Stranger than Fiction?
It
is no secret on how pop culture today
has rapidly increased, especially amongst teenage girls, but is that a good
thing? Or a bad thing?
Today's
world of entertainment is full of scandal and… Love?
I
will not lie, I am an avid reader and movie watcher, so when I read or watch
Romance novels or Romantic Comedies there's always that thought in the back of
us single women/girls' minds of our perfect 'prince charming', but are we
setting our standards too high?
The
year is 2012, and it is coming to an end, the holidays are coming and many of
us will spend them either with family or even alone with a good book in hand, (*clears throat, 'me').
Let
me take you back, traveling back to the early 18-1900's, we've been gifted with
the works of Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne
Brontë. Who could ever forget the 1813 novel by Jane Austen, her characters:
the proud Elizabeth Bennet and her male counterpart, the handsome and
prejudiced Mr. Darcy? Or even Emily Brontë's, Heathcliff? The orphan boy who
fell in love with Catherine who wanted nothing more than to advance socially in
her 1845 novel, Wuthering Heights?
And one of my favorites yet! E. M. Forster's 1908 novel: A Room with a View, the young and confused Lucy Honeychurch and the
passionate and hopeful George Emerson. Be still my beating heart! Oh the
romance!
But
anyway… Compare it to today's fictional romance. Many of us grew up with those
authors, but now we have the current best-sellers: Sarah Dessen, Nicholas
Sparks, and if we delve deeper, we have Stephenie Meyer, L. J. Smith, Richelle
Mead, and even Suzanne Collins. Today, one of the main sources of teenage
romance comes from just that, the paranormal.
And the other: Celebrity relationships.
Edward
Cullen, Jacob Black, Damon and Stefan Salvatore, Peeta Mellark, Gale Hawthorne,
Dimitri Belikov, and Adrian Ivashkov, only to name a few! This is where today's
youth unites! Everyone knows Team Edward and Team Jacob, and, well I was Team
Edward far before the movie was in production. Yes, I am a victim of Stephenie
Meyer's creation! Though I'm still in deep love with Dimitri Belikov, Adrian
Ivashkov, and the Salvatore brothers!
And
this is what brings up my points.
I
ask myself, do today's youth fall in love with the book characters actual character? Or do they fall for
the actor portraying the character?
In
all honesty I'd never really pictured anyone specific for the role of Edward
Cullen. Jacob Black had always been Steven Strait to me though… Taylor Lautner
however, portrayed an amazing Jacob! Though I can't help but wonder: Did many
read the books?
The
majority of my friends were Team Edward, only one was Team Jacob far before the
movie was set to be done. So when the first film, Twilight came out, everything was the same. But with New Moon it was BAM! Team Jacob everywhere! Even some of my friends changed teams.
And if everyone recalls, New Moon was
when Taylor went RIPPED for the role,
so I wonder if that had any effect? Of
course it did! Maybe not to all, but there's no doubt that it did have a
major effect on the team switches.
A
couple of weeks ago I went so far as to ask, Edward Cullen or Fitzwilliam
Darcy? And I felt as though I was slapped in the face when I was told they, yes
they, as in more than one person, had
never even heard of Fitzwilliam or Mr. Darcy!
Here
we have the perfect vampire boyfriend/s that will risk his life for you! And then the man who will renounce everything for
you. We all want that guy who will be by our sides no matter what. Robert
Pattinson, Josh Hutcherson, Taylor Lautner, Liam Hemsworth, Paul Wesley, Ian
Somerhalder, Colin Firth, and Matthew Macfadyen, all men that brought our
fictional crushes to life. It really is a different experience to see
characters you imagined in your mind to be splayed out on the movie screen,
sometimes with actors you didn't even dream of being cast! But what most matters
to me, personally, is the way they portray the character… The way they bring
that beloved character to life!
Weeks
ago I asked two teenage girls if they could describe their dream guy, and I was told this:
A 14
year old girl said, "My dream guy would definitely have to be like Robert
Pattinson!" Then her best friend, also the same age followed up with,
"Ooo! My guy would have to be like Logan Lerman!" And again I ask: do
we fall in love with the characters portrayed by the actors? Or the actors that
portray the characters?
Of
course, everyone knows that it is impossible
to get a vampire boyfriend, in the real world, (I think). Many, however, set their sights on the actors, which in
turn, has fans following said actors' personal lives and even their personal
relationships with either fellow co-stars or even other celebrities! Whether
they're Robsten junkies, or Nian junkies, they know the scoop.
And
this brings me back to my very first question/point: Are we setting our sights too high for new relationships? Do we
compare possible 'boyfriends' to stars such as Andrew Garfield, or even Robert
Pattinson? Are we giving the other guys even the most remote chance of dating
us? Or are we just shooting them down in hopes that one day we'll have someone
like Taylor Lautner come knocking at our front door? Hoping to encounter such a
guy to sweep us off our feet and take us into the sunset.
Pop
culture today has many of today's teenage girls with high hopes and dreams in
living out a relationship like we see in the tabloids. Even though many don't
work out too well in the end. Is it that we should thank today's fiction for
such dreams and hopes of pure utter romance? Or is it that we should really take a personal look at just what we're asking of life?
What
do you think?
--forev3rsilenc3d
