From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate: The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People's Beliefs about Relationships

Abstract

Despite their popularity, few studies have systematically investigated the content of romantic comedy movies or the effects they may have on viewers. We conducted two studies to address this gap. The first study was a content analysis of the romantic ideals embedded in the top 52 highest grossing romantic comedies from the last 10 years. Results demonstrated that romantic ideals and challenges are prevalent in these films. The second study was a large-scale survey of 335 undergraduate students, who were asked to report on their romantic comedy movie viewing and beliefs about romance. Results showed that individuals who watched these films in order to learn reported stronger endorsement of romantic ideal beliefs than those who did not watch to learn.

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From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate:
The Influence of Romantic Ideals in
Popular Films on Young People's Beliefs
about Relationships
Veronica Hefner & Barbara J. Wilson
Version of record first published: 11 Apr 2013.
To cite this article: Veronica Hefner & Barbara J. Wilson (2013): From Love at First Sight to
Soul Mate: The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People's Beliefs about
Relationships, Communication Monographs, DOI:10.1080/03637751.2013.776697
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From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate:
The Influence of Romantic Ideals in
Popular Films on Young People’s
Beliefs about Relationships
Veronica Hefner & Barbara J. Wilson
Despite their popularity, few studies have systematically investigated the content of
romantic comedy movies or the effects they may have on viewers. We conducted two
studies to address this gap. The first study was a content analysis of the romantic ideals
embedded in the top 52 highest grossing romantic comedies from the last 10 years.
Results demonstrated that romantic ideals and challenges are prevalent in these films.
The second study was a large-scale survey of 335 undergraduate students, who were
asked to report on their romantic comedy movie viewing and beliefs about romance.
Results showed that individuals who watched these films in order to learn reported
stronger endorsement of romantic ideal beliefs than those who did not watch to learn.
Keywords: Romantic Comedy; Love; Media; Movie; Film; Ideals; Beliefs; Romance;
Content Analysis
Romantic comedy films have been a successful movie genre ever since the cinema
became popular in the early twentieth century. In the late 1930s, young adults were
choosing to go see romance movies over most other genres of films (Edman, 1940).
More recently, romantic comedy films such as Knocked Up (Apatow, 2007) and The
Proposal (Fletcher & Chiarelli, 2009) continue to be popular, each among the top 10
highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time (Gray, 2012). In one analysis, the
romantic comedy genre was the sixth highest grossing category of films between 1995
and 2010, pulling in over $10 billion in gross revenue during this 15-year period
Veronica Hefner (PhD, University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign) is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Communication Studies at Chapman University. Barbara J. Wilson (PhD, University of
Wisconsin, Madison) is an Executive Vice Provost at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Veronica
Hefner’s dissertation project is the basis for this article. Barbara Wilson served as the chair/advisor for that
dissertation project. Correspondence to: Veronica Hefner, Department of Communication Studies, Chapman
University, 242 Moulton Hall, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, USA. E-mail: vhefner@gmail.com
ISSN 0363-7751 (print)/ISSN 1479-5787 (online) #2013 National Communication Association
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2013.776697
Communication Monographs
2013, 126, iFirst article
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(Nash, 2010). A recent study about what types of media people selectively consume
showed that the movies with the highest viewing average were romance-comedy films
(Hall, 2005).
The popularity of these movies has led some scholars to speculate about why such
films are appealing. For example, Galician (2004), author of a critical analysis of
romantic media, argues that people seek romantic content in the media in order to
see relationships that appear to work despite all obstacles. Further, previous work has
documented that young people seek out romantic media content in order to learn
about relationships. For instance, Wood, Senn, Desmarais, Park, and Verberg (2002)
found that both male and female adolescents seek out romantic content in television
and other media in order to get information about dating. Similarly, another study
found undergraduate men and women report watching reality dating programs
(RDP) in order to learn about dating and romance (Zurbriggen & Morgan, 2006).
This phenomenon may extend to romantic comedy viewing. That is, viewers may
seek out those movies for a similar purpose: to learn.
Despite the popularity of the films and the argument that individuals seek out
these movies in order to learn about romance, there is only one previous content
analysis of these films. Additionally, no work has looked at the association between
viewing romantic comedies and learning about these romantic, or idealistic, beliefs.
The purpose of this study is to address those gaps.
Screen Media as a Socializing Agent
There is plenty of evidence that youth can learn about various aspects of their world
from exposure to screen media (e.g., Dill & Thill, 2007; Hurtz & Durkin, 2004). If
viewers can learn about families and occupations from the media, they may also be
able to learn about intimate relationships from exposure. Several scholars have tested
whether romantic media can cultivate relationship beliefs among viewers. For
example, Segrin and Nabi (2002) surveyed 285 unmarried undergraduates and found
that heavy viewers of romance-oriented television, such as soap operas and reality-
based programs about relationships, were more likely than light viewers to agree with
statements such as ‘‘you should know each other’s inner feelings.’’ In another study,
undergraduates were surveyed about their exposure to dating television shows and
endorsement of dating attitudes (Ferris, Smith, Greenberg, & Smith, 2007). Results
indicated that those with higher average viewing scores endorsed dating attitudes
found within the programming (e.g., dating is a game) more so than lighter viewers.
More recently, Rivadeneyra and Lebo (2008) surveyed high school students and
found that heavy viewers of romantic television were more likely than light viewers to
hold traditional dating role attitudes, such as the belief that men should be in charge
on dates.
These surveys point to the ability of romantic media to cultivate idealistic or even
unrealistic beliefs. Yet each study assessed different types of screen media content (i.e.,
soap operas, romantic reality programs), but did not assess the impact of romantic
movies independently. There are several reasons why movies deserve close attention.
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First, romantic comedies are widely consumed (Nash, 2010) and commonly cited by
youth when they describe their ideas of relationships (Bachen & Illouz, 1996). For
example, Bachen and Illouz (1996) interviewed young people ranging in age from
eight to 17 years and found that 90% of the young people said they ‘‘often’’ or
‘‘sometimes’’ encountered love stories in movies. Second, much of the critical
scholarship that has examined romantic ideals in media has focused on films (e.g.,
Johnson, 2007; Winn, 2007). For instance, Johnson (2007) qualitatively examined 13
popular wedding films and identified a number of romantic myths in those movies,
such as the idea of ‘‘love at first sight.’’ Winn (2007) analyzed the relational scripts
(i.e., the events that occur in ‘‘most’’ relationships) in several romantic comedies.
However, a systematic, quantitative analysis is still needed. Third, unlike other forms
of romantic media, movies offer stories that trace relationships from the beginning to
the end in one packaged narrative. In contrast to the romantic relationships on
television, which often take several seasons to fully develop the characters, movies are
viewed in a single sitting. These presumably potent messages could boost the impact
on attentive viewers.
