Greentext

There's so many songs, TV shows, movies, etc, that's all romance or love stories that contain very blatant infidelity.

What tickles me is when very monogamous, very religious people talk that stuff up.... Like it's such a good song/movie/show... Ha. You have fantasies of leaving your spouse and running off with a younger, more attractive person. You slut.

I'm not religious, but I found a partner that gets me. Guess what. I'm not fantasizing about running off with some mythical "better" or "more romantic" person. Yeah, we're living together unmarried, and we're good like that. You rushed into marriage for God knows what reasons and now you live in regret. Good job.

I recently heard Docket by Blondshell for the first time and favorited it right away.

Then I listened again more tuned in and noticed it was about infidelity and thought “aw man”, unfavorited and moved on.

Heard it a couple more times and realized it wasn’t glorifying cheating, lines like “my worst nightmare is me”. Back on the list! Real rollercoaster.

And also how often the movie is completely oblivious to that. For example it's been a while since I saw "Devil wears Prada" but if I remember right, the ending is:

Our main character has an argument with her boyfriend

Goes to a business trip in Paris

Sleeps with random guy

Returns home and makes up with her boyfriend

And the movie ends like nothing happened, she's happy, that's what's important

More troubling to me is how many romance movies have our protagonist stalk their love interest, who has already explicitly rejected them... and it works, because their obsession is framed as "love at first sight" and "not giving up on love".

Oh, and the other common trope, non-consensual voyeurism... and it works, because the woman is 'flattered' that the guy finds her attractive.

...How good is the "pop culture detective" YouTube channel?

This makes me wonder how many women are quite unhappy in their marriage, and are willing to jump at the nearest opportunity.

Kinda depressing to think about, actually.

Great romance requires a choice. It's difficult to find a choice that matters, ideally it is something they already have, but are giving up. That's why all the hallmark movies work because a big city girl is giving up her career to grow cucumbers or something. Making a choice to take a job somewhere else doesn't work because it's a future thing - giving up an opportunity is not the same as giving up a realized life situation. Infidelity really works because it's a former dream, and it means giving up stability, status, comfort for the unknown.

I don't mind infidelity in media when the one being cheated on is "evil" in some ways like they're abusive or not in love. Still icky though. It's just very different when it's something like that versus "I'm cheating because you're bad at sex."