The film industry is huge–with movies like Avengers: Endgame (2019) earning $2.798 billion USD. And it isn’t just American films. Recently, there has been a major spike in the popularity of Korean dramas. The Netflix original K-Drama It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (사이코지만 괜찮아 ) (2020) was a hit, and the show’s star, Kim Soo-Hyun, is expected to receive around $2.6 million USD for his work on the show. Taking into account these statistics, it’s no question that the majority of the world’s population is surrounded by the influences of these productions. But how has it affected the way we see others and what we expect of them?

Movies and TV shows offer numerous genres that work to attract many different kinds of everyday people, meaning that there is something for everyone to watch and enjoy that is put out into the world almost daily, along with the help of television shows being released weekly. This gives most people something to talk about and relate to, which is why this industry is so popular. Viewers can place themselves within the world of these fictional characters and believe it or not, these productions absolutely have the ability to get inside of our heads. For example, take a romantic comedy–say, He’s Just Not That Into You (2009). The premise of the movie is how women shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations and expect every man they’re interested to drop everything to be with them–in other words, you’re not the exception. However, at the end of the film, the character who so adamantly pushed that moral throughout his whole life does just that and literally tells his love interest “You’re my exception.” So this then begs the question of “What was the point of that movie?” Of course, millions of other people, including myself, still enjoy the movie regardless, because you get what you expect when you watch a romcom. But what is the effect this has on countless viewers? This movie has just caused thousands of individuals to believe that they are "the exception.” Now this may not sound that bad, but if you think about it, they now expect that sometime in their life, they will receive this same treatment, which is highly unlikely. This seems to be a similar theme in rom coms–that you’ll end up with “the one” and have that perfect, desirable relationship.

Similarly, especially with Korean dramas, there are these clichés and “moments” that depict relationships and moments leading up to them that are far from the truth. Young girls are subconsciously expecting a bad boy who used to be a huge bully to have the ability to turn into a nice, sensitive guy who would never hurt you. These expectations are problematic for a number of reasons, and could quite possibly cause people to enter into abusive relationships and stay in them even longer due to this idea in their mind that they can “change” the other person in the relationship. When these viewers grow older and come to the realization that these are just movies or dramas and hardly depict the realities of life, it could hit them particularly hard and cause them to spiral simply due to expectations that never should have been made.

Furthermore, the industry also creates unrealistic standards of what people should look like. When young viewers only see people with six-packs and the perfect face and body on their TV, of course they’re going to wish they looked like them. The desire to look like these perfect people (who by the way, are far from perfect) too often puts a strain on both the viewer as well as the actor, for having to keep up their impeccable image.

I’m not saying we should boycott all movies because they create unrealistic expectations. After all, I watch romcoms too and enjoy the cheesy storylines and dialogue. All I’m saying is that it’s important to be aware of the real world and separate the two. Not everyone looks like Scarlett Johansson and is going to end up with a Brad Pitt. Having expectations is not bad, but it’s when those expectations go too far that the problem starts.