Thus, romantic comedies deserve scholarly attention to determine how they may
contribute to the development of idealistic beliefs. There are two predominant ways
that researchers have approached the study of romantic ideals. According to one
conceptualization, romantic ideals refer to traits unique to each partner and
relationship (e.g., Markey & Markey, 2007). Researchers working within this realm
typically ask participants to rate their ideal and current partner on a list of
descriptive adjectives, and then look to see if discrepancies exist between these two
ratings (Fletcher, Simpson, Thomas, & Giles, 1999; Murray, Holmes, & Griffin,
1996). With no a priori group of adjectives that is always considered ideal by
researchers or participants, the definition of a romantically ideal partner or
relationship is unique to each individual, and pertains only to issues related to
specific partners and relationships instead of to love, romance, and the relationship
process more broadly.
The second conceptualization is a collection of expectations about relationships
and love that extends beyond individual partners. Instead of using descriptors to
characterize a partner, the romantic ideal in this sense is a set of beliefs about the
power of love and the perfection of romance (Bell, 1975; Knox & Sporakowski, 1968;
Sprecher & Metts, 1989). It is a set of expectations for how a model relationship
should form, develop, function, and be maintained. This construct of the romantic
ideal is generally comprised of the following four themes: Love can overlook flaws;
love can seek out that one perfect mate; love can happen instantaneously; and love
can overcome all obstacles (Bell, 1975; Knox & Sporakowski, 1968; Sprecher & Metts,
1989). This broader conceptualization of the construct is more pertinent here because
it relates to shared beliefs that exist in a culture and that extend beyond individual
preferences. Such beliefs develop and get reinforced by cultural institutions such as
schools, churches, and media. For this project, we test the influence of romantic
comedy exposure on endorsement of this set of ideals.
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The Impact of Holding Romantic Ideals
The four themes that comprise the romantic ideal construct reflect an idealistic view
of love. But, why might it matter if people endorse romantic ideals? One reason to
pay attention to these beliefs is that despite such idealism, we have a tremendous
number of relational failures in our society. According to the National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS), there is a 20% chance that a first marriage will end in
divorce or separation within five years (Bramlett & Mosher, 2002). Approximately
52% of women’s and 56% of men’s first marriages survive the 20-year mark,
according to a USA Today expert analysis of the most recent NCHS report on
marriage and divorce (Jayson, 2012).
Although some research suggests that having unrealistic beliefs can be detrimental
to relationships (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1999; Knee, 1998), most research related to
endorsement of these Western ideals indicates a positive impact (Montgomery, 2005;
Sprecher & Metts, 1989, 1999). Endorsing ideals leads to relational durability
(Franiuk, Cohen, & Pomerantz, 2002), satisfaction (Murray et al., 1996), and
commitment (Sprecher & Metts, 1989, 1999) among undergraduate and older adult
samples. More research is needed to discover the impact of romantic comedy films.
Study 1
This study is a content analysis of the themes featured in romantic comedies from the
past 10 years. In particular, we coded for the existence of any expressions related to
the four parts of the romantic ideal (i.e., love conquers all, idealization of partner,
soul mate/one and only, love at first sight), whether these expressions were rewarded
or punished, and the overarching themes of each film. Only one published study
could be found that involved a systematic content analysis of a large number of films.
Johnson and Holmes (2009) assessed 40 top-grossing romantic comedies, and used
grounded theory methodology to identify relationship-oriented behaviors. They
found that these films depict relationships as exciting, novel, and emotionally
meaningful. They coded several behaviors that perpetuate two idealistic themes*
‘‘soul mates’’ and ‘‘love at first sight.’’ Unfortunately, they were unable to reach
acceptable intercoder reliability kappa scores on those variables: .59 and .56,
respectively.
The Johnson and Holmes (2009) study provides a useful starting point because it
demonstrates that there are consistent patterns in romantic movies. However, there
are several ways in which our study improves upon their research. First, instead of
focusing on behaviors, we chose to analyze broader themes that arguably are more
relevant to the takeaway messages for viewers. Second, our study also assesses
messages that challenge or contradict the romantic ideal themes. Finally, instead of
first watching these films and then inductively developing a list of common romantic
behaviors and themes, we developed our coding scheme in advance, based on theory
and existing interpersonal research on what people commonly believe about romance
(Sprecher & Metts, 1989).
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RQ1: How prevalent are romantic ideals in popular romantic comedy films?
In addition to assessing the pervasiveness of romantic ideals, we also examined
how often counter messages were conveyed. We conceptualized challenges as a more
realistic, pragmatic expression about relationships, or a statement that contradicts a
romantic ideal.
RQ2: How often are challenges to romantic ideals featured in romantic comedies?
Knowing which themes are most common is a useful starting point, but there are
theoretical reasons for assessing how these messages are portrayed. According to
social cognitive theory (SCT), observational learning is more likely to occur when
certain contextual features are present to heighten viewer motivation (Bandura,
2002). That is, viewers are more likely to imitate a behavior when it is rewarded than
when it is punished (Bandura, 1965).
RQ3: What are the consequences of romantic ideal and challenges expressions?
A final factor to consider is sex of character. In real life, one survey of young
women indicates that they believe more strongly than young men that faithfulness,
lifelong commitment, and love are important components of relationships (Meier,
Hull, & Ortyl, 2009). However, other survey research indicates that men tend to
endorse the ideals we investigate in our study (e.g., love conquers all) more strongly
than women do (Sprecher & Metts, 1989). Thus, because the literature is mixed, we
have proposed the following research question:
RQ4: What types of expressions are voiced by males and females in romantic
comedies?
Method
Sample
The top 52 highest-grossing romantic comedy movies from the recent decade (1998
2008) were selected for this study (Gray, 2009). The list of movies included romantic
comedies such as The Wedding Planner (Shankman, 2001) and 27 Dresses (Fletcher &
McKenna, 2008).
Units of Analysis
Expression level. The most basic unit of analysis for this project was each expression
of an ideal or challenge. In order to avoid overcounting and to only capture the
statements that were explicit and easy to detect by viewers, we decided to code only
those messages that were clearly and explicitly expressed in words by the characters in
the films. We made an exception for the love at first sight ideal, as it can sometimes be
conveyed via nonverbal cues. Thus, we instructed coders to look at both verbal and
nonverbal cues in order to identify love at first sight.
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Film level. The macrolevel unit of analysis in this study was the entire film. Coders
looked at content across the complete plot in order to capture the dominant,
overarching theme.
Expression-level Variables
Type of expression. Expressions about love and romance were coded as either ideals
or challenges. An ideal expression was defined as any statement that perpetuated love
and romance as powerful and perfect. These expressions offered a conception of love
as hopeful and idyllic.
