I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. 

I hate it that you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call.  

But mostly I hate the way that teen rom coms are falsely representing romance, and viewers are believing it all. 

Romantic comedies surged in popularity in the 21st century, and have remained prominent ever since. Rom coms are rooted in our teenage culture, but let’s take off the rose tinted glasses and have a look at some of the ways movies lie to us. 

1 – POOR LOVE INTERESTS 

When you’re watching a romance unfold, it’s supposed to be exactly that: romantic. There’s no room for boring guys who falsify how they feel, and love interests who couldn’t be less interested in who they’re meant to be pursuing. Dull characters aren’t going to keep the attention of viewers, and they certainly won’t make for an enjoyable watch. It becomes unbelievable. Think “(500) Days of Summer.” Tom and Summer are hardly likable on their own, never mind together. 

2 – MISOGYNISTIC PLOTS

Time and time again, what’s called “love” is just an excuse for writers to tell the truth on how they really feel about women. The worst fate for girls in teen films isn’t anything truly sinister, it’s just being “ugly” or “nerdy.” It’s a tired approach that only serves to perpetuate awful stereotypes about how girls should look and act. Many users of a popular movie logging app, Letterboxd, have taken note of what’s so wrong. One user, @rachel, took to reviewing the 1999 film “She’s All That.” She asks, “Are we ready to talk about the fact that Laney was not ugly for a single moment of this film?” Some viewers like Rachel refuse to brush off clear misogyny, but too many people will look past it because they’re romanticizing these films. 

3 – OVERDONE TROPES

Originality is fleeting from the film industry, and rom coms are the center of it. The typical format is pretty simple: a boy places a bet, and if his friend can convince the lamest girl in the world to fall in love with him, then he becomes the king of his friend group. And of course, the girl gets a makeover out of it. “10 Things I Hate About You”, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”… These films may be tens regardless, but their overused dating tropes are zeroes. 

4 – (NOT SO) EVERLASTING LOVE

Sure, the plot is resolved when the two main characters get together in the end. But what about after that? Other than Jenna and Matt in “13 Going on 30,” not too many of these movie couples are going to make it after a couple of years. It’s easy to explain why – they shouldn’t logically be together in the first place. Whether they change their entire personalities to be with each other, or have totally different dreams, there’s no way to promise a light at the end of that tunnel, and from the looks of it, there won’t be one.

5 – ILLEGAL MOVES 

Some of the wrong turns in rom coms aren’t so inconspicuous – they’re plainly illegal. Take “Clueless” for example, where the beloved main couple are formerly step-siblings. The pair still refer to each other as brother and sister, so they have no business pining after each other. Another user on Letterboxd, @liv, noticed the strange dynamic in “Never Been Kissed”, remarking, “Imagine being at prom, and you see your teacher slow dancing with a student.” Not only are these situations unrealistic, they’re also gross in the first place.