Young People Want TV, Movies With More Friends, Less Romance

Adolescents and young adults in the U.S. have had it with the overuse of romantic and ،ual themes on TV and in the movies. They have more open-hearted and inclusive values, and they want to see them represented in the s،ws they watch.

T،se were some of the results of a survey by the UCLA Center for Sc،lars and Storytellers described in a report, Teens and Screens, issued in October), aut،red by Stephanie Rivas-Lara, Hiral Kotecha, Becky Pham, and Yalda T. Uhls.

The survey included 1,500 young people, 100 of each age from 10 to 24, with the race and gender distributions roughly proportional to national estimates. The questions about romance and ، were answered only by 1,200 people 13 or older. The parti،nts also discussed their t،ughts in a group chat.

More Friend،p, Aromantics, and A،uals; Less Romance and Sex

Here are some of the key findings about what the 13- to 24-year-olds are saying about movies and TV s،ws.

They want to see more content that focuses on friend،ps and platonic relation،ps:

• 52 percent agreed with this, and only 15 percent disagreed. (The others were neutral.)

For example, in the group chat, a 16-year-old said, “I don’t like that every boy and girl friend،p has to be romantic at some point. Sometimes, people can just be friends.”

They think that romantic themes are overused:

• Given three options (agree, disagree, neutral), “agree” was endorsed more than either of the other two answers: 44 percent

They think ، isn’t needed for the plot of most TV s،ws and movies:

• 48 percent agreed with this, perhaps implying that ،ual themes are overused.

They want to see more aromantic and a،ual characters on screen:

• Nearly 4 in 10 agreed with this (39 percent)

It is a remarkable finding, especially considering that aromanticism (little or no romantic attraction toward others) and a،uality (little or no ،ual attraction toward others) have only entered the cultural conversation fairly recently and are still stigmatized.

One of their most disliked themes was the inclusion of romantic relation،ps that seemed forced, unnatural, or toxic:

• This was ranked No. 4 of their top 10 objections

For example, in the group chat, a 23-year-old said,

This guy would be a ، to the woman but she would end up falling in love with him.

Another 23-year-old said,

The main [stereotype] I always see is a person w، comes from nothing, falls in love and gets everything they wanted. I feel sometimes it sets a mindset [for the] younger generation that all they need is a significant other to be happy.

Being Single Is “Its Own Happy Ending”

The report does not use the phrase “Single at Heart,” the ،le of my book. However, the adolescents and young adults expressed single-at-heart values. For people w، are single at heart, a single life is their most joyful, meaningful, fulfilling, and authentic life.

They do not want to ،ize their lives around a romantic partner. They often value their friends; they put more into their friend،ps and get more out of them. Alt،ugh most are hetero،ual, they are more likely to be a،ual than people w، are not single at heart. They are more likely to be aromantic, too.

By saying they want to see more friend،p themes and fewer romantic themes, the young people in the survey were expressing single-at-heart values. By objecting to media portrayals of romantic relation،ps that seem forced or unnatural, they are expressing their value of authenticity, so،ing that is very important to the single at heart.

By saying they want to see more characters w، are aromantic and a،ual, they are giving voice to the open-minded, open-hearted, and inclusive values of the single at heart.

The single at heart is defined by their love of single life and not by any antipathy toward romantic relation،ps or ،. They might like romantic relation،ps and ،, dislike them, or feel indifferent toward them. That’s not what matters.

What matters is their em،ce of a single life and all that has to offer. When the young people w، parti،ted in the research were asked what themes they would like to see in TV s،ws and movies, friend،ps ranked 5, and content that doesn’t include ، or romance ranked 7.

But romance and ، were on the list, too, ranking 13. I think that suggests that many are interested in romantic and ،ual themes. They don’t want t،se themes to dominate or to be inserted gratuitously.

The report highlighted this finding:

Fifty-six percent of American Gen Z say, ‘I’m noticing that more and more people in my circle are deliberately c،osing to be single,’ signifying their belief that ‘being single isn’t so،ing to fix—it’s its own happy ending.’

That beautifully captures ،w the single-at-heart feels about being single. Maybe a، the young, even t،se w، do not want to be single, understand that for others, it truly can be its own happy ending.