A challenge was defined as any statement that contradicted an ideal or offered a
more realistic conception of romance and relationships. Challenges typically
conveyed a practical view of relationships. Coders originally were asked to classify
those challenges into one of two categories: (1) realistic statement, or (2) antiideal
statement. Whereas the coders could reliably identify a challenge expression, they
were unable to agree which category was expressed. As a result, classifying challenges
into discrete categories was eliminated from the coding scheme.
Once coders decided that an ideal (rather than a challenge) had occurred, they
were asked to judge the type or nature of that ideal. Following Sprecher and Metts
(1989), ideals were coded into one of four categories: (1) idealization of other, (2)
love at first sight, (3) soul mate/one and only, or (4) love conquers all (see Table 1).
Consequences of expressions. Each relational expression was assessed in terms of
positive and negative consequences. Positive consequence was defined as any type of
reward or endorsement that occurred in response to the expression. Examples
included praise from another character, agreement from another character, a positive
display of emotion from another character, and/or the delivery of physical (e.g., hug)
or verbal (e.g., ‘‘I love you’’) intimacy.
Negative consequence was defined as any type of punishment that was delivered in
response to the expression. Examples of punishments included rejection of the source
(e.g., turning away), disagreement (‘‘No, that is incorrect.’’), physically leaving (e.g.,
storming out of the room), anger, sadness, and/or physical aggression toward the
source.
To qualify as a consequence, these types of behavior and action (either positive or
negative) had to be a direct response to the source’s expression, typically occurring
either during or immediately after the ideal or challenge was expressed. For each
expression, coders chose one of four options: rewarded, punished, neutral (e.g.,
neither rewarded nor punished), or mixed (e.g., multiple characters present in scene
who expressed conflicting consequences).
Nature of source. Each source or character that expressed an ideal was coded for
demographic qualities. In particular, sex, race, age, and sexuality of character were
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coded. Coders made their judgments based on the characters’visual appearance,
mannerisms, names, clothing, and/or dialogue. The majority of characters who
expressed romantic ideals and challenges were White (95%), adult (94%), and
heterosexual (99%).
Table 1 Categories of Expressions with Definitions and Examples from Movies
Categories Definition Examples from movies in sample
Ideal: Soul mate/one
and only (38%)
Any expression that
suggested there was only
one perfect love for a
character.
‘‘People search their whole life trying to
find [the one].’’ Hitch (2005)
‘‘I know in my heart, you’re the only one
for me.’’ Runaway Bride (1999)
‘‘At what point do you say to yourself, ‘I’m
counting on you to be the one, and I have
no fall back plan?’’ Fever Pitch (2005)
Ideal: Idealization of
other (30%)
Any expression that
indicated a character was
perfect, flawless, and
wonderful in a romantic
sense.
‘‘I’m bragging about how good you are,
and how I’m the luckiest man alive.’’ 
Runaway Bride (1999)
‘‘You are the perfect guy.’’ Made of
Honor (2008)
‘‘I didn’t come here to tell you that I can’t
live without you. I can live without you. I
just don’t want to.’’ Rumor Has It (2005)
Ideal: Love conquers
all (25%)
Any expression that
conveyed that love was the
only thing needed to deal
with obstacles in a
relationship.
‘‘I will have poetry in my life. And
adventure. And love. Love above all...
love that ...over-throws life. Unbiddable,
ungovernable*like a riot in the heart, and
nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture.
Love*like there has never been in a play.’’
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
‘‘None of that other stuff matters you
know ...After all ...I’m just a girl, standing
in front of a boy, asking him to love her.’’
Notting Hill (1999)
Ideal: Love at first
sight (7%)
Any expression that
suggested that love
happens immediately after
meeting.
‘‘The second that I saw you, I knew that we
could be great together.’’ 27 Dresses
(2008)
Challenge Any expression that
conveyed a practical view
of relationships or
contradicted an ideal.
‘‘Let’s be smart about this. You’re not going
to move out here and become my co-pilot.
And I’m not going to go to New York and
be your receptionist, so ...where’s that
leave us? Let’s not complicate things.’’ 
Six Days Seven Nights (1998)
‘‘Long distance relationships can work, you
know.’’ ‘‘Really? I can’t make one work
when I live in the same house with
someone.’’ The Holiday (2006)
‘‘I had the perfect relationship which was
ruined by marriage.’’ Just Married
(2003)
Note. Expressions were coded first as either ideal or challenge. Ideals were then further classified; challenges were
not. Thus, the percentages for the first four expressions add to 100%.
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Film-level Variable
At the film level, coders were asked to judge the overall relational message of the
movie. Coders were instructed to take into account all scenes and contextual clues to
make the determination, including verbiage, plotline details, and emotional
portrayals. Coders considered all of the romantic couples when deciding about the
overall message, while giving the main couple dyad the most weight. Films were
coded into one of six overall categories: idealization of other, soul mate/one and only,
love at first sight, love conquers all, challenge, or none.
Training and Reliability
Six undergraduate students (four females, two males) served as coders for this
project. They met with the first author twice a week for 22 weeks to learn protocol for
analyzing the films, to familiarize themselves with the codebook, and to practice
coding romantic comedy films not included in the final sample. Training of coders
continued until they reached 80% agreement on judgments of practice movies for
two consecutive weeks on most of the variables.
During the coding process, coders independently watched each film twice on DVD
in a quiet room on a computer. On average, it took coders approximately 45 hours
to complete the coding for one film. Coding took place over a 10-week period. On
average, coders coded two movies per week. We randomly selected 12 movies to be
used for testing reliability. Reliability was assessed at two levels. First, coders needed
to establish reliability on the identification of units. Following a unitizing procedure
similar to the one outlined by Cissna, Garvin, and Kennedy (1990), coders recorded
the precise minute in the film that marked the beginning utterance of each expression
they identified. Reliability for this unitizing was assessed by calculating percent
agreement for identification of expressions, which was 75% across all 12 films. Once
the coders agreed on the unitizing, their consistency in choosing the same values for
each variable was calculated. To assess agreement among coders, we calculated
intercoder reliability using Fleiss’Kappa, which is an extension of Cohen’s Kappa that
allows for more than two coders and corrects for agreements based on chance (Fleiss,
1971; Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 2005). Across the 12 films, the reliability coefficient for
expression type was .90. and for consequence was .80. Reliability at the film level was
also assessed using Fleiss’kappa. The reliability coefficient across 12 tests for the
takeaway message variable was .72.
Results
Prevalence of Portrayals of Romantic Ideals and Challenges
Research question 1. The first research question asked how prevalent romantic
ideals are featured in popular romantic comedy films. Nearly all (98%) of the movies
contained at least one romantic ideal expression. In terms of density, across 52 films,
or over 93 hours of programming, coders identified a total of 375 ideal expressions,
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or roughly one romantic ideal expression every 14 minutes. On average, there were
7.21 ideal expressions (SD4.43, range 019) per film. A total of 39 of the 52
films, or 75% of the sample, were judged as perpetuating an overarching romantic
ideal message.
