Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Cheating..Why Is It Cute In The Movies?



After recently watching a few old movies, I began to dwell on the subject of “cheating” and what aspects of it are “socially acceptable” or not.
Now, normally you ask most women the question: “is it alright to cheat on your mate” and I can guarantee you that at least 85% of them would shout out a powerful “NO” answer before the sentence was finished. Yet, if you take a look at a lot of so called “love stories” it actually condones the behaviour in a powerful way. The clear aspect of cheating is over shadowed by “soul mates”, “love” and dare I say… destiny’s notion of “the happy ever after”.

I never really thought about it before, until I started looking into all the movies I have known and loved for years – a little deeper. The basic concept is the same: Boy meets girl. Boy finds something spectacular about her and falls all over himself to win her heart. Girl is clearly intrigued equally by the boy as well, but plays hard to get for a while and shy away from the subject. Finally, girl gives in and boy wins her heart. Sure there are major obstacles, twists and turns plotted in the duration of the movie, but one of the crucial ones surrounds cheating. In most of these types of movies/stories either the man or woman (or both) are already involved/married to someone else. They are either lacking something in their current situation or they just simply fall head over heals over a perfect stranger and fall in love - again, while all along with someone else. Seriously, if you don’t believe me than just trying going through your own list of favourite “sappy love stories” (yes we all have them) and you’ll see I’m right. Now, I am not saying they ALL follow suit, but most do. If they don’t actually cheat (full on) they are exploring others in a romantic way; at the very least.

So why is it acceptable in your favourite movie and not in life? I mean the conditions or situations surrounding this act could be equally as romantic as those found in the movies. Perhaps one is being mistreated, neglected or unloved. Perhaps current situations are so incredibly unbearable and they find themselves susceptible to an affair. Let’s be honest, anyone can be lured with the right bait and those who say “no, never” truly haven’t come across theirs. I don’t condone it for a moment, nor do I rationalize why it’s “ok” to cheat on someone – all I’m saying is that it happens, everyday. It’s a sad statement, but a truthful one at best. So why do we make “awe” remarks to movies like “Gone with the wind” or “Bridges of Madison County” when in real life we would burn them at the stake? It just seems odd to me.

Any thoughts?

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