I definitely think that fiction has a huge impact on youths and how they percieve reality. I grew up with a poem in my bathroom talking about "growing your own garden, rather than waiting for a man to bring you flowers" so I'm skewed in a different direction. But I am one to protest against fairytale stories where the end goal is for the princess to have the prince rescue her and otherwise be the damsel in distress (which is one of the reasons Bella Swan pisses me off. She's like the anti-Buffy). The fairytales I grew up on were about passive heroines who let others make decisions for them.
So, yeah, I think media influences perceptions of romance and relationships. But I think that once you hit, say, your thirties, you gotta start taking responsibility for your life choices and perceptions and stop blaming the media for your failed relationships. There's a point where you are an adult and have to be culpable for your life views and choices, whether they be influenced by family, friends, media, for good or ill, in the end they are your mature choices. So, unless you were raised in a cult and shown only romcoms as the social norm for normal romantic interactions . . .
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