Film: Like Crazy

I watched this film last night and found correlations between the content and several different theories. This is a love story that depicts the brutal realities that come with a strained relationship (involving physical distance, unfaithfulness, alcohol and romanticism).  The couple (in short) meet, bond/drink, consummate, establish mutual "commitment" to the relationship, break up and get back together several times, get married, separate again, then are back together again.  The relationship is an emotional and (metaphorically) physical roller coaster which ends with emotional disappointment and a frustrating dissonance at the closing of the film.  I wouldn't recommend this movie to watch for enjoyment or for any ounce of mood-lifting, but it makes a great subject for dissecting human development and relationship theories or ideas from.  Because of the correlations that this movie has pertaining to media, human development and intimate relationships, I am using it as a blog entry for this course's bi-weekly requirement.

Below are the theory correlations that I noticed throughout the film:

Excitation transfer theory: The girl (Anna) is 1. in a new place (America) 2. seeing him in class and romanticizing about him 3. when they "bond" they are both under the influence of alcohol

Cognitive Neoassociation Theory: Associates alcohol with love/connecting- the couple use drinking whiskey as a source of bonding and familiarity- at the end of the movie when Anna no longer likes drinking whiskey because she is trying to be healthier, it is associated as a negative thing because it breaks that bonding factor between the two.

What could be used to negate the behavior in the film is the Information Processing Theory:
sleeping with your desired partner before knowing them very long or before marriage, that it is normal to sleep with other people when going on a "break" or don't know if you will be able to be together so replace that person with another source of "love"....

Cultivation theory:  the director/writer of the film obviously has their own view on how relationships work and that it is normal to sleep around with different partners to try and find your best fit, or to "test" the bonds of love.  The film makers display casual sex as normative and almost necessary way to figure out who you do truly love and want to be with.

Anyone feel free to correct me if you see a discrepancy in the correlations.

Film: Cinderalla II (sequel)

Though a sequel usually is never as good as the original film, Cinderella (the sequel) exhibits the high caliber of morals which every parent aims to instill in their children- females especially.  This film also portrays the reality of "happily ever after" and that it is only "happily ever after" after hard work and maintenance.  This film includes the "ugly" step sisters, one of whom, Cinderella finds the good in despite her cruelty, and Cinderella truly seeks to serve her by helping her find happiness.  Cinderella sees that her step sister is interested in a young man, who is a baker, but poor- something her step Mother would never allow for her high class daughter.  Cinderella takes her step sister under her wing and teaches her to smile more, care less about appearances and that the temporal wealth of the one she loves is of little concern if she could but find love and happiness (and therefore grow as a person).  The movie portrays that a person can change, such as did the "ugly" step sister and she was beautiful for her kinder demeanor even if she had not always been that way.  Overall the moral Disney portrays is that a woman is beautiful and rewarded for her kindness, for being true to herself and by having charity for others.  Though Cinderella is in a new world completely outside of what she is used to, she makes the best of it.  The main example of this is when she was getting "princess lessons" and was told that royalty does not associate with commoners, she finally digs deep inside of who she is and realizes that her Prince married her for who she was, not what she was supposed to be to fit some image.  She steps outside and lets who she is shine and is loving and charitable to all, and is rewarded by positive reactions from her husband and father-in-law.

Cinderella 2 is unlike most Disney princess movies in this respect- that we get to see what "happily ever after" truly is, that it is not living in mere bliss at all moments- but struggling at times and almost never without some sort of affliction to work through and grow- certainly this movie depicts an important gospel principles pertaining to marriage and love and charity.

Even for moms that are anti-Disney-princess movies for little girls (and even boys), I would recommend reconsidering this film in particular- and even so for young boys, to instill in them to look for a woman (at the appropriate time) who cares for the important things of life- like serving others and showing kindness and exhibiting more inner beauty even if she possesses outer beauty, such as Cinderella.

Film: Love, Wedding, Marriage

My husband was out of town and one of my best friends came over and had dinner with me and we watched this flick... this movie was really interesting because it's all about marriage and the trials that afflict relationships.  This film was a great example to me of media used for a positive and negative influence. I think the positive aspects of this film were those which encouraged focusing on your marriage and working at it daily.  The negative aspects were the lustful influences which the men (even married men) were involved with.  It's a funny film with a lot of truth but also negative inserts which seem to be justified.  Worth seeing, but with paying attention to negative inserts which seem to desensitize the severity of the negative associations.