Cinderella & Superman or How Pop Culture has Ruined Lives

In our society, it's trendy to blame others and other things for our behaviour.  I'm generally not a fan of this approach, preferring instead to suggest we might take responsibility for our actions and situations.  However there's one area that I'll admit discomfort with - and that's the popularization and pushing of archetypes that we might/should aspire to.

For a few years now, I've been vocal about how Disney (and others in the genre)  have seemed to create unrealistic princess expectations amongst young girls.  Name the animated film since 1980 - all feature some young heroine getting their prince charming. Fade out at that point, and don't cover getting to know one another or actually living together successfully.  True love becomes apparent through fate, or first glance.  Yeah, because that happens all the time.  As a real person in the world if you been weaned on these fables, that's what we may unconsciously hope for. (Heck, I woud too)

I think the same mythology applies to young men.  The rise of Marvel studios - The batman, spiderman, any of the avengers and for those with a real taste for green, your Hulks..it means that the message sent to young men is that you can also be a hero.  You should be able to do extraordinary things, in fact it might be that you should expect to.  If you don't, you're not only not a hero, you're perhaps not trying hard enough.

If the mate selection gets messed with for young ladies, the ideas of what it means to be a man gets twisted for young men.  I think there's a fine line that got crossed somewhere in the push to sell T-Shirts and DVDs. And at the time it wasn't noted as it was too easy to daydream about some kind of utopian personal future.   But we should each work to understand the fairy tale ending for yourself doesn't ride a white horse (or lift one around).  Be your own best version of you, and that's hero enough.