In terms of specific ideal expressions, nearly 40% were related to soul mate/one
and only. About one third of the expressions fell into the idealization of other
category, and one quarter of the expressions were coded as love conquers all. In
contrast, less than 10% of the expressions were categorized as love at first sight. A
goodness-of-fit chi square analysis indicated that there was a significant difference
among the four categories, x
2
(3, N375) 79.52, pB.001. Post hoc analyses
revealed that the love at first sight expression (n25, 7%
a
) occurred significantly less
often than would be expected by chance, whereas idealization of other (n111,
30%
b
) and soul mate/one and only (n143, 38%
b
) occurred significantly more
often. The love conquers all expression (n96, 25%
ab
) in these films did not differ
from what would be expected by chance.
At the film level, a slightly different pattern emerged. Of the 39 films that featured
an ideal theme as the overarching message, 32 (82%) were classified as love conquers
all and seven (18%) featured the soul mate/one and only ideal as the overall theme.
None of the movies portrayed love at first sight or idealization of other as the
overarching relational message.
Research question 2. The second research question asked how often challenges to
romantic ideals are featured in popular romantic comedies. In terms of prevalence,
results revealed that 98% of movies featured a romantic challenge expression. In
terms of density, coders identified 739 challenge expressions, or one challenge every
eight minutes. There was an average of 14.21 (SD 7.35, range 032) challenges
per film. At the film level, a total of 12 out of the 52 films, or 23% of the sample,
featured a challenge as the movie’s overall theme.
When compared across units of analysis, an interesting pattern emerged.
Challenges were more common at the expression level, x
2
(1, N1114) 118.94,
pB.001, whereas ideals were more common as the overall message at the film level,
x
2
(1, N51) 14.29, pB.001.
Context of Portrayals of Romantic Ideals and Challenges
Research question 3. The third research question asked about the consequences that
ideals and challenges received in the plot. For ideals, a chi-square goodness of fit test
revealed a significant difference for type of consequence, x
2
(3, N375) 2.03,
pB.001. Post hoc analyses indicated that ideals were significantly more likely to be
rewarded (n211, 56%
b
) than would be expected by chance. Conversely, punish-
ments (n75, 20%
a
), neutral reactions (n51, 14%
a
), and mixed reactions (n38,
10%
a
) were less likely to be consequences (see Figure 1).
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For challenges, a chi-square goodness-of-fit test revealed that this pattern was
statistically significant, x
2
(3, N739) 2.68, pB.001. Post hoc analyses revealed
that punishments (n361, 49%
c
) were more likely to be the consequences for
challenge expressions than what would be expected by chance, whereas neutral
reactions (n103, 14%
a
), and mixed reactions (n77, 10%
a
) were less likely.
Consequences of rewards (n198, 27%
b
) did not differ from chance for challenge
expressions.
After analyzing challenge and ideal expressions separately, we ran an additional
chi-square test to compare type of expression with type of consequence (rewards vs.
punishments). This chi-square test of independence revealed a significant pattern,
x
2
(1, N1114) 1.12, pB.001, V* 0.36. Whereas results indicated that rewards
were evenly distributed across consequences for ideals and challenges, punishments
were overwhelmingly more likely to be a consequence of a challenge than an ideal
(see Figure 2). Additionally, ideals were more often rewarded, whereas challenges
were more often punished (see Figure 3).
Research question 4. The fourth research question asked about sex differences with
regards to which characters made each expression. Roughly half were expressed by
males (n569) and half by females (n545). A series of chi-square tests of
homogeneity were conducted comparing ideals and challenges by sex of character,
x
2
(1, N1114) 45.98, pB.001, V* 0.20. Ideals were significantly more likely to
be expressed by male (n245) than by female characters (n130). The ratio was
0
20
40
60
80
100
% of Consequences% of Consequences
77%%
6
23%
T
yp
e of Ideal
64%
36%
75%
25%
83%
%
1
18%
Rewards
Punishments
Figure 1 Frequencies of consequences to ideal expressions.
10 V. Hefner & B. J. Wilson
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almost 2:1 for such expressions. In contrast, challenges were slightly more likely to be
expressed by female characters (n415) than by males (n324).
Discussion
The findings of Study 1 indicate that romantic ideal expressions are quite prevalent in
romantic comedy films. These films also feature a large number of expressions that
0
20
40
60
80
100
% of Consequences
Ideals
74%
26%
35%
65%
Challenges
Form of Ex
p
ression
Rewwards
Puunishmennts
Figure 3 Form of expression as a function of type of consequence.
0
20
40
60
80
100
% of Expressions
p
Rewwards
522% 48%
Puunishmen
177%
nts
883%
Foorm off Consequencee
Ideal
Chall
s
lenges
Figure 2 Form of consequence as a function of type of expression.
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directly challenge or contradict such ideals. In fact, in most of the films, challenges
are more common than ideals. Yet in spite of the prevalence of such countermessages
throughout the plot, most of these movies celebrate romantic ideals as the
overarching theme. Moreover, the contextualization of the expressions reinforces
idealistic conceptions of intimate relationships.
In terms of specific findings, our first research question concerns how often
romantic ideals are featured in romantic comedy films. Our study indicated that
three fourths of the films in the sample featured an overarching romantic ideal
message. However, only two ideals were featured as the overarching theme in these
movies: love conquers all (65%) and soul mate/one and only (15%). One movie that
featured the theme of love conquers all was My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Brooks &
Zwick, 2002), in which the main couple faces numerous cultural and familial
challenges, but they persist throughout and marry happily at the end. In terms of soul
mate/one and only, one example was Serendipity (Fields, Klein, & Chelsom, 2001), in
which a couple randomly meet in New York City for one night and say goodbye, only
to spend the next three years trying to find one another. Right before marrying other
people, fate brings the two together. One reason that love at first sight or idealization
of other are not featured as a film’s overriding theme could be because such themes
generally mark the beginning of courtship when couples first get to know each other,
and are not necessarily sustainable across an entire plotline. At the expression level, all
four types of ideals were expressed, albeit in different levels of frequencies. The overall
pervasiveness of romantic expressions and overarching ideal themes across the
sample indicates that one can nearly always find ideals in such movies.
The second research question concerns how often challenges to romantic ideals are
featured in these films. Counter to the popular assumption that romantic movies are
purely idealistic, these films routinely feature direct contradictions to romantic ideals.
For example, Knocked Up (Apatow, 2007) features the story of a mismatched couple
who, after enjoying a one-night stand, realize they have created a pregnancy. Multiple
fights and tough discussions ensue, thus accounting for the large number of challenge
expressions in this film.
