This is Emo

In Chuck Klosterman's article This is Emo, he explains how 'fake love' is an idea of romance that the mainstream media has created and drilled into our culture. In class we talked about how Disney Princesses and fairy tales give an unreal idea of how love and romance are in real life, by the standards they portray. Examples include the age aspect, (all princesses are young and beautiful), the financial aspect (princesses marry princes who are royal and rich), etc. We also talked about how so many aspects of pop culture show 'forbidden love' as a sort of norm to strive for when looking for romance. Movies such as Twilight, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, and The Great Gatsby are all good examples of this.
The example I thought of that was quite a good mix of both real love and Klosterman's 'fake love', in my opinion, is The Notebook starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. I think that it shows the element of forbidden love, as Noah is a poor boy who falls in love with a rich girl, but her parents are not accepting of the relationship and force it to end after a summer of romance. On the other hand, I think it does a good job of showing some very realistic elements of love. The central plot of the movie is based around the couple as elderly people, dealing with financial and health issues that come with having a family and old age. Allie develops Alzheimer's disease, and Noah spends as much time as he can with Allie trying to help her remember their life. This, to me, is an interpretation on REALISTICALLY living 'happily ever after'.