Just Wright

Just Wright

Relationship Analysis Essay

The movie is centered on Leslie Wright who is a straight-shooting physical therapist who gets the job of a lifetime working with NBA All-Star Scott McKnight. All is going well until Leslie finds herself falling for Scott, forcing her to choose between the job and the tug-of-war inside her heart. Oblivious to her romantic overtures, McKnight is instead drawn to the affections of Leslie's live in childhood friend Morgan, who has her gold digging sights set on being an NBA trophy wife.

1. Stages:

Leslie and McKnight both have their individuality but are so similar in nature that I will discuss them together. They are both good hearted people who treat others with respect and are committed towards doing well for others. Leslie's goal is to meet someone who loves her for her and not look at her as simple a friend. Leslie is often overlooked because of her physical appearance and nice nature. She is often told by the men that she meet that she would make a great friend. She has grown tired of hearing this same old story while she watched other women get the men of their dreams. McKnight has everything that he could possibly want except for a good trusting woman in his life so this has become his goal without him searching for it. Their love styles are that they want unconditional straight forward love that isn't confusing. They both enjoy the simple things in life. Both of their qualities reflected this. These two individuals presented Storge love as their love type. I say this because they enjoyed each other's company due to the fact that they had so much in common such as music and basketball. During their interaction they became friends and started to notice each other's qualities because they often mentioned their likes and dislikes. The New Jersey Knicks was one such topic that drove them crazy. This was the start of their invitational communication along with the fact that Leslie knew every statistic that pertained to the Knicks basketball team. Later on in the friendship they started to mention each other's physical qualities. As we all know sometimes we have to fish in order to find out things about someone that we are interested in. Leslie started the explorational communication when she started asking McKnight about his music likes. McKnight started when he asked about certain features on her automobile. The communication between them intensified between the two when they started to ask each other about what types of men or women they were interested in. These types of questions usually arise when you are hoping that the person of interest is really your type and is seeking the type of person that you are. It wasn't until much later that McKnight was able to totally commit his life to Leslie even though she had long before committed herself to him.

Once committed to each other Leslie and McKnight continued to the navigation process. It didn't show it in the movie but I could imagine them living (placemaking) in a really nice home together with one room totally dedicated to the Knicks basketball team and their accomplishments. Being that they loved most of the same things one could only conclude that their relational culture would have been one of understanding, meanings and old traditions that would be adopted from their families.

2. Definition of Interpersonal:

Based on Julia Wood's definition of what is or isn't an interpersonal relationship, I would have to say that both Leslie and McKnight are in an interpersonal relationship. They communicate in the I-Thou rather than the I-It. They share intimate details about inner beliefs and what they dream of as being happiness. They talk about their basketball mostly because it is something that interests them the most. Being a Knick is a must between them because they feel that being a Knick gives them life. They have intercourse once and Leslie feels complete and has a glow on her face but soon looses it due to an ex-girlfriend from the past. She still loves McKnight with all her heart but feels somewhat betrayed. This showed me that she still had feelings for McKnight and was willing to give him up so that he might find happiness. Being that these two had so many similarities it was a guarantee that they would fall for each other. The issues that they faced throughout their meeting only strengthened them for their future. McKnight soon found out that his ex-girlfriend was not what he wanted because she didn't really care about his well-being as did Leslie. Leslie proved her commitment to McKnight when she stuck by his side through