8 stereotypical and even harmful messages that movies and series sometimes convey to us

Trite plot twists are often noticeable, even by the most inattentive viewers. But sometimes certain messages are presented so subtly in some movies, that we don’t even realize how ingrained they are in our heads. For example, that all female bosses are necessarily a headache for their subordinates. Or that two people who can’t stand each other end up becoming a couple.

We, from awesome.club, we’ve found that many of the movies we’ve seen convey rude and sometimes harmful messages. And if some of them really happen in life, the rest can be classified as bad advice or imposed stereotypes.

The female boss is already a well-established example in cinema. And for some reason, she is often portrayed as a bossy person, before whom all subordinates tremble. Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada and Margaret Tate in The Proposal, when they appeared, all the employees would start fussing, pretending to be busy, trying not to draw their attention. Margaret, Sandra Bullock’s character, was even called a “thing” and a “witch”. The boss played by Meryl Streep would throw her bags on the assistant’s desk and assign her impossible tasks. Jennifer Aniston’s character in the comedy I Want to Kill My Boss was also a difficult woman to deal with.

In addition, these films often convey the message that it is impossible to succeed at work and maintain good family relationships. Miranda’s marriage was falling apart, her assistant Andy’s relationship was also starting to deteriorate, Margaret was lonely and Jacqueline from The Bold Type series was almost divorced.

When the protagonist is a unkempt but good-looking man, and the woman is successful and self-confident, we know in advance: she will fall in love with him. In each of these male characters, there is usually an attractive trait that overshadows everything else. For example, the child protagonist played by Matthew McConaughey in the movie Arguments, who didn’t want to leave the “wings” of his parents, won over the character of Sarah Jessica Parker, as soon as she got to know him a little better. And Mike Chadway of The Naked Truth was sexist and rude, but he still managed to find the key to the heart of Abby, an organized and serious woman.

This message is conveyed to us in different ways by films in which the main character, an ordinary person, undergoes an external and sometimes internal transformation and becomes more popular, successful and happy. The message conveyed is: get your face and body in order, and life will get better. For example, Gracie Hart in the movie Miss Congeniality was not noticed by her colleague until a team had her beautified. Or think of any high school rom-com where a plain girl lets her hair down, wears a pretty dress, and the best-known boy in school immediately falls for her, while she gains unbelievable popularity.

In the Younger series, for example, there is a whole story based on the fact that in the world beauty and youth are sometimes valued more than experience. No one wanted a 40-year-old woman as an employee, but as soon as she improved her appearance and said she was 27, she was immediately hired. Unfortunately, the fact that attractive people are more likely to succeed in their careers is a proven fact.

Often in films, after a breakup or betrayal of a partner, characters go to a beauty salon to get a new haircut, buy stylish clothes, start playing sports, that is, they begin to take care of themselves. They care more about how they look after the breakup than they did when they were in the relationship. However, this makes some sense, since when we feel bad, we want to do something to make ourselves more confident and happy. Even if it’s with a new hairstyle.

Time and again we’ve seen the message in movies that even the most notorious bachelor can change if he meets the right girl. Sometimes it changes on its own, other times it is influenced by someone else. For example, Jacob Palmer in the romantic comedy Full Love was switching women all the time, until he met Hannah. The same thing happened in the movie Armações do Amor. But we don’t know what happens to these couples next, how long they stay together and whether they are happy. And whether it is worth starting a relationship with a person who is not very used to monogamy is also a big question.

This is the kind of harmful thinking that can occur to viewers when watching seemingly harmless movies. In them, the characters go through the spouse’s betrayal and separation, to later get back together and become happier and stronger as a couple. For example, Cal Weaver in True Love finds out about his wife’s cheating, so he changes his appearance, becomes more confident, and his wife begins to see him as the same man he once was, and they unite again.

The same message can be seen in the movie For a Meaning in Life, in which the character of Jennifer Aniston, disappointed with her lazy husband, starts a relationship with someone else, and later realizes that she made a terrible mistake. And only then does she decide to speak frankly with her husband, to express everything that she can no longer stand. In The Bold Type series, Jacqueline and her husband were already preparing for divorce, but after both tried to meet other people, they realized that they could not live without each other. But again, the question arises: is it possible to be happy with a partner who has already cheated on you before?

Have you noticed that, in movies and series, characters tend to fall in love with men with money and power? Of course, these qualities are really attractive, but in practice, women are more likely to choose as partners those with whom they have the same core values. Having money is no guarantee that there will be no problems in a relationship. This is how, for example, Liza and Charles’s romance in Younger ended up coming to naught due to numerous disagreements and lack of trust. And how long the relationship between Vivian and Edward from Pretty Woman lasted is also unknown.

It has already become a cliché: people who can’t stand each other, at the end of the plot, unite. The list of films with a similar plot is huge: First Love, Laws of Attraction, The Proposal, Together by Chance, The Naked Truth and many others. It’s not the most harmful stereotype, especially since it really can happen in real life. There’s nothing wrong with giving people who annoy us a second chance and trying to get to know them better. But hoping that in reality they will become excellent partners is also not always worth it.

What was the last movie or series you watched with these types of messages? Tell us!