The story of us
When a relationship breakup is occasioned, many view it as an event that one partner has decided to terminate his or her intimate love for the other. As Steven Duck (2007), a social psychologist asserts in his ideology of relationship dissolution, it is apparent that such breakups are prompted by several inductive stages in the human mind. On a different note, the social penetration theory, championed by Altman and Taylor 1973, maintains that breakups in relationships are a developmental stage of relationships, just that it’s developing backward, and only withdraw from the relationship in a similar way they entered. More prominent is the relationship dissolution theory by Duck as he continues to say that a breakup is an intra-psychic stage, where, a partner admit dissatisfaction and later on spend time thinking of the sources of dissatisfaction and further thinking of the way forward. The second state is dyadic, where the dissatisfied partner approaches the other and expresses their dissatisfaction. The third stage is the social phase, where it becomes difficult to restore the initial status of a good relationship, according to Duck. The last stage is the grave-dressing phase, where partners craft their versions of the breakup and tend to minimize fault on their side and maximize it on the other partner, as they figure out ways to attract new partners. Thus, this I the theoretical framework that this paper will follow in the analysis of the movies.
In the movie titled “The story of us,” Ben Jordan and Katie live as couples have been married for fifteen years with two children. Despite having a comfortable home and good looking family on face value, their marriage eventually turns out to be tragic. Both coupes perform or deliver to the family for the sake of the children but not for either partner. Otherwise, while left alone in the house alone, they cannot tolerate each other as they keep on quarreling at each other. The movie contains flashbacks of their fights, as well as faking happiness in the presence of the children. Upon sending their children to summer camp, the two couples figured out the best ways to live separately. At this time, they seem to recall what made them love one another in the first place. While living independently, they tend to share their strengths and weakness with fiends in both ends as they further seek to seek attention from therapists. As Ben writes his story to his grandparents, Katie finds ways to rejoin with divorced Marty. While explaining their positions of the breakup, Katie says that Ben lacks proper planning and preparedness.
On the other hand, Ben says that Katie can never be spontaneous. In the long run, as they attempt to reconcile, it is apparent that Katie is discovered by Ben preparing for dinner with Marty. Ben and Katie decide to tell their children about the planned divorce after returning from the summer camp. Both Ben and Katie tend to rethink of their relationship in totality as they discuss their happy and bad times along their drive. However, they realize that they still loved each other and promised to be determined in their relationship in raising a happy family.
Conclusively, the theory of relationship is depicted in the movie as we see all stages of relationship breakup addressed. The couple is seen in constant fights through flashback, they plan on living separately, and consequently working on a divorce. Later they explain their position of the relationship, and Katie is seen moving in with a new partner. Eventually, they reconcile and come up with a structured way of living together happily.
Reference
Ellie .K. (2019) “The story of us.”