Intimate Relationships - Essay Example

Intimate Relationship 1997 block buster movie ‘Titanic’ is a romantic epic, which has portrayed how first huge ship-wreck happened and with it many relationships sunk deep down in the sea bed. The intimate relationship of Rose Dewitt Bukater and Jack Dawson began at the hull of the ship. Rose Dewitt; an engaged maiden from the elite class tries to commit suicide from the pop of deck at night; when her mother Ruth pushes her to sustain her relationship with her fiance to stabilize their financial position (Sandler& Studlar, 1999).

  Jack luckily present there explains her how cold sea water would kill her slowly; more painful than a sleeping pill death. Hence, she changes her mind and tries to step up the railing, but slips instead. Jack helps her in such a dire situation risking his own life. Rose is inspired by his concern, care and compassion even though her fiance ‘Caledon Hockley’ insults him due to his financial status. Jack is poor but a happy go-lucky-man; Rose has been craving for independence from the deceptive elite norms.

She detests sham etiquettes of her class and its obligations on her. Between Rose and Jack attraction sparked, she liked his confidence in himself without the material wealth, admired his independence and freedom to act upon his choice and eventually respected his integrity. Rose felt attraction due to proximity, similarity and reciprocal liking (Miller, 2011). On the other hand, Jack felt association, reciprocal liking and most evidently was physically attracted too. The main idea behind the bonding process is an innate sentiment of hope; hope to observe expected or unexpected pleasant outcomes in the potential partner.

This is a process of trust development which entails mistrust as well. Hence, Rose faced the dilemma of mistrust when the locket ‘heart of the sea’ was presumed to be stolen by Jack. Eventually, she chooses between Jack (trust) and Cal (mistrust) by running away from the emergency boat to join Jack on the wrecking ship. Hence, one can determine Rose’s decision to choose risk and uncertainty instead of threat-less and financial stable lifestyle due to the recognition of trust pattern. Life is precious than all other supplementary things, with Jack she felt emotional contentment and freedom, and with Cal she felt emotionally threatened and caged.

Hence, emotional stability is vital to sustain any relationship. Verbal and facial cues along with positive and pessimistic body language demonstrate a lot about an intimate relationship. For instance, when Rose had a second thought about her engagement with Cal she witnessed his wrathful anger, the way Cal shoved the perfect breakfast; he would take no time to do the same with her (Cameron & Frakes, 1998).  Hence, she interpreted his rudeness and anger; a warning signal for her to refrain from him for any intimate relationship.

On the other end, Jack even though lower strata man has all the manners to win a lady’s heart. His smile, body language, gestures and language demonstrated compassion and kindness. He appreciated her curiosity to know more about the real world experiences and enjoyed every moment of teaching it. Care and affectionate gestures can depict a lot more about the bond than presents and financial freedom provided by the other potential partner. Positive social support for the acceptance of any relationship is highly significant in respect to self efficacy.

Hence, against the norms or unethical considered relationships face numerous unsatisfactory emotions (Lincoln, 2000, 231). Therefore, Rose was choosing a lifestyle and companionship against all elite norms of the society. Her mother ‘Ruth’ and other acquaintances did not approve of it at all and only a lady ‘Molly Brown’ saw the intensity of their love and approved her relationship with Jack. Many at time less social support is also enough to depict positive influence on mental and physical health of an individual.

And it can give psychological contentment as well. Ruth however, could sense Rose’s growing inclination towards Jack and did not approve of her intimacy towards him due to his social strata. Since Rose was also engaged to Cal that is why, she entailed a sense of commitment towards him as well, which needed an official declaration of disapproval before beginning a new one. Sense of belonging, acceptance of diverse notions and uniqueness, mental compatibility and affectionate gestures play pivotal role in the sustainment of friendship or other intimate relationship for instance, Rose felt mentally secure with Jack and could express her desires frankly with him.

Likewise, she could not share or tell her fiancee her piece of mind. The emotional distance among Rose and Cal became apparent when she met Jack. Cal’s authoritative style, threatening gestures of possessiveness, jealousy and lack of trust became the root cause of their dissolution of relationship. References: Cameron, J., & Frakes, R. (1998). Titanic: James Cameron's illustrated screenplay. New York, NY: HarperPerennial. Top of Form Lincoln, K. D. (January 01, 2000). Social Support, Negative Social Interactions, and Psychological Well-Being.

 Social Service Review Chicago University of Chicago-, 74,231-252. Top of Form Sandler, K. S., & Studlar, G. (1999). Titanic: Anatomy of a blockbuster. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Miller, R. (2012). Intimate relationships. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Bottom of Form