Blog: After Happily Ever After

My faith in the institution of marriage has been slowly declining since 2009, when my parents separated. My faith in relationships has been shredded since the stories of my friends’ relationships came flooding in this year. I found myself thinking about the future, and thinking that I might be part of the 50% of the US population that is divorced.

The media, TV, movies and real life all portray divorce. They show relationships being split up all the time. Sometimes comedies are based of the separation of a couple–So much so that it’s hard for a teen in this day and age to believe that any attempt at marriage will end in failure.

‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘Parent Trap’ give kids a surreal view of divorce. It makes them think that they can get back together, that it’ll all be fine. The kids can lead normal lives. Some movies show the actual horrors of breakups and divorces, but end with a romantic happily ever after. Think Eat, Pray, Love or 500 Days of Summer. You watch in agony as the couples start out well, and slowly lose interest in each other.

Movies have influenced viewers ideas of relationships for years. Think back to your Disney days. How many Disney Princesses have two parents? (Or any at all?) Not many. Kids movies show the “happily ever after,” but we rarely see what happens after the happily ever after.

Recently, I saw a movie that changed my idea of relationships a little bit. It gave that little bit of hope that love is not dead. The movie is called “Identity Thief”. It’s a comedy, not at all about marriage or divorce, but it showed me something important that I haven’t seen in a movie for a long time.

The film is about a man (Jason Bateman) whose identity is stolen by a lonely woman(Melissa McCarthy) in Florida. She spends exorbitant amounts of money until Bateman’s character chases her down and journeys back to his hometown, McCarthy in tow, to prove he was not an irresponsible spender, but a victim of theft.

While the movie was hilarious and heartwarming, I noticed something else that added to the warmth of the plot. Bateman’s character was married happily with two kids and one on the way. I don’t see that very often in movies. I see arguing parents and nasty breakups, but rarely is a sound relationship portrayed on camera.

It was a little part of the movie. Nothing much, not very necessary to the plot, but it changed to way I look at relationships. It gave me a little hope.