Happiness in Relationships

One thing that bothers me about this society is how unhappy people seem to be and their overall acceptance of the melancholy. It has been said that the more we have the less we appreciate it. Perhaps we could conduct a survey, comparing richer nations to poorer ones. However, I'm not here to discuss this kind of statistics - partly due to lack of means or funding to conduct such a survey and partly due to the problem of trying to measure a subjective sense of happiness on an objective scale.

No, I'm here to discuss a strange trend in western society - particularly in the entertainment industry. The portrayal of the average family/relationship. Oddly, it's hardly ever a pleasant portrayal. The portrayal is that of a dysfunctional family/relationship.
In Comedies, there's a sense of bitterness between couples - particularly married couples. It's written in order to be an amusing bitterness but it still holds that connotation of dysfunction. In soaps and dramas, there's a common theme of affairs and cheating - in which, the person in a relationship feels more affection towards another.

Not only in the media, but in everyday life, we all witness dysfunctional families or couples. We all know of people who are divorced, people that are going through an extremely rocky break up, arguments between couples, people who have cheated or who are cheating, etc. Even in the news, we always read stories about celebrity love affairs.

Overall, in this society, a successful and long lasting relationship is something of a rarity. Obviously each person has their own idea of a perfect relationship and how it should work. I know people will disagree with my view. That's not to say I'm wrong, nor is it to say that they're wrong. It's just one of those rare occasions where it is simply down to personal taste and not fact. Therefore, I'm not trying to enforce an idea about how a relationship should work - this is simply how I see things.

In my view, this overall negative portrayal of a committed relationship is depressing. Why do these unhappy couples end up 'stuck' together? In my experience, it's either for financial reasons or for their kids. The latter is admirable, but at the same time it's still depressing.
Perhaps it's because I'm young and my experience on these matters is minimal. Perhaps my ideals and fears are born out of insecurities. Perhaps the media is behind this negativity. Perhaps the media exaggerates and twists. Perhaps the media is more directly to blame for the glamorous portrayal of love affairs and the tendency to force feed the public 'dirty secrets', making them crave more.

Maybe people are happier than I perceive them to be. Maybe people are happy in relationships where the passion has vanished like a drawing in the sand. For me, losing my passion for a relationship, indeed, for a person, would be a terrible loss. A relationship for me is friendship and a passion for another human being. A partnership where no one else is needed above the status of 'friend'.