The presence of both romantic ideals and challenges in these films is consistent with
previous research and critical theory. Like Johnson and Holmes (2009), we found
that expressions about relationships in such films featured both ideal and challenge
statements. However, a typical viewer confronts many more ‘‘realistic’’ appraisals of
romance because challenge messages occurred more often than ideal expressions, at a
ratio of two to one. Why, then, are romantic comedies conceptualized as being
idealistic? Critical cultural scholars have argued that it is the happy ending (i.e., ideal
takeaway theme) common in these films that leads people to assume that such movies
promulgate idealistic messages (Allen, 1999; Neale & Krutnik, 1995). The idea is that
the juxtaposition of challenges with ideals is a literary device designed to set up
tension and advance a plot that is typically resolved with an ideal conclusion.
The third question concerns what consequences ideals and challenges received in
the plotline. Our study revealed that ideal expressions received positive consequences
in the story most of the time. For example, in Sex and The City (Chupack & King,
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2008), a male character tenderly declares to a woman, ‘‘Yo u ’re the one.’’ She responds
by smiling, hugging, and kissing him. Conversely, challenge expressions were more
likely punished. For example, in The Wedding Planner (Shankman, 2001), Matthew
McConaughey’s character breaks up with someone, and says: ‘‘The reasons we were
together in college don’t hold up anymore. We’re different people now.’’ The woman
reacts by staring at him angrily, and then crying. Whereas challenge expressions were
punished about half of the time, they were rewarded about one quarter of the time.
The overall message is that ideals are treated well, and challenges are treated poorly in
these films.
The results of our final research question demonstrate that both male and female
characters, in roughly equal proportions, talked about relationships in these films.
This pattern contradicts the common assumption that females are more interested in
relationship issues than men are. In fact, research demonstrates that young girls focus
more on friendship issues than do young boys (Youniss & Haynie, 1992), and, as they
grow older, women generally rate romantic relationships as more important than do
men (e.g., Johnston, Bachman, & O’Malley, 2007). However, research also
demonstrates that women generally wish that men would talk more about relational
issues during courtship and in marriages (Riessman, 1990; Tannen, 1999). It may be
that because the romantic comedy genre attracts a large female audience (Fischoff,
Antonio, & Lewis, 1997), filmmakers are intentionally featuring the types of
relationships that women want most*those in which both partners discuss the
relationship.
Although both men and women talked about relationships, there was a difference
in what they said. Female characters more often expressed challenges, whereas male
characters more often expressed ideals. Research indicates that young women rate
faithfulness, love, and lifelong commitment as more important than do young men
(e.g., Meier et al., 2009). However, women may believe that maintaining these
relational components does not magically happen, which represents a challenge-like
view. Conversely, other research demonstrates that men tend to be more romantically
idealistic than women in their belief structures (Sprecher & Metts, 1989, 1999).
Therefore, our results*women express challenges, men express ideals*suggest
that character expressions in these films may mirror sex differences observed in the
real world.
Some limitations exist. First, we did not code the ‘‘adult’’ category with greater
specificity. This group comprised individuals ranging from age 18 to 64. It could be
that most of the characters in these films are in the ‘‘young adult’’ category and older
adults are largely ignored. Future research should look at more specific age ranges to
see which groups are being represented. Second, the film-level variable had marginal
interrater reliability (.72), which could bring into question some of the findings
associated with that variable. Finally, future research should unpack the reactions to
ideal and challenge expressions, by measuring the different ways characters can be
rewarded, such as through physical touch, material rewards, or verbal affirmation; or
punished, such as with retaliatory behavior or angry words.
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Study 2
Study 1 documented the prevalence of ideals in romantic comedy films. The next step
is to determine whether there is a meaningful connection between the content of
these movies and the beliefs that certain viewers endorse. For this study, we surveyed
undergraduates and asked them to report on their exposure to romantic comedy
films as well as their beliefs about romance.
Two theoretical perspectives support the idea that young adults will be affected by
these films. According to cultivation theory, viewers who are repeatedly exposed to
romantic content in media should, over time, adopt beliefs about the real world that
are similar to the themes featured in the storylines (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan,
Signorielli, & Shanahan, 2002). The original conception of Gerbner’s theory was the
assumption that perceptions of reality are cultivated by watching heavy amounts of
television, regardless of the content (Gerbner, 1969). However, most of the research
that supports cultivation theory has focused on media violence (see Potter, 1993, for a
review). More recently, though, research suggests that the media can cultivate young
people’s beliefs about topics other than violence, such as sexual beliefs and attitudes
(Ward & Friedman, 2006) as well as beliefs about body image and size (Gentles &
Harrison, 2006). In line with these results, Morgan and Shanahan (2010) have argued
that the influence of genre-specific programming should only be considered within
the larger context of overall viewing. Previous research within the relationship genre
of media has found evidence in support of a cultivation effect. For example, Segrin
and Nabi (2002) demonstrated a connection between romance-oriented television
viewing and endorsement of relational beliefs such as ‘‘you should be able to talk
openly about everything,’’ whereas Ferris et al. (2007) identified a link between
viewing dating reality shows and endorsement of beliefs such as ‘‘men are sex-
driven.’’
Social cognitive theory posits that learning from media is most likely to occur
when the models are rewarded, rather than punished, for their behavior (Bandura,
1965). Because Study 1 documented that ideal expressions were more often rewarded
than punished, there is further reason to expect that the ideals in these films are likely
to be learned by viewers. Previous research also supports this prediction (Bachen &
Illouz, 1996). For example, Ferris and colleagues (2007) found that the attitudinal
themes that were most often rewarded on screen were also the ones that viewers were
most likely to endorse.
Study 1 documented that romantic ideals are prevalent and rewarded in these
films, but also that certain types of ideals are featured more often than others. In
particular, we found that the soul mate/one and only ideal was the most common
expression in these movies among the four ideals coded, followed closely by
idealization of other and love conquers all. According to cultivation theory (Gerbner,
et al., 2002), the ideals that are most pervasive should also be the ones that are
endorsed most strongly by heavy viewers. We proposed the following hypothesis:
H1: Heavy viewers of romantic comedies will report stronger endorsement of
romantic beliefs than will light viewers.
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The first hypothesis predicts generalized effects for all those who regularly view
romantic films. However, all viewers may not be affected in similar ways. The uses
and gratifications perspective posits that there are a variety of reasons why people
watch television and films (Palmgreen, 1984; Rubin, 1994). For example, Nabi,
Finnerty, Domschke, and Hull (2006) demonstrated that individuals who cheated on
their romantic partners and felt regret for doing so were more likely than those who
had no regret to express interest in viewing television programs that feature cheating
storylines, perhaps in order to learn about others who were facing a similar situation.
Consuming media with this intention of learning could produce an enhanced effect.
For example, Rubin (1984) found that viewers who watched television with the intent
to learn reported a more involving experience (i.e., purposive, goal-directed, and
selective) than did those who were merely watching to pass the time. In support of
this idea, we proposed the following hypothesis:
H2: The association between viewing and beliefs will be strongest among those
who report watching romantic comedies in order to learn.
