Romantic comedies may have fired love lives of many for long. Yet, a new study has claimed that watching the popular flicks could spoil relationships as they create unrealistic expectations.Researchers in Edinburgh have carried out the study and found that people who watch romantic comedies are more likely to believe in predestined love than those who prefer to see other genres of movie.According to them, unlikely happy endings, improbable plots and faux philosophy are to blame – in fact, seeing even a single romantic comedy is enough to sway people's attitudes to romantic love."Marriage counsellors often see couples who believe that sex should always be perfect, and if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it."We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in people's minds."The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realise," lead researcher Dr Bjarne Holmes said.For their study, the researchers from University of Heriot Watt studied 40 top box office films released between 1995 and 2005. And, after thoroughly analysing, they managed to establish common themes that're unrealistic.Subsequently, they asked hundreds of people to fill out a questionnaire to describe their beliefs and expectations when it came to relationships.The study found that fans of films such as 'You've Got Mail', 'The Wedding Planner' and 'While You Were Sleeping' often fail to communicate with their partners effectively with many holding the view that if someone is meant to be with you, then they should know what you want without you needing to tell them, the British media reported."We all want to be successful in our relationships. We want to be special and meet the special one. But, people tend to believe the Hollywood idea of a perfect relationship. That is just unrealistic. People feel if their relationship is not like a Hollywood film then it is not any good."We are not being killjoys – we are not saying that people shouldn't watch these movies. But we are saying that it would be helpful if people were more aware and more critical of the messages in these films," Dr Holmes said.
