Movies That Romanticize Friendships Can Be Just As Detrimental As Romance Movies
Anything that affects your view of reality can do more harm than good.
I often see discussions online about how important it is to take precautions when watching romantic comedies or reading romance novels because if you are in a relationship they can give you false ideas about what your relationship should look like and if you aren't in a relationship it can affect your contentment. While I see this topic discussed all the time, I have never seen anyone talking about how movies about friendship can be dangerous for your contentment too.
I love friendship. And I love friendship movies. I always have. I love them more than romance movies, and I never thought anything of it. I just thought i loved the beauty of friendship especially, until last night.
Last night I was watching "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and I just had this feeling (it was probably the Holy Spirit, it was definitely the Holy Spirit) that movies about friendship were not good for my heart, and maybe not good for other people's hearts too.
Friendship has caused a lot of heartbreak in my life. I thought senior year of college would bring new friendships that brought a lot of healing to the brokenness that has colored my view of friendship, and while I did have many new friendships develop, they didn't necessarily bring the healing I long for. I am grateful for any friendship that the Lord would graciously give me, and am hopeful that new or existing friendships will blossom and result in healing and restoration to my view of friendship, but right now my heart doesn't need to watch a movie about four best friends who loved each other so much they sent pants and letters across the country and the world.
I may never have a friendship so strong a movie needs to be made, and I may never even be chosen as a bridesmaid (this is a fear I could probably write an entire article on), but I do have good friendships. They may not be as deep as I would like, and I may not be anyone's best friend, but I have friends and that is a gift. And it is hard to appreciate gifts if you are watching fictional movies that romanticize friendships and turn them into something that they never are in actual real life. So I will not be watching "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" because I want to appreciate the good gifts God has given me, not comparing what I have to a fictional ideal.
