When Harry Met Sally
March 3, 2014
CMST 210: Paper 3
In the movie When Harry Met Sally, there are many examples that illustrate Knapp’s ten developmental stages of romantic relationship; initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and terminating. Not only do Harry and Sally demonstrate what couples go through in the phases of coming together and pulling apart, they also show that romantic relationships don’t just develop overnight. They evolve throughout a period of time, and transition through the stages of relationship formation, not necessarily in order either. In my paper, I will be talking about how this couple demonstrates the concept of each of Knapp’s developmental stages, reasons why we form relationships, social penetration model, and the benefits and risks of selfdisclosure.
First, I’ll be talking about examples from the movie that demonstrate initiating, terminating, experimenting, and reasons why we form relationships. I noticed two examples from the movie that illustrate the initiating phase perfectly. In the scene where Harry first gets into Sally’s car, as they head off to New York, we see evidence of initiating because this is when they actually meet each other, learn one another’s name, and interact for the first time. Once they had gotten to know a little about each other in the 18 hours in the car, they decided it would be best to go their separate ways when they got to New York, this would be an example of terminating a relationship. Not only does initiating happen when you first meet someone, it can also happen years down the road when you bump into them again, not having spoken in a long time. When
Harry runs into Sally five years after their drive to New York, and they become reacquainted once again and their conversation is very strained, we begin to see that they have gone back to the initiating phase, after terminating years before. As you can
CMST 210: Paper 3
In the movie When Harry Met Sally, there are many examples that illustrate Knapp’s ten developmental stages of romantic relationship; initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and terminating. Not only do Harry and Sally demonstrate what couples go through in the phases of coming together and pulling apart, they also show that romantic relationships don’t just develop overnight. They evolve throughout a period of time, and transition through the stages of relationship formation, not necessarily in order either. In my paper, I will be talking about how this couple demonstrates the concept of each of Knapp’s developmental stages, reasons why we form relationships, social penetration model, and the benefits and risks of selfdisclosure.
First, I’ll be talking about examples from the movie that demonstrate initiating, terminating, experimenting, and reasons why we form relationships. I noticed two examples from the movie that illustrate the initiating phase perfectly. In the scene where Harry first gets into Sally’s car, as they head off to New York, we see evidence of initiating because this is when they actually meet each other, learn one another’s name, and interact for the first time. Once they had gotten to know a little about each other in the 18 hours in the car, they decided it would be best to go their separate ways when they got to New York, this would be an example of terminating a relationship. Not only does initiating happen when you first meet someone, it can also happen years down the road when you bump into them again, not having spoken in a long time. When
Harry runs into Sally five years after their drive to New York, and they become reacquainted once again and their conversation is very strained, we begin to see that they have gone back to the initiating phase, after terminating years before. As you can