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Relationships in As Good As It Gets

James L. BrooksÆ film As Good As It Gets offers a compelling portrait of relationship development, friendship, and intimacy. Melvin Udall is a bitter, lonely man who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. His disorder and his curmudgeonly demeanor isolate him and make relationship development complex when he does interact with others. Melvin is ultimately able to develop a friendship with a waitress name Carol Connelly, one that demonstrates the process of relationship development and decay, the impact of communication climate, and that conflict must often be overcome to forge intimate friendships.

According to Bukowski and Sippola (2005), relationship development is a process akin to a ôdialectic or interface between self and otherö that involves ôbalance, conflict resolution, intimacyö and other aspects of interpersonal communication (p. 97). Wood (1982) maintains that there are a number of states or stages involved in relationship development and/or decay. Stage one relates to pre-relational issues, or the aspects of relating that individuals bring with them prior to forming a relationship. Stage two Wood (1982) defines as ôinvitational communicationö or ôauditioning,ö that is more often than not a result of ôproxemic happenstance,ö (p. 79). We see this is the case with the audition phase of the relationship between Melvin and Carol, for Carol is the only waitress Melvin permits to wait on him and she works in the only restaurant where he will eat. In this stage of relationship development, the goals are a reduction of uncertainty through knowledge acquisition and an exchange of identity declarations (Wood 1982). We see this occurs in the film when Melvin discovers Carol has a sick child and Carolyn discovers Melvin is obsessive-compulsive. When Melvin unwraps the plastic utensils he always takes to the restaurant, Carol tells him ôSometimes you must try other peopleÆs clean silverware, as part of th...

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Relationships in As Good As It Gets. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 15:11, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1711680.html