It's just a movie

How many times have we said the phrase, "It's just a movie"? Many times people forget how true this is and it directly affects them, and most of the time negatively. Romance films especially set us up for unreal expectations, a few times I've seen people that try to handle relationships like it is in the movies, with more dramatic behavior than is needed. In the horror genre, people develop irrational fears because of what they have seen go on in films. Children especially are susceptible to the effects of films, as a child I was scared for a week straight that a raptor was going to come screaming out of my closet because of the movie Jurassic Park. Numerous friends have told me that after they saw The Grudge that they were terrified of anything that remotely looked like long hair and refused to go into small spaces. I'm definitely not saying that films shouldnt contain dramatic, graphic, and unrealistic scenes that are unlikely in real life because thats what makes many films interesting. I think people just need to be reminded now and again that it is "just a movie" and that they shouldnt take it too literally.