Method
Participants and Procedure
A total of 335 communication students at a large Midwestern university were
recruited to participate in this study. Of these participants, 29% were male (n96)
and 71% were female (n239). They ranged in age from 18 to 26 years (M19.90,
SD1.21). Roughly two thirds of the participants were Caucasian (69%). The rest
were Black (14%), Asian (12%), or Latino (5%).
Students were invited during regularly scheduled class time in Spring 2010 to
participate in an online questionnaire in exchange for extra credit. Interested students
received a recruitment email with the consent form and questionnaire. The
questionnaire contained three sections (romantic and relational perceptions, media
exposure, and demographics and control variables). There were six versions of this
questionnaire. In every version, the first, second, and third sections were presented in
a single and chronological order; however, within each section, the ordering of
measures/scales was counterbalanced across different versions.
Measures
Romantic beliefs. To assess students’beliefs about intimate relationships, we used
Sprecher and Metts’(1989) Romantic Beliefs Scale (RBS). The RBS is designed to
assess four types of beliefs that are part of the romantic ideal construct: love conquers
all, soul mate/one and only, idealization of partner, and love at first sight. Sample
items include: ‘‘I believe if another person and I love each other we can overcome any
differences and problems that may arise’’ (love conquers all), ‘‘There will be only one
real love for me’’ (soul mate/one and only), ‘‘The person I love will make a perfect
romantic partner; for example, he/she will be completely accepting, loving, and
understanding’’ (idealization of other), and ‘‘I am likely to fall in love almost
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immediately if I meet the right person’’ (love at first sight). Before testing our
hypotheses, we first determined whether those dimensions were evident in this
sample by submitting the 15 items to a principal components analysis with Varimax
rotation. Eigenvalues and interpretability indicated that the best solution was four
factors: love conquers all (five items, M5.01, SD1.26, a.82), idealization of
partner (four items, M3.93, SD1.23, a.74), soul mate/one and only (three
items, M3.67, SD1.39, a.69), and love at first sight (three items, M2.73,
SD1.28, a.48). The eigenvalues for the four factors were 4.26, 1.76, 1.37, and
1.03, respectively. However, because the alpha level for love at first sight was very low
(and expressions associated with this ideal were the least common as reported in
Study 1), we chose not to analyze the association between viewing and endorsement
of the subscale of love at first sight. Mean scores for the composite 15-item seven-
point Likert scale (1 ‘‘strongly disagree,’’ 7‘‘strongly agree’’) ranged from 1.36 to
6.71 (M4.16, SD0.90, a.80).
Exposure to romantic comedy movies. Media exposure has been assessed in a
number of ways in prior research (e.g., Dixon, 2008; Edison, 2006; Segrin & Nabi,
2002), but no single approach has been adopted as the standard. We opted to ask
respondents to indicate how many times they had seen a series of popular films, and
we summed their responses. We included a list of the 20 top-grossing romantic
comedy movies from the last five years of the sample (20032008) included in the
analysis described in Study 1. To help disguise the true nature of the study, we also
included the 10 top-grossing action and 10 top-grossing nonaction drama films
during the same period (Gray, 2009; Movie Times, 2009). Participants indicated how
many times they had seen each film. The options were ‘‘never’’ (0), ‘‘once’’ (1), ‘‘a few
times’’ (2), and ‘‘more than a few times’’ (3). Summed scores for all 20 films ranged
from 3 to 55 (M20.30, SD 9.46).
1
Overall movie viewing. Using an adaptation of an already-established scale (Shrum,
Wyer, & O’Guinn, 1998), participants were asked to specify the number of movies
watched per week in four categories: movies at the theater, movies airing on
television, movies on DVD/VHS/On Demand, and movies watched on IPod or
phone. The scores for the four types were summed to create an overall movie
exposure variable (M8.42, SD3.06, range: 321).
Watching movies to learn. We adapted a measure to assess motives based on Rubin’s
(1983) original scale. Participants were asked to think about three reasons for
watching romantic comedy movies (‘‘I watch romantic comedies because they help
me learn about myself and others,’’ ‘‘I watch romantic comedies so I can learn about
what could happen to me,’’ and ‘‘I watch romantic comedies so I can learn how to do
things I haven’t done before’’), and indicate the degree to which they agreed with each
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reason on a scale ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree’’ (1) to ‘‘strongly agree’’ (7). Mean
scores ranged from 1.00 to 7.00 (M3.57, SD 1.59; a.85).
Demographics and control variables. Participants were also asked to report on their
relational status, parents’marital status, and their own sexual orientation. For
relational status, about half of the participants were single (n175), and half were in
partnered relationships (n160). For parents’marital status, the responses were: still
married (70%), never married (13%), divorced (13%), and widowed/deceased (3%).
The vast majority of the sample participants (97%) identified their sexual orientation
as heterosexual. A very small percentage reported that they were bisexual (2%), gay
men (1%), or questioning ( 1%).
Results
Preliminary Analyses
According to a power analysis based on Cohen (1988), there was sufficient power
(.99) to find both medium (f
2
.15) and large effects (f
2
.35) at a.05 with N
340 for a main effect, controlling for five variables. However, the power for small
effects (f
2
.02) was not as strong (.43). We had sufficient power to find medium or
large effects, and only moderate power to detect small effects in this study.
Main Effects of Viewing on Romantic Beliefs
To test the relationship between romantic comedy exposure and endorsement of
beliefs, we conducted a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses, with belief
endorsement as the outcome variable. Control variables were entered first: sex, age,
race (White, non-White), relational status (single, partnered), parents’relationship
status (not married, married), and overall movie viewing. In the second block, we
entered romantic comedy exposure.
Hypothesis 1. The first hypothesis posited that heavy viewers of romantic comedies
would report stronger endorsement of romantic beliefs than would lighter viewers.
To test this hypothesis, we ran four separate hierarchical linear regression analyses,
one for each of the three subscales and one for the entire Romantic Beliefs Scale.
For the first analysis, which tested endorsement of the overall RBS, overall movie
viewing and relational status were positively associated with stronger endorsement of
romantic beliefs. The second step of the analysis, however, was not significant, R
2

.06, DR
2
.00, F(1, 320) 1.08, p.300 (see Table 2). The next test indicated that
romantic comedy exposure did significantly predict one of the three subscales:
idealization of other, R
2
.08, DR
2
.01, F(1, 320) 4.16, p.042. That is,
participants with higher exposure to romantic comedies also reported stronger belief
in this ideal, even after controlling for overall movie viewing. Romantic comedy
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viewing did not significantly predict endorsement of love conquers all, R
2
.08,
DR
2
.00, F(1, 320) 0.47, p.494, or soul mate/one and only, R
2
.02, DR
2
.00,
F(1, 320) 0.37, p.546. Study 1 demonstrated that idealization of other ideal
expressions made up the second most common category of relational expressions, or
roughly one third of all ideal expressions. We concluded that Hypothesis 1 was
partially supported (see Table 2).
