Myths : The Way We Never Were : American Families And The Nostalgia Trap

Myths are a common occurrence in every society some myths date back to the beginning of time. While others form and are pasted down from family members over several generations.The definition of Myths is, a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events (Merriam). The myths that I will be discussing for this assignment at about marriage and divorce. In today’s society one might say that these two topics are similar, and in some cases I might agree. But after watching the video “The Way We Never Were: American Families & the Nostalgia Trap” I found that this was not always the case. First, I will explain the myths that I believed about marriage. The main myth is that people always married for love. I believed this due to the many different movies and books that I read and watched over the years. When I would break up with a girlfriend during high school, and my heart would be broken. My mother would always say, “one day you will find the right girl, fall in love, and get married. For these reason I thought that love was the only real reason to ever get married. The first recorded evidence of marriage contracts and ceremonies dates to 4,000 years ago, in Mesopotamia (The Week). Marriages from the past had an intended purpose other than love, in reality love was rarely involved. In today’s society not marrying for love is a foreign concept.…