he was amongst so many beautiful ladies? So what kind of expectations does this fairytale give to the girls in our society today? That if you look beautiful and have a good heart your prince charming will dance with you and fall in love with you? Or that no matter what love always conquers, the prince will go through a billion obstacles just to be with you? Will guys in our society actually do that today? Probably not.

Media’s false impressions really play with our perception and make us believe in something fake, which leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointment. I personally have nothing against love stories. I love them, but even as an incurable romantic, there needs to be a balance. The guy can’t always sweep the girl off her feet, then all of a sudden tragedy comes along and then eventually everything goes back to the way it was and better. Because in life, we don’t always get a happy ending in every situation, the cancer patient doesn’t always survive, the prince doesn’t always come back, the perfect ending is extremely rare and fake. We need to be strong in what we believe and not believe in everything the media portrays no matter how perfect and enchanting it may be. Our conceptions must be built on experiences and facts, not amazingly addictive stories and breath-taking movies the media shows us. You create your own conception of love, don’t let it be one that disappoints you.