Hypothesis 2. The second hypothesis predicted that the association between
viewing and beliefs would be strongest among those who reported watching romantic
comedies with the motivation to learn. For this analysis, we entered controls
simultaneously in the first block, romantic comedy exposure and the watching to
learn in the second block, and the cross-product of the moderator and exposure
variable (i.e., the interaction) in the third block. To reduce problems with
multicollinearity, we mean centered the variables (i.e., transformed them into
z-scores) prior to computing the interaction variable. We tested this hypothesis with
four iterations of the outcome variable: overall beliefs, and the three subscales of love
conquers all, idealization of other, and soul mate/one and only.
The results of the four hierarchical regression analyses are summarized in Table 3.
Learning was significantly associated with romantic beliefs in two of the tests: overall
endorsement of romantic beliefs and endorsement of idealization of other. The
positive beta indicates that those who reported a higher motivation to learn from
Table 2 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Romantic Comedy Exposure
Predicting Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs, Idealization of Other, Love Conquers All,
and Soul mate/One and Only
Romantic
beliefs
Idealization of
other Love conquers all
Soul mate/
one and
only
Predictor DR
2
bDR
2
bDR
2
bDR
2
b
Step 1 .06** .07** .08*** .02
Sex .05 .04 .03 .10
Age .09 .07 .11* .04
Race .06 .05 .11* .03
Parents’relational status .04 .05 .06 .07
Relational status .12* .07 .21*** .00
Overall movie viewing .16** .23*** .10 .06
Step 2 .00 .01* .00 .00
Romantic comedy films .06 .14* .04 .03
Total R
2
.06 .08 .08 .04
N321 321 321 321
Note. All coefficients are from the blocks in which they were entered.*p B.05, **pB.01, ***pB.001. Sex is
coded as male/female (1/2). Race is coded as White/non-White (1/0). Relational status and parents’relational
status is coded as single/partnered and married/not married, respectively (0/1). Age and overall movie viewing
are continuous variables.
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these films also were more likely to endorse romantic beliefs in general, and
idealization of other specifically. However, watching romantic comedy films in order
to learn did not significantly interact with exposure to predict endorsement of beliefs.
Instead, motivation to learn was an independent and significant predictor of the
endorsement of ideals, irrespective of degree of exposure.
The results of the hierarchical regression analysis for love conquers all and soul
mate/one and only are also summarized in Table 3. Here, learning was not
significantly associated with romantic beliefs, and the interaction terms were not
significant. Because viewing to learn was associated with stronger endorsement of all
romantic beliefs and the belief in idealization of other, and because some viewing is
implicated in this learning process (even if the interaction was not statistically
significant), we concluded that Hypothesis 2 was partially supported.
Other potential moderators. Because overall movie viewing and relational status
significantly predicted endorsement in our regression tests of main effects, we also
ran two additional tests to determine whether these variables interacted with viewing
to produce an effect. Neither the results for relational status, R
2
.06, DR
2
.00,
Table 3 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between
Romantic Comedy Exposure and Viewing with Motivation to Learn in Predicting
Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs, Idealization of Other, Love Conquers All, and Soul
mate/One and Only
Romantic
beliefs
Idealization of
other
Love conquers
all
Soul mate/
one and
only
Predictor DR
2
bDR
2
bDR
2
bDR
2
b
Step 1 .06** .06** .07** .03
Sex .05 .04 .03 .11
Age .09 .07 .11* .04
Race .06 .05 .11* .03
Parents’relational status .04 .04 .06 .05
Relational status .12* .06 .21** .00
Overall movie viewing .16** .20** .09 .08
Step 2 .02 .04** .00 .00
Watching with motive to learn .16* .17** .04 .04
Romantic comedy films .07 .14* .05 .03
Step 3 .00 .00 .00 .00
LearningRomantic comedy
exposure
.02 .04 .02 .02
Total R
2
.07 .10 .08 .03
N318 318 318 318
Note. All coefficients are from the blocks in which they were entered.*p B.05, **pB.01. Sex is coded as male/
female (1/2). Race is coded as White/non-White (1/0). Relational status and parents’relational status is coded as
single/partnered and married/not married, respectively (0/1). Age and overall movie viewing are continuous
variables.
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F(1, 321) 0.40, p.529, or overall movie viewing, R
2
.07, DR
2
.00, F(1, 319) 
0.75, p.389, were significant.
2
Discussion
The results of this study indicate that exposure to romantic comedies is related to
young people’s endorsement of romantic beliefs, but the relationship is not as robust
or straightforward as predicted. In general, repeated viewing was positively related to
only one of the four beliefs that comprise the romantic ideal: idealization of one’s
partner. Furthermore, individuals who reported watching romantic comedies in
order to learn were more likely to endorse romantic beliefs than were those who
watch for other reasons, independent of actual viewing. In particular, they were most
likely to endorse the belief in the idealization of one’s partner.
In terms of specific findings, the lack of an overall relationship between viewing
and perceptions for Hypothesis 1 is inconsistent with previous work. Segrin and Nabi
(2002) found that viewing romantic-oriented television was associated with
endorsing marriage-related ideals. Ferris et al. (2007) also reported that viewing
reality dating shows predicted stronger endorsement of attitudes expressed in the
programs. Although our study is the first to look at romantic comedy exposure, our
results are still inconsistent with previous research and cultivation theory. That is,
viewers who are repeatedly exposed to formulaic media content should, over time,
adopt beliefs about the real world that are similar to the themes featured in these
repetitive storylines (Gerbner, 1998)*in this case, the consistent ideals documented
in Study 1. We did not find support for this.
One possibility for this null finding is that the measure of exposure may have been
flawed. Participants were given a list of 20 highest grossing romantic comedy movies
from 2003 to 2008 and asked to indicate how many times they had seen each film.
Perhaps we should have included more recent films in the list. It is also possible that
students watch a variety of films rather than repeat their viewing of the same movies.
Lastly, we did not ask participants for actual hours per week spent watching romantic
comedies, in part because we expected the variance to be limited and we wanted to
prevent demand characteristics. Future research should develop more creative ways to
measure exposure.
Another possible explanation for the null finding is that romantic ideals may be so
pervasive in Western culture that such films alone have little impact on beliefs. In
fact, the romantic ideals measured in this study can be traced far back in history, long
before the advent of romantic comedies. For example, the ideal of soul mate can be
found in the early writings of Aristotle: ‘‘Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting
two bodies’’ (Barnes, 1971). More recently, ideals about love conquering all can be
found in popular romance novels (Lee, 2008). It may be, then, that romantic ideals
are so ingrained into Western societies that romantic comedies have little influence
above and beyond what already exists in popular culture.
