40 Days Media Analysis

Words: 1989
Pages: 8

“Love can make you happier than you've ever been, sadder than you've ever been, angrier than you've ever been. It can elate you and deflate you almost at the same time”. –Anonymous The longstanding question can high levels of media exposure to romance, love and couple hood have a great effect on the viewer’s perception or opinion has been thoroughly studied. Illouz (1997) mentions how the media shape our notions of love and have penetrated into the fabric of our everyday life so deeply that it is suspected that they (the media) have altered, even transformed, our experience of love. The movie 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), produced by Tim Bevan, directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Rob Perez, was filmed mainly in the USA and in …show more content…
According to Reznik (2016) there is a confusion between what’s real and genuine and what’s fiction or even fake. The term hyperreality is the inability to distinguish between what is real and what is fiction. This is a result of a world polluted with simulacra. In the movie 40 Days and 40 Nights, we can see patterns of this phenomena: Matt’s friend explains to him “you can pass off two dates without a kiss as old-fashioned. You go three and you’re a homo” (32:03:00, Bevan & Lehmann, 2002). Erica says to Matt “It’s very easy to confuse physical attraction with a real connection… well you can tell. You can tell by the kiss… all that matters is the kiss” (1:04:00, Bevan & Lehmann, 2002). Erica believes that you can only tell if you have a real connection by having a meaningful kiss. However this proves to be fictitious since Erica and Matt clearly develop an authentic connection throughout the movie, even before they become physical and kiss. These examples of false assumptions or beliefs could be described as simulacra because these theories had no reality to begin with. These beliefs could be potentially harmful to viewers since they present these statements to be true, thus influencing their perspective on love and romanticism. Illouz (1997) viewed and questioned couples how they would like to spend a romantic moment with a loved one. It was found that the emotion of love was intertwined with romance, defined in terms of the props and settings that induce a “special atmosphere” Illouz