David Sedaris, The End of the Affair

In Sedaris' essay he jokes about how the classic love stories that we see in the movies usually end with a tragic death or separation, it seems to be a required element of this type of story. These love stories and their tragic endings that make us sob are brought to the big screen to evoke emotion and are meant purely for entertainment value. They are not true stories, the screenplays are written by a professional writer or team of writers out to pen a movie that will hopefully gross millions of dollars. But so many of us that see these movies use them as some sort of standard of how our own relationship should be. We are constantly striving for "movie love" but we've never actually stopped to think of how ridiculous the notion is. Everyone should strive for happiness in life and in their relationships, and everyone that chooses to spend their lives with someone should never settle when looking for that person. However, we need to realize that the classic love stories that draw us to the box office should never be used as a standard by which we measure the success of our own relationships. These love stories always show a sudden death or tragic ending to enhance the storyline and entertainment value much like an action movie would show exciting stunts and visual effects, it's all about satisfying the viewers expectations. At a romance movie, the viewer is looking for an emotional connection to the characters and story. How many of us judge how good a romantic movie is by whether or not it made us cry?