How TV Completely Ruined My Perception Of Love.

I am part of a profoundly screwed up generation. Maybe, I'm being over dramatic, I know my generation can be pretty amazing, we are more tolerant, open minded and considerate than the preceding generations. But we are a clueless bunch when it comes to love, and honestly I think a lot of it is due to the media's idealized portrayal of relationships that got shoved down our throats!

I think I may be generalizing too much, let me narrow it down and just talk about myself.

Up until I was 19 or so I had a highly romanticized view of love and relationships. I honestly though that the guy I was suppose to be with would be the dark and brooding man who knew how to cry. He would sweep into town take one look at me, stare deeply into my eyes and know that I was his everything. Complete. And. Total. Crap.
So here is a list of my favorite shows as a teen, I'll give you a brief rundown and tell you how it screwed me over, then I'll let you know how reality is way better than pretend.

1. Roswell (1999-2002)- I freakin loved this show more than cake and I'm a fat kid so you know I loved my cake. It was basically about a mysterious and brooding group of overly attractive teens that just happen to be aliens. Lots of human/alien intergalactic relationships, the words soul mate and destiny were was tossed around a lot. After this show, I would create drama in my relationships, in hopes that the pathetic sap I was dating would rise to the challenge and fix everything thus proving his love to me. I got dumped.

So brooding!! 

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997- 2003)- This was actually a pretty empowering show for a young girl. Teenage girl kicks ass and to hell with preconceived notions of femininity! But did I focus on that? Nope. I only saw how much Buffy loved Angel and how much I loved Angel, pretty sure this was the show that brought on puberty. For those that don't know (both of you) Buffy is a girl destined to be The Slayer, she kills vampires while being a fashionable and charming teenager. Angel just happens to be a *gasp* dark and brooding vampire who falls for Buffy. Isn't unrequited love great? Now, how did this mess me up? I grew a fascination for the boys that needed to be fixed, the bad boys with troubled pasts that needed me to...slay their problems (love puns). Again I got dumped. (bad boys don't usually care for good girls in real life)

How sweet! He wants to suck her blood, they must really love each other.

3. Dawson's Creek (1998-2003) - No supernatural powers here, just weepy teens climbing into each others bedrooms. Basically, a small New England town where everyone has something to hide. Dawson, Joey and Pacey are best buds. Joey likes Dawson, Dawson likes movies. Jen moves to town, Dawson likes Jen, Joey sad. Pacey screws teacher, Jen has bad past, Dawson dislikes Jen, Dawson likes Joey, Joey dates Dawson and likes him less, Joey and Pacey end up together, Jen dies.

I'm not even sure where to start with this. I wanted to live their fictional lives! I would literally go look for a male best friend, a Dawson to my Joey if you will. I would look at my more attractive female teachers and think that they were totally nailing some poor misguided male student. Just so messed up..

Poor Dawson never stood a chance.

Now for my closing argument, why were all my preconceived, media fed notions wrong? Because the real thing is flipping awesome. It wasn't until I met my now husband did I understand that a relationship didn't have to revolve around drama, it could be pretty fun actually.

In real life you may not get the guy that will look deep into your eyes and tell you that you're the missing piece to his heart or whatever, but you do get someone that will share the blanket with you and give you chicken soup when your sick. 

TV doesn't show you the mundane, boring, everyday B.S. that couples go through, putting the seat down, cooking dinner, getting ready for bed and watching the news. That stuff is pretty great. 

Yes, I still get caught up in the way TV shows love and relationships, how can I not? I'm sure if my life was a show it would bore viewers to tears, but its real and it's completely drama free, except when my mother-in-law comes to visit, but that's what I have shanks for.