It is widely seen in movies and television programs today that our cultural views on love and marriage are progressively changing. It seems to me that our culture once viewed love as special feeling we reserve for one special person, and marriage as a sacred vow to be faithful. But popular movies today like Friends With Benefits and others like it seem to be portraying a different set of standards. These movies seem to be telling us that we can love many people and that marriage is only a temporary thing. They seem to be telling us that it is normal to 'sleep around,' get a divorce, and cheat on our partners. I personally believe that this is the wrong message to be sending out to people in our society; that we are setting a trap for ourselves in making us think that these things are ok. As the text might put it, our society seems to be falling out of consummate love, and into more of an infatuation.
Popular Culture on: Love and Marriage
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I agree with your position on the devaluing of love. Another thing I think some movies, especially chick flicks, portray is the fear of not finding love. They use this idea as an excuse to sleep around, while pretending that they're looking for their soul mate.
I don't think that movies are trying to portray that this is a normal thing to happen. I think they are more so trying to say that this does happen and not all relationships are perfect. I do not in any way think they are trying to portray that this is the norm in society.
Anyone foolish enough to let Movies be the basis of their perspective of love is doomed to fail. While yes they tell good stories and Hollywood knows how to pull the strings of our hearts, we should merely use them as forms of entertainment. Sorry folks, not all lasting and beautiful relationships have to follow the premise of a Nicholas Sparks movie...
I completely agree with you. I think popular media has taken things to far. I think it should be the goal for couples to want to have a consummate relationship, having a balance of all three aspects of the relationship. Marriage is a sacred thing and should not be taken lightly. I find it sobering that the divorce rate is around 50%, when you say I do you are promising a lifetime. I also think movies portray that its normal to get a divorce or to cheat on your partner, I think people should want a partner who they can grow old with and be happy with for the rest of their life.
Because of those movies and dramas, many people out of US think that is the reflection of the real life style here. That's the power of media.
I have a comment on the rise in divorce rates; while, yes, divorce rates have seen an increase over the last few decades it may have more to do with women's rights and society's changing view of single women. As women feel more confident and are more independent they feel as if divorce is more acceptable than it was in the past if they find themselves in an unhappy marriage. I'm not sure that people aren't respecting the 'sanctity of marriage', but that people are less willing to stay in unhappy marriages. Additionally, that statistic that claims that 50% of marriages end in divorce could be highly skewed. That statistic includes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... divorces. It is important to be careful of where statistics come from and what they are meant to show. I'm not saying that this particular stat. is false but we may not be seeing the details of where it came from and what it is really trying to measure.
I agree that our views on love and marriage in society are greatly becoming less and less strict and monogamous I think that it is a lifestyle that people can choose or not choose. Some people may just be promiscuous by nature and I personally think that if society was so strict on marriage and love like in the past then there would be a lot of regret and lack of experience. I think that they may be giving off the wrong motto of 'it's okay to cheat on your partner' but other than that I think they are accurately portraying how modern America is.
While media has allowed sexuality to spread wider and become more of a norm in our society, that doesn't necessarily mean that our society has different values, but birth control and sexual education are more advanced than ever before. This allows sexuality more than it had in the past. It has been problematic in history before this, however, as seen by the puritans needing to escape sin by coming to the Americas and the "free love" of the 60's.
Marriage, however, has lessened in sanctity I believe. This is seen in divorce rates rising, and people viewing marriage not as a life-long commitment but the next step in a long-term relationship.