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Hey Pandas, What Things Did You See From TV Shows Or Movies Growing Up That Set You Up For Unrealistic Expectations As An Adult?
Putting aside teenage witches and superhuman abilities, some of us got a rude awakening when we realized life isn't what we were taught by movies and tv to think it would be.
The girls from "Friends" would never have been able to afford that apartment. A lot of teenagers seem to have some absentee parents. What comes after 'Happily Ever After'? Can you get a job writing a 500 word article for a magazine once a week and still afford Manolo Blahniks and a NYC apartment?
What life lessons or flat out lies did you realize once you were an adult that tv and movies taught you?
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That when you have a baby your belly automatically pops back in the shape it was before right after giving birth. I was really disapointed when I looked down after my son was born. It's 6 years ago and I still look pregnant.
Lol this one is perpetuated by celebrities a lot. It really isn't the case for everyone, even if you exercise regularly. And even if you are a celeb with a trainer and a chef etc, it can still not be easy and can take way more time. I remember Pamela Anderson doing an interview years ago after she had her first baby and she was like (I'm paraphrasing), "I only gained like 13 pounds during my pregnancy and that's all you should gain. I was able to lose it in 3 weeks because I didn't overeat. It's just an excuse for women to overeat." It made so many women so angry because that's such BS. You can't always control how much you gain or your bounceback, especially if there were any complications.
- The size of bedrooms. I'm 42 and have yet to find a bedroom as big (and clean) as most teenagers in almost any tv show or movie I've ever seen. In real life, sometimes a bedroom is really just a closet and they're still allowed to call it a bedroom because you can fit a crib in it.
- The lack of parents around on teen shows. Except for the one episode a year where they have a heart-to-heart conversation with them on a bed about life and love and then you never see them again. I can't remember more than one or maybe two episodes of Saved by the Bell with any of those kids' parents. The Gossip Girls were drinking in bars and having sex at their houses without any parents showing up asking what the noise was.
- How everyone seemed to love their jobs. And how easily they 'found' a job doing something making a lot of money, yet mysteriously never seemed to be at work. People would just start businesses with no start up costs or capital (or experience) and they would be huge successes. Phoebe from Charmed was hired just out of college to do an advice column once a week and seemed to make a lot of money from it. Her sister Piper ran a night club that she only had to manage one or two days a month it seemed. Her nights were pretty free... as were her days. There was an occasional 'problem at the club' but... she didn't seem to need to work much. Carrie from Sex and the City lived in a pre-war apartment in NYC and bought more than 80K in shoes doing a sex column in a magazine once a week. Every woman who works for a magazine in a movie seems to only work enough to have 1 meeting with their boss and then they're never seen at the job again.
The fact that you don't always have an answer or get it resolved at the end of the day. There isn't a solution to everything and sometimes the right answer is to walk away or cut people out of your lives. The fact that sometimes the people who hurt you the most are the ones you grow up with and they never really dealt with issues like that on TV when I was growing up.
Totally agree. Especially with the quick resolution thing. I feel like the way medical shows in particular show procedures being done same day and diagnoses being resolved within a couple of days is so unrealistic and makes people think everything is taking so long at the hospital when, really, it's just how long it takes. Also, doctors don't just have all of that information in their heads. They have to look stuff up sometimes.
Bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms all look coordinated like you used an interior designer.
Ladies have matching robes and nightgowns, no holey, ripped, or ill fitting pjs.
You can get payback or revenge and get away with it.
That it get better as you get older.
College
Romantic relationships
That people get jobs right away after graduating college and you can afford a nice apartment with an entry level job.
Everyone is able to live in a nice house and have a refrigerator full of food.
The criminals always get caught and go to jail.
The perfect person for everyone is out there and you WILL find them.
The government is always looking out for you and will always help in an emergency.
Being an adult is awesome. It always gets better.
Basically everything they show!
Quicksand.
I was convinced that quicksand was not only around every corner, in every jungle and forest on the planet, but how I’d meet my demise.
Parents are your best friends and your strongest allies when you are a teenager. They solve all your problems in 30 minutes or less. Honestly, my mom didn’t become my best friend until I moved out at age 25, and btw, she still can’t solve my problems in less than 30 minutes.
