Hollywood, with its formula films and stereotypes has an immense impact upon our lives. For example, most of our high schools don’t teach courses on relationships, so American teenagers learn those skills through Hollywood films. Yes, they also learn from their parents and peers, but do not underestimate the influence of movies, and that’s a scary thought.
Let’s start with one of the standard formulas from the so called romantic films we’ve seen a million times. True to form, you essentially know everything that’s going to happen in the movie.
- By some twist of fate, a guy and a girl meet and initially cannot stand each other.
- But of course the guy never gives up and repeatedly injects himself into the life of the female he’s pursuing (it happens occasionally, but we rarely have a film where the female initiates the pursuit).
- Finally, she relents and agrees to go out with him. Yes, she agrees to go out with the guy she initially hated.
- We’re all in shock (I’m LOL) as they fall for each other and the audience sees a future where love and romance is the dominant theme for this couple.
- Then comes the mandatory crisis which threatens the bliss and romance the audience previously bought into. The dream of a perfect future evaporates in front of their eyes as the couple breaks up because of the crisis and you think they’ll probably never speak again.
- But alas, the Hollywood formula must prevail. Therefore, we know they will be reunited and a happy ending will bring smiles and comfort to the audience as they walk out of the theater.
We’ll have a lot more to say about the other formulas Hollywood uses which have such an incredible impact upon our culture and belief systems. One of these is the fatal flaw of the infamous action films with the evil villain. What is that fatal flaw? Stay tuned because we’ll discuss it in the near future.
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