Hey, Hollywood… knock it off.

I have a concern.

It’s a fairly large concern to be honest.

One that, if gone unchecked, could destroy civilization as we know it.

What is it that can be so detrimental that it has me dedicating an entire blog post to it?

Guys in movies aimed at girls.

Yep, I’m looking at you boy who uses a number as your name, pouty boy waiting in your district for your girl to figure out how to save everyone, whiny wannabe pirate boy, and sparkly vampire (especially you, sparkly vampire kid).

I mean, seriously!

I have watched most of these movies (I will NOT watch Twilight, it’s stupid, it’s trite, and if you try to convince me otherwise, your opinion will only further prove my point as to how culled the masses truly are), and I am left with this thought that Hollywood has completely given up on writing men as men in these ‘teen girl targeted’ movies where there is a ‘strong heroine’ lead.

Ok, to start, those girls are not strong. They aren’t even a good image of the reluctant hero. They are, at best, people thrown into bad situations who are just getting lucky because it suits the story. Then they add in a male love interest who is nothing more then a meat backpack incapable of actually accomplishing anything on their own, and really just turn out to be Jar-Jar Binks in a flesh suit. (Yes, I despise Jar-Jar also, actually, all three of those movies were just.. dreck.)

Wow, you caught me monologuing and I totally went on a squirrel moment there.. sorry.. back to the point.

Having worked in youth ministry for as long as I have, I have watched many dating relationships start and fail. But over the last few years, I have noticed this trend that is really irking me to no end. This pacifist and apathetic attitude the guys tend to have toward pursuing the girl in the relationship. As if, just because they asked (and some of them didn’t even do that *BOOGLE*) they don’t have to continue to pursue the girl.

Now, I’m not talking stalking, I’m talking about making her a priority, I’m talking about winning her heart, I’m talking about making her feel like she really is your world, I’m talking about genuine courting (an art that has been killed because ‘dating’ is just so much easier… again *boogle*).

This isn’t about chauvinism, this isn’t about masculine uh-rah, this isn’t about grunts and scratching. It’s about the art of chivalry, taking chances, putting yourself out there to get hurt because she is worth it.

Now, I give you, I could be wrong about all this, because I have not been part of the dating world since 1990, but, I did pursue my wife for 3 years before we got married. Twenty-four years later, I’m still pursuing her, because she is totally worth it. So, I got a bit of experience with what I’m talking about.

So, Hollywood (and you writers who do the screenplay’s and books those movies are based on), the world needs less Edward, Four, Gale and Will Turner’s and just needs more…

Lloyd Dobbler’s.