25 Things We Would Consider Awful In Reality But Are Romanticised In Movies

Movies make even the most dangerous scenarios—train fights, high-speed bike chases, and sword duels—look exciting and effortless. We get so swept up that we forget real-life versions would be terrifying, dangerous, and well beyond our abilities without serious training. Balancing or fighting on a moving train, facing oncoming traffic on a bike, or swinging a sword for minutes on end are feats nearly impossible for ordinary people. Yet, actors make these situations appear easy and convincing, fueling our fantasies that we could do it too. In truth, such situations would be harrowing to experience in real life. Unfortunately, movies continually distort our view of reality by romanticising perilous, dull or unnerving realities. This gap between Hollywood fiction and real life was a hot topic in a recent Reddit discussion about how movies glamorise certain experiences that are really nothing like they are portrayed. Scroll to see our favourite suggestions from the list shared in the gallery below.

#1

Image source: bevymartbc, Getty Images Living "off the grid" My guess is most people do well for the first few months, then cant handle losing modern conveniences long term.

#2

Image source: KDsmackeroni, Image-Source Jumping in piles of leaves. First you have to rake everything, then you jump into a shockingly not soft pile of dirt and animal feces, then you have to rake it all over again!

#3

Kissing someone without their consent. This goes for both genders not just men. They just push them against the wall and start kissing them. I feel like it teaches young people that this is romantic and not potentially sexual harassment. It happens a lot on tv shows like Grey’s Anatomy for example. You really shouldn’t kiss someone like that without their consent. Image source: Jdubgirl

#4

Jealousy. It's not cute or sweet, nor does it mean that this person really loves you. They just see you as a possession and that's disgusting. Image source: anon

#5

Hanging out alone in a bar, they always end up having a great conversation or meeting an interesting person, while in reality, you either end up silent and solo or chat with a talkative, annoying fella. Image source: anon

#6

Image source: anon, Ketut Subiyanto Moving. In the movies, there’s just the fun of unpacking important keepsakes and placing them on the mantle. In real life, packing up all your s**t and carting elsewhere sucks.

#7

Image source: will_write_for_tacos, Tanya Prodaan Small town living. Oh, I'll catch hell for it, I'm sure, but I've never been impressed with small towns. Some people really do enjoy living in small communities, but I grew up in one and lived in another for 10 years, and it was awful. There's a lot of judgment in small towns, especially for people with "those families" - you know, the ones from the wrong side of the tracks. There's also a lot of judgment if you're not a straight, white, Christian. You're going to face a lot of discrimination and gossip. You'll either be in the small town where everyone knows everyone's business, or the small town where you are frozen out for 10 years because you weren't born there and your family isn't from there. I've lived in both.

#8

Image source: Vernerator, Eduardo Ramos Running as fast as you can, chasing someone, for blocks and blocks, and not winded much.

#9

Image source: zazzlekdazzle, Getty Images Being relentlessly pursued by someone you keep telling you are not interested. It's not romantic or comedic, it's just a mixture of stalking and harassment if you keep showing up in their life and/or throwing romantic gestures their way. Maybe you can try again at a later date if you feel your initial approach or the timing might have been off. But really leave the other person alone until then. Truly alone - no following them in real life or on social media - even if they don't find out (they will), you will inevitably let something slip when you do reconnect and that will be very bad.

#10

Image source: forestmango, Daniel McCullough High school.

#11

Image source: Scrappy_Larue, freepik Making a big hot breakfast for a large family.

#12

Real life might be a stretch, but I heard people often romanticize apocalypse scenarios. This was really prevalent during the zombie fad from the mid to late 2000s. "It'd be just you and me against the world, baby!!!" Yeah, I'll pass on the constant threat of infection, starvation, shelter, etc, etc. Sounds f*****g awful. Image source: RecipeAsleep7087

#13

NYC ??‍♀️ sorry but it’s terrible lol. Image source: Mysterious-Low8446

#14

Image source: Skyys_, Getty Images Life.

#15

That the love of your life will automatically read your mind just like in the movies. Real life doesn't work like that, you need to make efforts at communicating with each other. Image source: quiet_lemon009

#16

Image source: Mardanis, Getty Images Losing your job and finding yourself.

#17

Shooting without ear protection. All these action heroes would be deaf from all the shooting in enclosed spaces they do. Image source: archSkeptic

#18

Image source: mindtropy, Mikhail Nilov When someone comes to visit someone, they are asked if they want a drink, they accept, then leave without touching it. If that happened irl, I’d lose it.

#19

Caffeine a*******n. It's always about collecting energy drinks cans, casually drinking 10 gallons of coffee, etc, and never about horrible headaches, blood pressure swings, and heart problems. I literally have a friend younger than me that drinks more than ~6 cans per day and jokes about it, flexing it in her social media, and thinks it wouldn’t affect her much, no matter how often I try to argue with her about it. Image source: peachymarchi

#20

Image source: kirbyspinballwizard, freepik A guy you're not interested in that won't give up on trying to be your boyfriend.

#21

Image source: Ian_Dima, Alexander Dummer Children.

#22

Houses with open floor plans! All the home renovation and home-buying TV shows glamorize them, but there are so many negatives to them! They can smell bad, as odors from the kitchen waft into other areas. They are noisy, as sounds reverberate throughout the open area, so if there's a microwave or kettle going, it makes it hard to hear conversations or the TV. Everyone in the home has to put up with whatever is the noisiest activity in the main room, so if one group is having a boisterously fun time playing a board game, another group that's trying to watch a movie will have trouble hearing it. Unless the home is built with a ton of storage, things can look perpetually messy because there's less space to stow items away, and there are so few walls to prop shelves or cabinets up against. And if you are entertaining, everyone gets to see you cooking and any messes you make while preparing food, adding pressure to wash dishes immediately rather than spending time with your guests and dealing with the dishes and other kitchen messes later. And they are not at all energy efficient since you have to heat or cool a large room rather than smaller spaces. Image source: SharingMy2Cents

#23

I feel like tragedy in general is romanticized in movies/books. Like it's the tragedy (of any kind, a death, accident, disaster, fire, illness, etc.) that brings the couple closer or makes their love stronger. In reality, the trauma would be much more complex and wouldn't always bring people closer. Image source: pretty_kitty_808021

#24

Image source: anon, freepik Gunfights.

#25

Take a romantic novel and play out the script in real life. You'll be appalled with the main character's behavior. Image source: Glorifiedcomber

#26

I hate it when people romanticize going to war. They don't know what it's like to live with a vet with PTSD. Image source: kana503

#27

Image source: alohanouiloha, Getty Images Waking up in the morning.

#28

' Image source: OldMork, Jakob Rosen Mr Bond, your plane leaves in one hour' what! I need three days to prepare clothing, medicin, house/pet/kids-sitter, cancel the giggolo.

#29

True crime and podcast based off true crime stories. These stories are the worst moments of someone’s life and we listen to them like entertainment. Image source: SweetPotato_Gamgee

#30

Image source: fredzout, Pixabay Years ago, I had the privilege of flying in a Navy attack jet. It was an "orientation flight" to see if we wanted to pursue a career flying combat fighters. It was brutal. It convinced me that those guys are crazy, and I wanted nothing to do with it, but I still enjoy watching the Blue Angels at the air show.