The entertainment industry is a business and that means they focused on making money, NOT on trying to improve society. Unfortunately, this means that many old tired themes and plots are so often repeated with slight variations. What movies are guilty of romanticizing unhealthy things? What should Hollywood stop promoting? Here are a few:

#1. Romanticizing Relationships with Jerks

What often happens is that the protagonist meets a guy, falls in love and then they have some sort of misunderstanding (either they break up or something else) but after the conflict is resolved, all is forgiven and everything returns to the way it was before. This reinforces an unhealthy message to girls - "it's ok to stick it out with someone who mistreats you" or "it's better to go back with someone who hurt you, than stay away." Just think about movies like The Notebook, A Walk To Remember, Love Story , Pretty Woman , etc. These are great movies but unfortunately, many girls watch them not knowing that these characters are setting really bad examples for their life.

#2. Romanticizing Abuse (Physical and Mental)

Abuse is never romantic! This is a very sensitive topic, so I would like to point out that not all people who have been abused ended up victims, some of them did fight back and leave the abuser but it's a hard road to walk on your own with no place to go or anybody supporting you. Some films portray emotional, sexual or physical abuse with "just a tiny bit" of eroticism. Other times the female survivor somehow turns into a murdering avenging angel as a result of the abuse. A few films that are particularly irksome are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Fifty Shades of Grey, Nightmare on Elm Street.

#3. Romanticizing Violence

Punching someone in the face or even straight out killing someone is a part of every Marvel movie, arguably the largest ongoing movie series. Violence is a part of human existence, sadly. In the real world there are often real justifications for violence, like stopping the Nazis or preventing other genocides. However, many films have characters that are really quick to be violent or show unrealistic outcomes to violence.

In the real world, a bare-fisted punch to the punch to the face can often cause permanent damage like a concussion. A bullet to a limb can lead to amputation or death, if an artery is hit.

#4. Romanticizing Drug Abuse

Movies that romanticize drug abuse usually have the character start using or doing something illegal with a friend, then it grows into a friendship where one is influencing the other to try more because of how good it makes them feel (usually sex). This often results in an escalating cycle of trying more drugs until they are fully addicted to these drugs - The Basketball Diaries, Requiem for A Dream , Trainspotting , etc.

These movies show how easily addiction can occur which gives viewers the wrong idea about what happens inside someone's brain when they become dependent on those substances. It also glamorizes sneaking around from authority figures, participating in risky behavior, breaking laws and the list goes on. These movies mentioned try to show the dark side, but from personal experience I can attest to the fact that they cannot portray the full despair that real addiction can cause.

#5. Romanticizing Crime

Real life crime and criminals don't have a glamorous side and Hollywood knows this, that's why they make them look "cool" through movies like Training Day, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Wolf of Wall Street, etc, which romanticize crime by making it out to be something flamboyant or fun. By doing that, these films undermine the seriousness of crimes like drug trafficking, murder, theft and are great reasons for kids to copy what they see in the movies (especially if their parents aren't talking to them about those things).

# 6 . Romanticizing Smoking

Smoking a cigarette is portrayed as cool and sexy in movies whenever the most attractive actors are in those roles. In reality, smoking is a major health risk, extremely addictive, a huge expense, and shortens your life span. Although this is much less common than it used to be, smoking in movies has been around for quite some time now. I wonder how many young adults have started smoking because of their idols who they see as glamorous or cool through the movies.

#7. Romanticizing Alcohol Abuse

There are lots of movies that romanticize drinking alcohol to excess like Platoon, Apocalypse Now, The Hangover etc... What those films don't show is the negative impacts that excessive alcohol consumption can have on one's life such as poor job performance, domestic violence, loss of consciousness or even death!

What teenagers and young adults don't realize is that those things won't ever happen to them but since Hollywood shows otherwise, they believe it!

#8. Romanticizing Illicit Sex

Hollywood has a history of glamorizing illicit sex through movies like American Pie , 50 shades of Grey, etc... The thing about those films is that they show every part of the relationship including the "climax" (when the sexual act takes place). This idea tends to give off the message in our subconscious minds that we are missing out if we aren't doing what those characters did in the movie which can make us do things before or during intercourse without protection.

In this day and age, you could say everything is based on what Hollywood glamorizes. Be it clothes, food , cars , electronics or even relationships; as long as there's money to be made, there will always be a movie about it! In some cases though the movies tend to over-exaggerate which gives kids and young adults the wrong idea about how things really are. Fortunately for us that we have the power of being informed consumers which means we can still use our brains when picking out any content to watch and also not judge people in real life according to what the movies portray

#9. Romanticizing The 'Sexy' Female Role

Is sex bad or evil? It seems to be whenever a woman is cast as a femme fatale. In this role of a devil, the lead female character tries to charm her way into the bed to "take advantage" of a male character. Portraying women in this way is a form of slut-shaming and is reductive to women.

In real life, sex is a part of a healthy romantic relationship and it can be wonderful when both partners are on the same page.

Female actresses of today are usually selected for their attractiveness on screen (that's a given) but they don't necessarily need to have their personality be summed up by sexuality too.

#10 . Romanticizing "The Taming of the Shrew"

In the play the Taming of the Shrew, the main female character is named Katharina. In the play, she has a rough personality and her marriage was arranged by her father when she was still young. Her husband (Petruchio) eventually "tames" her in the sense that he treats her roughly to soften up; thus making her more feminine. This sums up the plot of many movies where girls with spunk are eventually appeased by a boy who's really interested in them.

This is very problematic, especially if you're someone who tends to be treated this way or have had your personality undermined in the past. It also says that girls/women can only find love once they've been "broken" and become dependent of their partners.

I hope this article has given you some insight on the messages movies have been portraying to us for years. It's important to realize that these are just movies and not reality, but they still can affect our behavior and perceptions of certain aspects in life. If you're looking for help with any cognitive neuroscience principles or want a successful marketing plan that drives sales, please don't hesitate to contact me! I'm here all day (literally) so feel free to reach out at anytime. What movie do you think is misrepresenting an aspect of society? Let me know below :)

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10 Things Movies Must Stop Romanticizing