Writing Challenge 1!

From the moment we are born, our parents tell us fairy tales and folk stories, and tuck us in at night with the warming words of a happily ever afters. Our little blank brains, ready to devour anything put in front of us, happily gobbles up these fantasy tales of love and adventure, and slowly but surely, based on these tales we form our understanding of life and love. When I say our media intake affects every aspect of our lives, this shouldn’t be news. We’ve often heard the story of suburban moms in cookie cutter homes whispering worries about how rap music will lead their children to violence, and although that might not be completely false, there are infinite other ways our media intake does affect us in more concrete forms. To me, the dazzle and charm of romance movies and how they create and alter our views of love is an important aspect to consider when talking about how media affects us. Researchers at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh observed couples at their therapy center and noted that most of their conceptions of love, romance and relationships came from misconceptions presented in Hollywood romance films. It’s sad to think that the enchanting glimmer of romance on screen has set a time bomb in our heads, waiting for our created sense of love and romance to destroy us when our expectations and reality don’t match, and how children whose parents have been affected by this get to have their illusions shattered, too.

I remember being seven and sitting down with my mother to watch the George of the Jungle movie. There’s one scene I still remember perfectly, where George’s romantic interest Ursula expresses how she had always dreamt that her first kiss with her soulmate would be magical, and immediately she would know. She said she’d hear the soft song of church bells and the spark, sizzle and explosion of fireworks. This is a moment in my childhood I’ve always thought back to, because for the rest of my life, I dreamt of the spark and sizzle of an explosive kiss just like Ursula described. When I reached high school and all my friends were having their first kiss, I waited patiently, excited for my own wedding bells and fireworks. Instead, my first kiss tasted like beer and pasta sauce.