If you’re anything like me, you live vicariously through the relationships you watch on television. Watching two people fall in love, despite all odds, gives us hope that love is possible for anyone, no matter what the situation. As I sit at home rooting for my favorite couples to get back together despite their on-again, off-again romance, I begin to realize that even though these relationships make for great entertainment, they’re far from what anyone should consider #RelationshipGoals.
Take "Grey’s Anatomy," for example. The series features the onscreen love story of Meredith Grey and Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd. We watched as the two innocently met in a bar one night and found out the next day that Derek would be Meredith’s attending at Seattle Grace Hospital. While this may appear like a perfect love story made for fate, people often forget that Derek was still married when this occurred. Granted, he and his wife Addison were separated at the time; however, the relationship began with infidelity. Or take a look at the complicated relationship between socialites Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass in the series "Gossip Girl." I hear time and time again how girls are looking for their own Chuck Bass, but do they forget how horribly he treated Blair? Not only did he struggle to express his feelings about their relationship to her but he also exchanged her and their relationship for property! Even though by the end of the series Chuck seemed to mature and put his selfishness aside, the two decide to marry in an attempt to prevent Chuck from going to jail for murder because spousal privilege.
If this was real life, viewers would be appalled to see these couples back together, not rooting for them to make it. These couples are on and off because it makes good entertainment and adds to shows ratings. This is al okay except for when viewers think these relationships are what love looks like.
It’s no surprise that our generation has a pretty skewed idea of what love is supposed to be like and this may be in part to what viewers are seeing on television. They see the unhealthy aspects of these relationships hidden among beautiful actors living extravagant lives that make people desire what they're seeing onscreen. They see their favorite characters fighting for love and think this is how its supposed to be, this is how men are supposed to treat women, and this is what real “love” is like. However, in reality, this is far from the case. No one should want to date a guy who has a wife or isn’t able to confess how he actual feels. If anything, watching these toxic television relationships should give us an example of what we don’t want. So maybe next time you’ll think twice about wishing you had a “McDreamy” or a Chuck Bass of your own because they're not much of #RelationshipGoals after all.
