Have you ever sat down and compared how you would never pursue such a love interest if you were to be in the movie you are watching? Or how your real love life and demands may greatly differ from what is shown on TV or in film?
These movies tend to exaggerate the crazy love feeling, of course for the benefit of entertainment, but also regardless lets many ideas of respect, boundaries, and other issues loose.
Many crime genre films and shows are now set around love, not taking revenge or a love triangle, but a crime to express the great heights of possessiveness or jealousy. Many
famous examples include You, Gone Girl, etc. This is feeding into viewers' brains that toxic obsession, social media stalking, and 'removing obstacles' are justified in the name of love. And while I agree that lately, many movies speak about issues like domestic violence like "Thappad", many of them don't get as much hype as the problematic ones.
Other issues like reinforcing gender norms, stereotypes about masculinity and femininity, the concept of marriage and freedom and how it differs for each gender, the evil in-laws, etc are prevalent in almost all romance.
Even when we do not relate to the movie e.g. Kissing Booth, it was trending on Netflix for a long time. Movies like Kabir Singh and Animal that have received great backlash were both blockbusters. So do viewers like some level of toxicity or unrelatableness to be able to enjoy a film?
Would we love to be kidnapped and forced to fall in love with someone, or does it satisfy some sort of hidden pleasures of people that 365 Days became one of the most-watched movies in Pakistan? Perhaps it is due to the late average age of marriage and
the religious and cultural environment in Pakistan that such raunchy movies never flop, but any movie like 'Joyland' is quick to be termed as "fahashi" or the influence of
the West. Therefore, highlighting the clear bias between heterosexual romance and intimacy vs any homosexual tendencies.
Even though social media platforms are raising awareness of toxic behaviors and 'red flags' in a relationship, the media depiction of these issues is failing to catch up. Perhaps because we as an audience do not want to watch them, and this is a profit-seeking industry after all.