I Asked You What Romantic Movies Got It Wrong
Iconic Marriages Intentional Dating Series: The Shift Toward Purposeful Connections in 2025 | Iconic Strategies for Finding Meaning and Love
Good morning, Icons
Welcome to our final week in January 2025. Did it feel long to anyone else? It did for me.
We are back with Iconic Intentional Dating Series leading up to book 7.
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January Fundraising Goal: $4,200
Dear Icons,
As we kick off the new year, we are excited to announce our January fundraising goal of $4,200, which is part of our larger effort to raise $50,000 in 2025. This month, your contributions will be directed towards some critical areas that will help us achieve our mission of empowering marriages and building strong families across America.
Allocation of Funds:
$1,200 towards our CCM (Conscious Conservative Movement Ministry and Leadership Academy) training by
Coach Felecia Killings
, which is essential for expanding our reach and impact towards federal contracts. My next meeting is this month.
Medical Bills: Supporting ongoing medical expenses as I continue my battle with Crohn's disease like doctors’ appointments, testing and medications.
Free Books to Libraries in Middle Georgia: Providing valuable resources to mothers in our community, helping them build strong and healthy families.
Rewards for Your Support: As a token of our appreciation, we are offering exclusive rewards for our contributors:
A copy of our newly released book, "Mrs. Pinky Cooks": This cookbook shares my culinary journey, from growing up cooking with my mother and grandmother, to feeding my family of 8, and my fellow soldiers in the U.S. Army. It also addresses the challenges of cooking with Crohn's disease, prediabetes, and allergies.
Your support is crucial to our success. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a significant difference. Together, we can make January a month of progress and positivity as we work towards our 2025 goals.
Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey. Let's make 2025 a year of growth, resilience, and love for families across America.
The Romantic Comedy Myth: How Hollywood's Love Stories Mislead Us
I saw a discussion of the movie “Love and Basketball” on TikTok the other day and got to thinking about how many romantic comedy or serious movies are just plain bad. Not only do they lie about how real relationships work, some of the couples they push on us aren’t even good relationships to root for.
In Love and Basketball for example, the female lead seems obsessed with one man that in my opionion does not really love her. He, in fact, dragged their relationship by playing a game of basketball hard to NOT date her. This was a long drawn-out movie with two people that should not have been together.
In a world where love is a frequently sought-after experience, romantic comedies (rom-coms) have become a cinematic staple. They're fun, light-hearted, and often leave us with a warm fuzzy feeling. But underneath the charming meet-cutes and grand gestures, these films are subtly shaping our perceptions of romance and dating—and not always for the better.
Unrealistic Expectations
One of the main problems with rom-coms is that they create unrealistic expectations about what dating and relationships should look like. In these films, love is often instantaneous, effortless, and comes with dramatic declarations that sweep the protagonists off their feet. Real-life dating, however, is seldom so straightforward. Relationships require effort, communication, and a lot of compromise, which rom-coms rarely portray. This discrepancy can lead to disappointment and frustration when reality doesn't match up to the fantasy.
The "Perfect" Partner
Romantic comedies often feature idealized versions of partners—handsome, witty, sensitive, and utterly devoted. While it's great to aim high in finding a significant other, these depictions can set the bar unrealistically high. In real life, everyone has flaws, and part of building a healthy relationship is accepting and loving someone despite their imperfections. Rom-coms often skip over this critical aspect, leading to a generation of people who might struggle with finding "the one" because they're holding out for a movie-perfect partner.
The Grand Gesture Fallacy
Romantic comedies love a good grand gesture—think John Cusack holding a boombox outside a window in Say Anything. While these moments make for great cinema, they can be misleading in real-life relationships. Genuine love is often expressed in smaller, everyday actions rather than grand, dramatic gestures. By emphasizing these over-the-top displays of affection, rom-coms can create the false impression that love must be constantly proven through extraordinary means.
Love Conquers All
A recurring theme in many rom-coms is the idea that love can conquer all obstacles. While it's a comforting notion, it can also be dangerously misleading. Relationships can face challenges that love alone cannot solve, such as fundamental incompatibilities, personal issues, or life circumstances. Believing that love is enough to overcome any problem can set people up for unrealistic and potentially harmful expectations.
