Hollywood movies teach us many lessons. They have the power to change our mood in just those two hours. If you want to cry, just watch My Sisters Keeper, or if you want to be scared to the point to where you are hiding behind your fingers, pop in Paranormal Activity.They can even inspire us. Anyone who has watched The Cove knows that as soon as the credits rolled you were jumping up in outrage and seeing what you could do to help the slaughtering of dolphins in Japan. Movies have the potential to do great things. What other form of media reaches so many people of different demographics? But when we really look at the movies do they always teach us the best lessons? Inspiring? Yes. Realistic? No. So I have come up with my favorite five overrated life lessons that Hollywood has shown us.
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#1 A Baby comes, and love will follow
           As evident in Knocked Up and The Back-up Plan, babies lead to love. Something about the constant lack of sleep, extra responsibility, and the overwhelming stress blooms romance. Wrong. If you think this is true, just watch an episode of Teen Mom, or more specifically, watch Amber Portwood beating up her baby’s daddy, Gary Shirley. Go ahead, watch, I’ll wait…convinced yet? It has always been known that you fall in love first and then start a family, switching the two up only leads to madness.
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#2 The Underdog Always Wins
           As inspiring as this theme is, it’s not the most realistic. This concept is most shown in those sports movies that make you feel all warm and fuzzy by the end. Just look at Remember the Titans, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. I still get chills whenever Denzel makes one of his moving speeches. But tell this to my middle school soccer team that couldn’t kick a ball through the net to save our lives. We were underdogs, but we certainly never saw a winning championship trophy in our gym.
#3 You Fall in Love with One Person and Live Happily Ever After
           We’ve all seen this in every Disney movie known to man. The girl meets her prince, overcomes some obstacle, and they ride off to a future full of bliss. But in reality, we don’t always fall in love with just one person – just look at Flavor Flav who fell in love, or most likely lust, with multiple women. And as for the happily ever after, when is this ever true? There is always going to be another obstacle around the corner, that’s just life.
#4 Start Singing a Musical Number and Everyone Will Know the Moves
           High School Musical and Hairspray really ruined us. We’ve seen that if you start singing, everyone will join in with equally amazing vocals and killer dance movies. No practice needed! It all comes natural. Now try this at your next school function. You see the problem. So if you really want to pull this off, you’re going to need practice, and lots of it.
#5 There is a Psychotic Killer Lurking Everywhere
           By the number of horror films featuring some mass murderer (Saw, Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, The Last House on the Left, need I go on?) you would assume that the world is full of these people. In reality, this number is miniscule. So while we love to watch these horrors played out on screen, just remember that it’s just a movie. That man that helps you pick up your dropped groceries is not thinking of how to torture and kill you. More than likely, he’s just being polite.