Every girl just wants a guy who will act like Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, expectations are running high.
However, I think it’s imperative to know that romantic movies, such as A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, or Jerry Maguire allow girls to set unrealistic expectations about men.
If it wasn’t for Noah Calhoun basically risking his life on a ferris wheel to take out Allie Hamilton on a date, we, as females, wouldn’t expect guys to be jumping for our attention. Due to these movies, society is sending us the message that we can basically sit around and wait for guys to chase us and jump at the opportunity to take us out on a date.
That all sounds nice and great, but truthfully this is unrealistic. Dating is hard work, especially in college, and making an effort is important on both sides.
In A Walk to Remember, Landon Carter changes his entire lifestyle and does everything he can to make Jamie Sullivan fall in love with him, and stay in love.
These movies just make women expect men to be devoted partners with no other priorities in life.
In a perfect world, yes, we would be the only things on a guy’s mind.
But to be honest, especially in our age range as college students, both men and women have many priorities right now including school, work, and other obligations to a decent social life.
So yeah, phrases like “you complete me,” and “you had me at hello,” may work in the movies. But in real life, dating is hard work, and it takes more than movie magic to make a relationship work.
And ladies, these days, sitting around and waiting for prince charming isn’t going to do anything. Go out and find your own happy ending and with a little effort and a lot of patience, it will all pay off.
Sarah Ehlers is a junior journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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