The Romanticization Of Unhealthy Relationships In The Media

Most frequently, the films and shows people are exposed to shape what they value in relationships. While the focus should be on mutual trust and communication, it now rests on passionate, destructive “love”. The romanticization of unhealthy relationships continues to become more and more ridiculous as consumers buy into the deception.

The media is brainwashing our youth with unrealistic expectations for romance that poison their notions of love. At such a young impressionable age, they develop the idea that these dysfunctional, codependent relationships are ideal and are what love is supposed to be like. As a result, these adolescents are not being taught the signs of unhealthy relationships and can become unsatisfied until they find themselves in abusive disasters of companionship that could potentially be fatal. While it is not necessary to eliminate all romanticized media, it is necessary to make society aware of the reality of these dysfunctional romances and inform them on the truth and importance of healthy relationships.

Instead of blatantly stating this argument, our satire masks our argument by portraying various films that are perceived as romantic in an obviously sarcastic light.

Additionally, the list of films is in a magazine article format, a form of media that also manipulates what young, vulnerable people perceive as the correct norm. The satire is from the perspective of the media, as we are attempting to “sell” this idea of dysfunctional relationships to young magazine readers. Naive teenaged girls who watch such romanticized films and fawn over the relationships will hopefully see the error of their perception after reading this magazine article. However, those who choose to buy into the romanticization of dysfunctional relationships may not see the ridiculousness of such ideas at all and may continue to fall for the ludicrous

behavior.
Throughout the satire, flagrant ironic statements are made to develop a sarcastic tone in the film reviews. This allows for the audience to clearly recognize the foolishness of these romanticized relationships and makes the dysfunction easy to discern. Additionally, humorous hyperboles are used to convey the lack of authorial seriousness in the reviews, conveying the notion that the authors obviously do not believe what they are saying.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, the impact of mass media on the psychological well being of adolescents is poignant, as they are extremely insecure and thus very vulnerable to whatever society feeds to them, whether that is through films, magazines, or any other form of media. The messages that they convey deceive teens into accepting unrealistic and unhealthy standards. Additionally, it is not uncommon to hear hundreds of screaming girls droning on forever about such “romantic” relationships and how they wish they had one for their own.