It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and love stories are in the spotlight.

While binge watching romance films can be a fun way to celebrate the season, Virginia Tech experts Sarah Ovink and Rose Wesche say formulaic depictions of love may set unrealistic expectations for real-life relationships.

Ovink, associate professor of sociology, said media’s role in shaping expectations of love starts early.

“From a young age, children are exposed to media that reinforces the importance of romance, marriage, and a ‘happily ever after ending,’” she said, noting that classic Disney films like “Snow White” and “Cinderella,” and even contemporary hits such as “Frozen” and “Tangled,” focus heavily on romantic relationships, often featuring coupling as a major plot point.

“Adults may continue to be drawn toward fantasies of happily-ever-after, having been primed to celebrate these stories since childhood,” Ovink said. “In the real world, love and relationships are seldom neat and tidy, but these movies make a happy ending feel both inevitable and magical.”

Wesche said romance films, especially Hallmark-style movies, rarely show the complexities that characterize real-life relationships, such as conflict, financial stressors, and other challenges, but instead end when characters commit to their “one true love.”

“If people internalize these idealized relationships as achievable, then they may perceive their own relationships as being unsatisfying because they don’t live up to the unrealistic standard set by movie romance,” said Wesche, associate professor of human development and family science.

Following its annual holiday movie marathon, the Hallmark Channel carries its romantic storytelling into February with its annual “Loveuary” releases.

“Hallmark-style holiday movies feature idealized tropes of finding ‘the one’ and love conquering all,” Wesche said. “The idealized relationships in these movies connect with people’s desire to have a ‘perfect’ relationship, full of infatuation and free of conflict. Or, if we’re lucky, we get an epilogue of the couple still in googly-eyed infatuation years later.”

Wesche also noted Hallmark-style films have been criticized for a lack of inclusivity across race, culture, and sexuality.

“In media, representation matters,” she said. “The limited range of identities in the movies sends a message that these are the only kinds of stories whose stories are worth telling.”

Despite the criticisms, Wesche said the films may be appealing to younger individuals because they counter the negative experiences of “navigating the stressful dating world.” In contrast, she said they may help older adults in established partnerships “momentarily escape the less exciting, or even unhappy, aspects of their relationship.”

– Kelsey Bartlett