Essay on When Harry Met Sally

The film “When Harry Met Sally” is rife with examples of interpersonal communication victories and utter failures. The main characters- Harry Burns played by Billy Crystal and Sally Albright played by Meg Ryan- are captive to each other’s company during a car ride from Chicago to New York and quickly find they maintain very opposite viewpoints on much of life, especially relationships between men and women. The premise for the argument and the remainder of the film is the disagreement as to whether or not women and men can be friends without sex getting in the way. Harry maintains it is not possible, and Sally takes the opposite position. Throughout the film Harry and Sally display a number of different communication traits. Their

Columbina does not usually wear a mask but sometimes wears one covering only her eyes. Her

“Men and women can't be friends, because sex always gets in the way”, is the main theme of the movie “When Harry met Sally”. The script is a good example of the interpersonal communication ten stage model by Mark Knapp. This developmental model entails the stages of a relationship from it’s infancy to an ending. In the movie we can clearly identify all ten stages of this model.

Through this use of language in their banter and witty exchanges, they would be more interesting to the audience as they are a unique couple who are ‘just them’ and their exchanges would fuel much speculation about their life, whether they love each other or hate each other.

She was attracted to his sense of humor and his assertiveness. The last primary force would be similarity meaning a degree to which people have the same values, interests, and background (Alberts 192). Think about a friend or spouse and their personalities, beliefs, and interests and think how much in common each have with one another.

Sally Ride was an American Astrophysicist and an astronaut. In 1978, Sally Ride joined NASA. One of the most prestigious jobs you can acquire in this world. She was a very intelligent woman, who worked very hard for the life she earned. Ride had considered a career in professional tennis; she was an amazing athlete. Especially when it came to tennis, which was her favorite sport. She decided that a career of being an astronaut would take her much farther in life than a short-lived career as a tennis player.

This film, over-all, was actually very entertaining and humourous. The interaction between both Harry and Sally had me laughing more than once over the duration of the film and it had clear visuals of two people bonding and forming a friendship, and eventually a relationship, from the

to have a great deal in common, but once we look deeper in to the stories it becomes

It is often said that all good things come to an end. Relationships come and go, and some mean more than others. In fact, there was even a relationship model developed by a communication researcher by the name of Mark Knapp. In his model, he goes through what seems to be presented as a smooth step transition from each stage in which a relationship eventually evolves into. As I studied this up then down ladder model, I began to realize that I ought to build up some strong calf muscles, because my relationship sure has climbed up and down a few flights of stairs. Mark Knapp believes that relationships go through multiple stages, the uphill stages being initiation, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, then relational maintenance. On the flip side, Knapp believes the descending stages to be differentiating, circumscribing, avoiding, and eventually, termination.

example, when Valentine begins to realize that she "could persuade other people to her point of

Likewise the intercuts of footage also reveal in Sally and Brian a relationship which will never last. As their eyes meet across the room, Fosse deliberately pans back to show the extreme distance between the characters. And although their relationship is now sexual, Brian's echo of Sally's feminine self concept 'doesn't my body drive you wild with desire?' reflects a man as tentative about his sexuality as Sally is about anonymous domesticity.

Way, she encourages the reader to appreciate the strength of their love and how their friendship was a lot deeper than a sexual attraction.

Sally is a very structured person. To quote Harry, she is a "high maintenance" women. Harry, on the other hand, has a more laid back attitude. This causes some tension between them on the long drive to New York. This fits well into the romantic comedy genre. In a romantic comedy there is usually tension between the two charcters in the beginning. Part of this pattern is for

him to bribe the woman into coming back, this is known as the honeymoon syndrome.

When you spend two hours with the same group of people every week for a long period of time you are going to form relationships with them. This