The Trouble with Hollywood [Endings]

My dear friend Alex, who knows me better than anyone, told me a little anecdote about something that happened to her the other day. She said, "I was walking down the hall, carrying way too much stuff, and this super handsome man came and opened the door for me. This being real life, I didn't register it until I was already through the door and on my way."

We went on to talk about how this was just a jab at how "real life is not like the movies" because if it had been the movies, there would have been one of those moments where he and she looked each other in the eye and there was a connection and then he'd try to win her over with sappy songs and coffee and they'd get married and live happily ever after. Because he was attractive. And we lamented that real life is nothing like the movies because she didn't think about that nor did she make eye contact until it was too late.

THIS IS PROBLEMATIC ON SO MANY LEVELS. First of all, this is in no way an indicator of how Alex and I conduct ourselves on a daily basis. Of course we don't sit around like freaks and compare our lives to movies...we definitely do not plan out our marriages with our celebrity crushes...we most certainly do not waste valuable time daydreaming and planning and plotting how to make these things happen. We're normal..........

Second of all (because even though the first of all wasn't a real problem, I still have to follow it with 'second of all' and I really don't feel like going back to edit out the 'first of all' because I like the way it sounds. So there.) there is a serious problem with the fact that he DIDN'T look her in the eye, make a connection, fall madly in love with her, and spend days on end trying to win her heart over and convince her that his love is sincere, miraculously overcoming the pitfalls of an unnecessarily complicated life story.

Do you see where this is going? The real problem here is how movies have conditioned society to have completely unrealistic expectations about themselves. Mostly me. I started this blog to talk about how much I condemn society for being ridiculous and I'm already a failure. The problem is, I'm as much of a sucker for it as anyone. It's a flaw I will never forgive myself for.

So as I sit here eating the chocolate covered peppermint sticks I'm supposed to put in hot chocolate except I don't really feel like making hot chocolate, I ponder the problem with Hollywood Endings. It is a given that in any romance movie (Except "My Best Friend's Wedding", do NOT sit down with that one expecting an HE. You won't get it) there will be a heroine who has some kind of major crisis in her live, she will conveniently and usually by accident meet the perfect man, she will not want to believe he is perfect at first but he will be madly in love with her and court her persistently, frequently with corny and extravagant gestures of affection, and finally, they would overcome some huge difficulty and realize they're madly in love with each other.

In case you haven't noticed, I have just outlined the plot of several romantic comedies. If you're reading this going, "Oh! That sounds exactly like this movie!" then I hate to break it to you but you too are a sucker for the romcoms. Oh Hollywood, what have you done to our souls?

I don't actually remember where I was going with this post, because it's been worked on over the course of a week. Let me scroll up.

Oh yes.

Hollywood blows. We all walk around living our lives hoping that something romantic and fantastic and amazing will happen that will change our lives forever. But the reality is, if a cute guy stops and holds the door for you, he is simply a cute guy stopping to hold the door for you, not The One. And I haven't decided yet if the fault lies with Hollywood for creating such false expectations, or with life for not living up to them.