Dowd Article

In the article "Men Just Want Mommy" by Maureen Dowd, Dowd discusses how old movies used to focus on the "...snap and crackle of a romance between equals..." but today movies and media tend to focus on the romance of unequals. In the article, Dowd says that this is "art imitating life..." when, in my opinion, it is art inspired by life. The screenwriters of today's movies had to get the idea of the romance of unequals from somewhere. In this case I think that art has also helped to fuel the craze. Not only do you see older men of power taking up with the maids, nannies, and secretaries; you see women doing the same. The classic example was made famous by Eva Longoria on the show Desperate Housewives, where her character is a housewife that is having an affair with their teenage gardener while her husband is at work. This example has become a pop culture cliche and imitated on several other shows. I think it is very interesting that more than a half-century ago people thought that a romance between equals was exciting and now, it seems as if people have become bored with the normal love story and have resorted to other more interesting romantic situations for entertainment.