The Honest and Amicable Relationship in an Epitome of Epic Romance - Research Paper Example

Say Anything Say Anything Lloyd, a laid back, simple and friendly guy is interested in a brainy and beautiful lady called Diane, who is the class valedictorian; Diane is clearly out of Lloyd’s league, and has been for over four straight years. However, Diane, a reserved, smart, and pretty lady, although envied and admire by her peers, sacrificed a lot of her free social time to concentrate more on academics; in fact, Diane does not interact with most people in her school. Lloyd, on the other hand, seems to be a people’s person; he seems to be liked by almost everyone, in addition to him knowing almost everyone (Crowe, 1989).

Diane is also very close to her father, whom she looks up to for encouragement; her father encourages and supports her to focus on her education, and has even helped her in mapping out her future. As opposed to Diane, Lloyd has not future plans with regards to academics; he clearly has no plans for graduation. He is only aspiring and interested in kick boxing, and in dating Diane. After several nervous tries, Lloyd finally manages to ask Diane out on a date during graduation; a request which Diane accepts reluctantly (Crowe, 1989).

This marks the beginning of a mismatched, and intense relationship between a somewhat underachiever, at least with respect to academics, and an overachiever and ambitious girl. This relationship between Lloyd and Diane can be said to a perfect exemplar of opposites attracts; an epitome of epic romance. It is this relationship between Diane and Lloyd, as well as that between them, individually and their friends and families that form the basis of this classical romance movie. Communication is important and is the focal point of this relationship.

The relationship between Lloyd and Diane is one that embraces the main relational parlances, which include Stability-Change, Separation-Integrations, and Expression-Non-expressions; it exudes both external and internal dialectics. In this film, there is evidence of a number of struggles, some of which end up in Diane experiencing what is referred to as “cognitive discord”. It is also clear from this movie that the relationship and communication that Lloyd has with his family is quite a contrast of that which Diane and her family-his father, have.

Considering these two families based on interactional perspective, reveals that communication and interaction relies more on conversations; this brings into focus the argument of the theory that all communication is either complementary or symmetrical-communication that more often than not entails one person trying to be in control of the communication, followed by attempts from the other person to interrupt with the aim of taking control of the exchange. Diane and her father are very honest with one another; they disclose a lot to another.

This may be because, for Diane, she only has her father as her close confidant; it is her father that she confides. Therefore, it is important for her to be honest with him. On the other hand, Diane’s father, Mr Court, loves her daughter so much and thus believes being honest with her would be best in fostering their unique relationship; one that even Lloyd admires. In fact Diane always discloses to her father of her whereabouts. One time she fails to tell her father of where she was; this made her father very angry; but as a result of his love for her, Mr Court manages to remain calm and lend a listening ear to Diane (Crowe, 1989).

Additionally, it is again clear in the film how important self-disclosure was for Diane and her father; on the day that she goes out with Lloyd, Diane discloses to her father of how the party was, how Lloyd made her laugh “…I realized it is like I had held everyone away” (Crowe, 1989). Lloyd, on the other hand, confides in his female friends, including Corey – a folk singer with a husky voice who had just been dumped by Joe, the love of her life (Crowe, 1989). Given that the kind of love Corey experienced and that which Lloyd is experiencing are quite difference, self-disclosure between them seem to serve as a way of getting advice from each other.

Diane and Lloyd are also very honest with one another and self-disclose freely. This is important for them given that they have feeling s for one another, and are in love. Lloyd is not ashamed or afraid of sharing his career ambition of kickboxing with Diane, neither is he afraid of telling Corey his friend, or his sister Joan, of his feeling for Diane, and of whatever is going on between them. For instance, when Diane tells Lloyd, that they should stop seeing each other and won’t say why, Lloyd is devastated, but frankly shares this with his friend and his sister (Crowe, 1989).

Lloyd does not understand why Diane suddenly rejects him; but talking to his sister about it makes her understand and even conclude that he doesn’t care whether Diane telling him she needs him is because she is in need of someone, or because she needs him. Despite the honest and amicable relationship that Mr Court has with his daughter Diane, he fails to disclose to her about his financial problems. Diane is convinced that his father is a nice person who exudes decency; she clearly does not know her father well.

She is devastated when she learns about her father’s financial problems with the IRS, but just like her father, Diane, despite of her anger manages to stay calm and even goes ahead to argue her father’s case at a local agent (Crowe, 1989). Reference Crowe, C. (1989). Say Anything. U.S.: 20th Century Fox.