The Harmful Impact
The impact of these false realities is significant. A generation raised on rom-coms may find themselves disillusioned with real-life dating. They might enter relationships with unrealistic expectations, only to become disheartened when reality falls short. This can lead to a cycle of failed relationships and a pervasive sense of dissatisfaction.
Moving Forward
While it's okay to enjoy a good rom-com, it's essential to approach these films with a critical eye. Recognize that they are entertainment, not blueprints for real-life relationships. It's also helpful to seek out media that portrays romance more realistically, showing the ups and downs, the mundane, and the magic of genuine human connection.
Love and relationships are complex, beautiful, and sometimes messy. By letting go of the rom-com myths, we can embrace the real-life versions with all their imperfections and joys.
Introducing "Dating with Purpose" - Your Ultimate Guide to Intentional Love!
Get ready to elevate your love life with our first-ever hardback dating manual, "Dating with Purpose: Iconic Dating Strategies for Finding Love and Meaning" launching just in time for February 2025. This essential volume is designed to guide singles of all ages toward meaningful, intentional relationships that can pave the way to an iconic marriage.
Packed with expert advice, practical tips, and real-life success stories, "Dating with Purpose" helps you navigate the modern dating landscape with confidence and clarity. Learn how to communicate your intentions, prioritize compatibility, and build a strong foundation for a lasting partnership.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to transform your dating journey and move closer to the iconic marriage you've always dreamed of. "Dating with Purpose" is more than just a manual—it's your trusted companion on the path to love. 💖
Grab your copy this February for $25 eBook or $40 print, and start your journey toward intentional, purposeful connections!
A few Movie Opinions
Vanessa Wiliams character on soul food was plagued with being used for her money by her family, her sister’s husband cheated on her during their date with her sister and, her husband was hiding he was gay. They tried to make Terry, her character, out to be the villain but in my opinion, she was faced with a lot that her family kept putting on her.
Other movies about love and relationships that seem nice in reality are not. Check these out. Are there any movies that bother you? Leave a comment.
500 Days of Summer: Tom and Summer’s relationship is built on unrealistic expectations and differing views on love, leading to inevitable heartbreak.
Gone with the Wind: Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's tumultuous relationship is fraught with manipulation, ego, and power struggles.
Blue Valentine: The intense relationship between Dean and Cindy highlights the stark differences in their personalities and priorities, leading to a painful breakdown.
The Great Gatsby: Jay Gatsby's obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan is built on an idealized version of her, ignoring the realities of their situation.
Titanic: While Jack and Rose's romance is passionate, it's ultimately unsustainable due to their differing social statuses and the tragic circumstances they face.
Closer: The relationships between the four main characters—Alice, Dan, Anna, and Larry—are marked by infidelity, deceit, and emotional manipulation.
Fatal Attraction: Dan Gallagher’s affair with Alex Forrest leads to a dangerous and obsessive pursuit, showcasing the destructive potential of infidelity.
Her: Theodore's relationship with his operating system, Samantha, is emotionally intense but inherently flawed due to its artificial nature.
The Notebook: Noah and Allie’s relationship is marked by intense passion but also significant conflict and misunderstandings, raising questions about their long-term compatibility.
La La Land: While Sebastian and Mia share a deep connection, their individual ambitions and dreams ultimately drive them apart, highlighting the sacrifices often required in pursuit of personal goals.
Jenny and Forest Gump’s relationship was not a good one just because of Jenny’s childhood abuse. She should have gotten the help she needed instead of partying and putting Forest’s health in danger with AIDs and leaving her son without a mom. That movie painted that relationship as somehow wholesome when she didn’t come back to him until she was on her death bed.
Many movie relationships are for entertainment but aren’t as good as they lead you to believe. Do not take relationship advice from television and movies but from real-life tools that can help you and your family grow. Do you need coaching through your relationship and marital issues? Reach out to us and set up a consultation for support.
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