Challenging Real Life Tropes

Since the moment we are born, we are conditioned to hold certain beliefs. Some of those beliefs keep us safe, like believing in the dangers of heights, matches, and knives. But some of the beliefs that become ingrained in us throughout our lives turn out to be nothing more than real life Tropes that risk us maintaining a narrow view of a nuanced subject. Two that immediately come to mind are: moms are meant to sacrifice all that they are for their children; and pious people look, act, and behave in one very specific manner. Television, movies, and literature are finally calling these Tropes into question, opening our eyes to the diversity of experiences.

Movies like Bad Moms and platforms like those of Kristina Kuzmic bring up all the nuances of motherhood that have gone unaddressed for centuries. Until recently, western culture has held these common beliefs about motherhood: Moms should always be tolerant of their children's behavior; A badly behaving child reflects poor parenting; Moms should feel content sacrificing their careers for their families; All a mom wants to do is spend all her time with her children; Moms always love doting on their families; Moms don't need a social life; Moms should be able to care for their families 100% of the time without support or breaks.

Whether or not these beliefs were ever stated or written is irrelevant--society behaved as though these beliefs were undeniable.

But whereas mothers may have felt shame for expressing their contention with these beliefs before, today no such reservations exist. Moms are declaring everywhere that they need a break from their kids. They're showing society that they want to pursue their dreams and will not sacrifice them easily. They're declaring that parenthood is meant to be a shared responsibility where both parents invest in their children's upbringing and also in the management of the home. More and more movies are depicting these truths, more and more books are painting a more authentic picture of parenthood.

Likewise with religion. We are more apt to see fiction portraying the Christian protagonist hating his neighbor, or the Muslim protagonist getting drunk. In The Beauty of Your Face, by Sahar Mustafah, the young Muslim protagonist is promiscuous in her adolescence. In The Other Americans, by Laila Lalami, the Muslim protagonist drinks beer and goes on dates. Is this an affront Islam? Is it an invitation to behave similarly? Does portraying Muslims taking part in clearly unIslamic behaviors mean that we condone such conduct?
Not at all. The truth is fiction, in it's essence, is an art which lays bare the intricacies of human behavior and human emotions. It shows us all the angles of a character--his positive and his negative--because people are nuanced like that. We have our good and our bad. We do wrong even when we know it's wrong. Maybe we atone for it, maybe not. We do good even when there is no reward. Sometimes it makes us feel fulfilled, sometimes it leaves us feeling empty.

We do, regardless of whether or not it's what we should do. And that's what makes us human, makes us real, makes us relatable.

And if the movies we watch and the books we read are to have any standing with us, then they must portray us wholly, with all the many conflicting layers that compose us.

Are you ready to make your writing dreams come true?

Yes! I want to make my writing dreams a reality!