photo credit: Hiya Patel
The season of love is upon us, showering the media with chocolate hearts, candle lit dinners, and cute love letters. Groups of girls will even curl up on a night in to watch a popular romantic comedy while enjoying popcorn and pink sugary drinks for a Galentines celebration.
Even though there is nothing wrong with showing love and appreciation in this way, a lot of the commercialized side of Valentine’s Day can be viewed as foolish or frivolous. The main reason for this societal perspective is that while this holiday and romantic comedies are not specifically catered towards a female demographic, both are viewed by our patriarchal society as something that is meant for women and therefore unimportant or idiotic.
Despite this societal view, we believe that romantic comedies, Valentine’s Day, and more women dominated products and ideas are important.
There are a lot of stereotypes placed on women who love Valentine’s Day and romantic comedies. One of the more common ones around this time of year is the so-called crazy, over the top, girlfriend who wants every part of her Valentines celebration to be absolutely perfect. In reality, this is just discounting a girl who only wants to be shown love and is therefore deemed overbearingly materialistic and frivolous. In addition to this, society generally makes many women who want a nice dinner and a gift for Valentine’s Day seem ridiculous when in reality it is just one night to celebrate the love between partners.
We think that women should have standards and expectations for their Valentine’s Day celebrations. In a relationship people should feel loved and appreciated. So, if a Valentine’s Day celebration is something that makes women feel that way then there is nothing materialistic or frivolous about it. A man wanting to feel attractive and loved is not looked down upon, but when it comes to women their emotions are immediately discounted as idiotic.
In addition to Valentine’s Day, society generally views romantic comedies as mindless and of lesser quality than a horror or action movie. This is again due to the genre’s massive female demographic. Having this female demographic typically labels the genre and the women who enjoy it to be shallow and simple minded.
Despite this, a lot of movies in this genre touch on complex societal issues and ideas while also giving the viewer an idea of what love should look like, whether it is reality or not.
For instance, the popular romantic comedy “Clueless” may be seen as a mindless story about a clueless rich girl navigating high school. When in reality, the film mainly showcases the ups and downs that come along with working to become a better person. Another great example of this is “Legally Blonde,” another popular romantic comedy. While the film could be discounted as a movie about a frivolous girl who follows her recent ex – boyfriend to law school to try and rekindle their relationship but somehow succeeds in school, it actually highlights the journey of self discovery and self empowerment.
There are many more ideas or products that are labeled as feminine and because of that they are deemed as less than. This is because those ideas or products are catered towards women in a world that is built for men. However, those ideas and products are important not only to individuals but to society as a whole and women should not be made to feel less than for finding importance in those things as well. All in all, during this season of love, everyone, no matter what gender, should be made to feel loved and appreciated.
