I'm gonna have to side with bon on this one, the critique of romcoms as setting up "unrealistic expectations" implies that women are weak at reality testing.
I don't think the calculation is as simple as all that, because we all watch violent media without becoming violent, and play crazy video games, and so forth, and very few people actually shape their behavior explicitly on what we see in television or movies -- or that we read in romance novels, either!
But plenty of studies have shown that media does have an effect on people's behavior: girls shown visual images of women scientists before a test do better than girls shown visual images of only men scientists. These effects don't apply the same way, with the same strength, to everyone, but they do, in general, have an effect.
So while, yeah, I know, rationally, that I'm not going to "meet cute" John Cusack and end up with him standing outside my window with a boombox, there's probably also a part of my subconscious with some expectations about what romance is like that is always going to be dissatisfied.
I don't think I can say, "Saying romantic comedies has a toxic effect on expectations denigrates women's ability to distinguish reality from fantasy," while at the same time asserting that it's important for media to provide good role models for girls and children of color. Because it's the same issue, isn't it? Media's ability to seep into our subconscious, whether we're aware of it or not. That's why we have sites like racebending.com, or feministfrequency, or whatever.
As a friend of mine on LJ says, it's always more complicated.
I think the largely pedestrian settings and nigh-universal plotlines may make rom-coms (and realistic dramas) have more of an effect on expectations than other genres. I don't see much chance of becoming embroiled in spy intrigue or a fight between alien machines disguised as mini coopers, but dating woes, family issues, etc. have a lot more relevance to my daily life rather than being pure escapism.
Not that it's always a bad thing. I credit Fluffer with giving me an epiphany about a one-sided infatuation dynamic similar to that between the lead characters that I was mired in when I saw it. And the realization it brought on sparked a "fuck this noise!" reaction, helping me stop wasting time and get on with my life.
Yeah, I agree it's more complicated, but I still would say that singling out the one genre that is explicitly aimed at women for its pernicious effects and not other genres makes little sense rationally, it only makes sense if the underlying assumption is that women, more than men, have difficulty separating reality from fantasy, or that in areas of romance we have more difficulty separating reality from fantasy. If the assumption is that all fictional genres, including slasher pics and horror and spy films and westerns etc etc have the ability to seep into unconscious and influence our cultural expectations, then that's different. I personally would argue that all these genres speak to us on some unconscious level.
The Amazing Spider-Man trailer! Looks pretty cool, though I am kind of twitchy about what they may be doing to Peter's backstory.
I would say that singling out one Genre is the problem - that it is just as problematic in other genres. For example i'd credit not just 24 but the whole action genre, most police dramas, most detective dramas with normalizing torture in this country. Even lighthearted Castle has a rogue cop who beat info out of suspects.
The Amazing Spider-Man trailer! Looks pretty cool, though I am kind of twitchy about what they may be doing to Peter's backstory.
We'll have to see. Considering his parents turned out to be spies in the original Marvel universe and his dad helped create the Venom suit (and created the original web forumla) in the Ultimate universe, I'm okay with there being some sort of scientific hijinks in the new movie-verse.
I would say that singling out one Genre is the problem - that it is just as problematic in other genres. For example i'd credit not just 24 but the whole action genre, most police dramas, most detective dramas with normalizing torture in this country. Even lighthearted Castle has a rogue cop who beat info out of suspects.
Plus CSI making people have incredibly distorted ideas of how forensics actually work, to the point where it occaisionally causes problems with juries in the court room.
Considering his parents turned out to be spies in the original Marvel universe
What! I had no idea.
his dad helped create the Venom suit (and created the original web forumla) in the Ultimate universe
Or that! I didn't know his parents were even a thing; it was all Uncle Ben and Aunt May.
The Amazing Spider-Man trailer!
"You found my weakness! Small knives!"
That trailer had 100% more quippiness than all 3 of the Raimi movies put together.
I think I'm pretty excited for this one.