One finding in our study supports this idea. Time spent watching all movies
(regardless of genre) did significantly predict romantic belief endorsement. This
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pattern held up even after controlling for a variety of demographic variables and
including romantic comedy exposure in the model. In fact, overall movie viewing and
romantic comedy viewing were statistically correlated, r.26, p.01. It could be
that movie viewing is a proxy for romantic comedy viewing, and it may be that these
ideals are present in all types of movies and are not unique to romantic comedies. For
instance, the highest grossing movie of all time, Avatar (Cameron, 2009), features an
adventure story with an embedded love story in the plot. Furthermore, one recent
content analysis documented that roughly 80% of romantic relationships portrayed
in Disney films have love-at-first-sight beginnings (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman, &
Lund, 2003). Romantic dramas, such as Twilight (Hardwicke, Mooradian, Morgan, &
Morgan, 2008) or The Notebook (Cassavetes, Johnson, & Harris, 2004), may also
contribute to the development of these ideals, especially because comedy is not used
to discredit the ideal statements.
It is tempting to conclude that romantic comedies have little influence above all the
other movies that feature romantic ideals. However, our data challenge this
supposition. First, we found a relationship between viewing romantic comedies
and endorsement of one of the ideals. Second, we found that motives for viewing
romantic comedies predicted endorsement, even if overall viewing did not.
The results of Hypothesis 2, which predicted watching to learn would enhance the
influence of these movies, revealed that viewing these films to learn did not significantly
moderate the association between exposure and endorsement of beliefs. However, those
participants who reported watching with the motivation to learn did more strongly
endorse the ideals, regardless of degree of exposure. In other words, motives for
viewing mattered more than sheer viewing did. Because exposure to these films is
implicit in the way that learning was measured (e.g., ‘‘I watch romantic comedies
because they help me learn about myself and others.’’), we concluded that Hypothesis 2
was partially supported. This is consistent with other research, in that the motivation to
consume content for learning purposes is more influential on outcomes than mere
media exposure (e.g., Guo, Tan, & Cheung, 2010). For example, Tiggemann (2005)
found that viewing television with a motivation of social learning was a stronger
predictor of reported body image concern among adolescents than was sheer amount
of television exposure. Future research should consider learning motives less as a
moderator and more as a predictor when analyzing the effects of media consumption.
There are several practical implications for these findings. Some scholars have
suggested that romantic movies are a significant source for acquiring unrealistic
beliefs about relationships (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1999; Galician, 2004; Sharp & Ganong,
2000). At the very least, our results indicate that romantic comedies are influential
only in certain contexts. Instead, it may be that romantic comedies are actually a
positive social factor in young people’s lives. Prior research suggests that idealizing
one’s partner can be beneficial for a romantic relationship (e.g., Sprecher & Metts,
1999). Murray et al. (1996) found that idealization in romantic relationships was
associated with higher levels of relational satisfaction in a sample of married and
partnered people. Our study suggests that repeated viewing of romantic comedies
could encourage viewers to think of their own relational partners as wonderful and
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perfect. The findings also suggest that the greatest impact will be on those people who
watch romantic comedies to learn.
Conclusion
The first study was a systematic content analysis of the themes or ideals embedded in
romantic comedies from the past 10 years. The second study was a large-scale survey
of undergraduate students that assessed the association between viewing romantic
comedy films and beliefs about love, relationships, and romance. According to the
results of these two studies, we have developed four general conclusions. First,
romantic ideals and challenges are prevalent in romantic comedy films. Second, ideals
are more often rewarded than punished, whereas the opposite was true of challenges.
Third, there is an association between romantic comedy viewing and endorsement of
beliefs; particularly the endorsement of the idealization of other belief. Fourth,
viewing romantic comedies with a motivation to learn is positively associated with
endorsement of all romantic beliefs.
The findings of this project reveal a few implications for theory. Viewing romantic
comedies was associated with a greater endorsement of the idealization of other
belief, whereas overall movie viewing was related to stronger endorsement of all
romantic beliefs. Both of these findings provide support for Gerbner’s (1998)
hypothesis. In terms of uses and gratifications, our study demonstrated that there was
a positive relationship between watching romantic comedies with the motivation to
learn and endorsing romantic beliefs. This supports previous work that found that
people often seek out romantic content in order to learn about relationships (Steele,
1999; Zurbriggen & Morgan, 2006), and that consuming media in order to learn may
be more influential than total amount of exposure (Tiggemann, 2005).
Much of the previous work related to romantic media and effects has looked only
at the impact of television (Ferris et al., 2007; Rivadeneyra & Lebo, 2008; Segrin &
Nabi, 2002) and has not investigated the influence of exposure to movies. Although
our study is the first to investigate the association between movie exposure and
romantic beliefs, the relationship was not as straightforward as the one seen in
previous work related to television. Our work is a significant first step, but more
investigation is certainly needed.
Future research should work to better understand content features, direction of
causality, and individual viewer differences. Researchers who specialize in inter-
personal interactions should also continue to investigate the influence of holding
beliefs on relationship functioning. For a genre often criticized for being unrealistic,
an enhanced understanding of romantic comedy content and its association with
effects may help highlight the value of these formulaic plotlines.
Notes
[1] We created four other viewing variables and tested those, but none of these measures altered
the findings in any substantial way. In the first of these alternative approaches, we combined
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the overall exposure measure with a ranking measure of how likely each participant was to
select a romantic comedy movie over other genres, if free time were available. We computed
this composite variable by summing the participants’overall viewing with their ranking score
(range 660; M26.69, SD10.23). For the second approach, we weighted each of the
20 films in the list by the number of ideals in the content, as reported in Study 1. We then
multiplied each participant’s viewing score by that weight. The resulting weighting score
reflected the pervasiveness of idealistic content, with higher scores signifying exposure to a
higher prevalence of ideals. To create the composite exposure variable, we summed together
the weighted scores for all 20 films. Scores for this variable fit a normal distribution curve
well (range 454 to 4; M195.03, SD 90.64). In the third approach, we
weighted each film by the number of ideals in the content minus the number of challenges,
as reported in Study 1. For the final approach, we summed together the weighted scores for
all 20 films and added that to the participant’s ranking of romantic comedy genre. Scores for
this weighted variable also fit a normal distribution curve extremely well (range 9343;
M118.65, SD 61.94). As might be expected, the exposure variables were highly
correlated, according to Pearson correlation tests. Preliminary regression analyses testing
the predictive relationship between each of these four exposure measures and endorsement
of romantic beliefs revealed no meaningful differences.
[2] After testing for main effects, we also assessed the potential influence of a series of
moderating variables: relational experience, perceived reality, perceived similarity, and sex of
participant. None of these variables revealed any statistically significant associations.
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