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6 movies that tell us stalking is romantic

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I’m sure we’ve all had some sort of fantasy about some guy trying to win us over with some grand gesture like playing a romantic song on a boombox outside our bedroom window a la Say Anything… Which is sweet and all, but still rather creepy.

Now I know that many of us love a good movie, especially ones with romantic themes, with their meet cutes (when two characters meet in an adorable fashion) and awkward situations, but some of these movies seem to have created an unrealistic idea of love for many of us. Seriously, according to The Atlantic,  there’s an actual study about how romantic movies especially make stalking seem like a normal part of romance.

It’s an actual problem. If you told a guy you weren’t interested and he kept pursuing you and did something crazy to get your attention, would you think it was sweet, or would you be tempted to call the cops?

Here’s a list of films that are problematic and endorse this behaviour. If I’m about to ruin your favourite movie, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to know. And, chances are, you’ll probably love it anyway.

There’s Something About Mary
A man hires a private investigator to find his high school crush so that he can reconnect with her and then trick her into dating him? Yeah, that’s not sweet, it’s creepy and weird.

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Image: Quotesgram

Love Actually
Now, it’s one thing to be in love with your best friend’s wife, but to film her, and only her, on their wedding day so you can do goodness knows what with it? Yeah, that’s creepy. Also, running away after being caught with this creepy tape and then showing up at her door with placards saying that you’ll always love her? Also creepy. Especially when her husband, your best friend, is chilling on the couch inside.

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Image: Radiotimes

American Beauty
Filming someone (and their family) constantly mostly without their knowledge? Setting her lawn on fire to show her that you like her? Yeah, that’s hella creepy. Plus, there’s the fact that Lester is also stalking Jane’s best friend and fantisising about her.

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Image: Tumblr

50 Shades of Grey
Well, the rather inaccurate portrayal of a BDSM relationship is already worrying, but Christian Grey’s controlling, manipulative nature is even more so. Tracking Ana down at a bar when she’s with friends? Finding out where she works and then buying rope to “tease” her? Yep, you guessed it, that shit’s creepy.

The Graduate
I have many issues with this film, but I’m just going to stick to the subject at hand here. Ben is rejected by Elaine and then proceeds to stalk her all the way to university, even getting an apartment nearby so he can be close to her and then crashing her wedding. Romantic? To a certain degree. Creepy? Hell yes.

50 First Dates
How could I put this movie on the list, right? He’s just trying to get her to fall in love with him all over again every day, right? Yeah, but he’s also stalking a mentally disabled woman who literally cannot remember him from one day to the next and forces a relationship on her every day that they’re together.

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Image: Buzzfeed

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