Cultivation and Romance Genres

When reading “Isn’t It Romantic? Differential Associations Between Romantic Screen Media Genres and Romantic Beliefs” at first, I found it really interesting that depending on the genre of media you consume the most, the more it weighs in on what “type of love” you believe in.  Then, I thought about it, and a lot of it makes sense to me.  With the cultivation theory, it states that heavy viewers project what they see in media into reality; this being said, it makes sense if one person a person watches a specific type of media, they will project that onto their own beliefs about love.  When I read this article, one thing that instantly popped into my mind, that I bring up in class pretty often too, is the television series, The Bachelor. 

As soon as I read the line that marriage-themed reality TV viewers are more associated with higher levels of Idealization and Love at First Sight (135), I almost instantly thought of the women on the popularized show, The Bachelor. (See Below)

http://youtu.be/VaQUbhKsQWs

This short clip shows how this season’s Bachelor, Chris Soules, is idealized by these women who have seen him on a previous season.  We see in this trailer how Britt walks out of the limo and is so infatuated with meeting him; she won’t let go of him and begins to sob.  This goes back to the idea of marriage-themed reality shows convey the belief of idealization.  The women on the season of The Bachelor treat him as if he is some type of god’s gift to women.. like really?  This also goes into the idea of Love at First Sight.  This is clearly their first time meeting; she is instantly so happy and infatuated.  Later in the episode, she reveals how she felt when she met him and says she can see herself spending the rest of her life with Chris, and he goes on to give her the “First Impression Rose”, which implies he felt the same way.  I can see how those who watch this show (and actually believe what they see is real) could project these feelings into reality.

Another thing I found interesting was romantic- themed movies were more associated with feelings of Love Finds A Way (135).  This made me think of the movie No Strings Attached.  In this movie, Adam Kutcher and Natalie Portman play it off as though they are going to go on with this relationship with no emotional attachment; they simply wanted to use each other for sex.  As the movie plays out, we see how they slowly are in denial, but it is clear that they are falling for one another, until the very end when “Love Finds A Way” and they end up together (See clip below)

http://youtu.be/KoabUMmRutk

         What shows like The Bachelor or movies like No Strings Attached do for its viewers is create false beliefs and false situations which they project onto reality.  It makes sense that if these are the genres of romance where a person consumes most of their media, then they would hope that they get a love story like The Bachelor tries to portray, or a happy ending much like No Strings Attached. People so much want to believe in what they see; who wouldn't want a happy ending with the perfect guy?  When we watch movies or TV shows religiously, like many of us have, it as if we create a relationship with these people.  We believe in their relationships and root for them to work out or to fall in love at the end.  The depiction of popularized romance television and movies is that love really does find a way or love at first sight is real, so I find it really interesting that it projects onto what people believe in real life.

Do you believe your views on romance aligned with what you normally consume in TV and movies? (After we took the survey in class)  I know when I watch the Bachelor, I find it completely unrealistic and ridiculous, regardless of how much I watch it.  Do you agree? Do you believe people can also reject what they see in media and believe opposite of what they see? Would people be more apt to believe different, more realistic things if popularized movies portrays realistic situations, or would people still believe in these fairy-tale endings? 

Works Cited:

Lippman, J. R., Ward, L. M., & Seabrook, R. C. (2014). Isn’t it romantic? Differential associations between romantic screen media genres and romantic beliefs. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(3), 128-140. doi: 10.1037/ppm0000034