"No Strings Attached" is a movie about two individuals who decide to try and be friends with benefits. They want the intimacy and passion aspects of a relationship without the commitment. For this reason, Sterngberg's Triangular Theory is present. This theory propses that love has three components, intimacy, passion and decision/commitment. According to this theory, there are different outcomes depending on which compenets are present in a given relationship. The relationship in this movie falls under Romantic Love, which is full of intense passion but lacks commitment. I believe the Love Stories Theory also applies to this movie. This theory states that relationships fall under categories such as Business, Horroe, Travel, Gardengin, Collectibles, Humor, Autocratic Government, Police and Theatre. The relationship is this movie is similar to Collectibles which deals with multiple parnters, and Travel which deals with a new and exciting journey.

The Notebook

The Notebook is about a man named Noah and a woman named Allie, they both come from different social classes, Noah is poor and Allie is rich. Soon after they fall in love, they are separated by their social differences. Ellie is in town to spend her summer, they both spend an idyllic summer, but one night, a week before Allie is to leave town, she and Noah go to an abandoned house, Noah then tells Allie that he hopes to buy the abandoned house. Allie then tells Noah that the house will be white, with blue shutters, and a room that overlooks the creek so she can paint. The next morning, Allie’s mother tells her that they are leaving, Allie frantically tries to find Noah, but is forced to leave without saying bye. Time passes and Noah buys the house, he re-builds the house according to Allie’s description of that one night that they were together.  Allie starts a life without Noah and Noah never forgets Allie and hopes that she will one day come back, after years they re unite again, and Allie feels she still loves Noah. Time passes and Allie decides to admit to Lon, her new fiancé, that she still loves Noah and wants to be with him. Finally, we see both, Noah and Allie, deeply in love with each other. At the end of the movie, they are very old, and Allie has an illness, the movie ends having both dead peacefully holding each other’s hands.

The theory that applies to this film is Reiss’s Wheel Theory, this theory exemplifies love that develops over a course of time in four main stages: 1) Building rapport 2) Self Revelation 3) Mutual Dependency and 4) Personality Need Fulfillment

 Allie and Noah, both have the interest and fall develop a personal fulfillment. 

Sternberg/Lee in "Titanic"

“Titanic” is one of the most memorable romance films famously noted for its tragic love story between two star-crossed lovers, Jack and Rose. Rose, a stubborn, blossoming young girl of high social stature, and Jack, a lively, free-spirited boy who lives to make ends meet, both stumble upon each other on the RMS Titanic, and their fateful encounter spins into a forbidden love tale.

The love that they portray throughout the film can be represented by the following theories:

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love
This particular theory emphasizes on three major components of love: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. In the case of Jack and Rose, their love is not only complete on all fronts but unmistakably strong as well. This would be labeled as consummate love, where all three components are present. They portray a high level of commitment, intensity of the relationship, and passion for each other.

Lee’s Style of Loving
Lee’s theory is similar to Sternberg’s but incorporates more than just three attributes of love. His “styles of loving” includes: Eros (love of beauty), Mania (obsessive love), Ludus (playful love), Storge (compassionate love), Agape (altruistic love), and Pragma (practical love). Jack and Rose’s love would fit under Eros, love of beauty, and “love at first sight”. Their love tale spans over a couple days yet it is powerful, despite their class and social differences.

No Strings Attached

In the movie, No Strings Attached, the main characters have a relationship that is based on sex. They arae old friends, and they have very hectic lifestyles, and they feel like they need to have some sort of sexual relationship. The main characters are played by Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. As the relationship continues, Kutcher begins to fall in love with Portman, but she does not want to have a relationship and it just makes it harder for them both. Eventually they fall for eachother. Natalie Portman has an AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT THEORY because she does not trust many people. Unlike her sister and mother, she is not open about her emotions, and constantly pushes Kutcher away. When she feels like she starts falling for Kutcher, she pushes him away. On the other hand, Kutcher understands that they are strictly sex friends, but begins having feelings for her. In this movie, Lee's Style of Loving would be LUDUS because their love is carefree. The characters lay out rules that makes sure that they do not get attached, and they come to the understanding that their relationship is completely based on sex. They have no extensive commitment, so they do not feel obligated to be with eachother.

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is a 1996  comedy and romance film that was directed and co-written by Martin Lawrence, who also stars in the film. The stars that played in the film were of African-American actors such as Lynn Whitfield, Regina King, Bobby Brown and Della Reese. The film tells the story of Darnell Wright. Martin Lawrence was a ladies' man  in the movie who finds himself targeted by one of his obsessed lovers.

The first theory that represents the movie A Thin Line Between Love and Hate  is the Avoidant Attachment Theory. The reason it represents avoidant attachment was because the woman who played Robin which was  the obsessed woman with the character Darnell Wright did not want to get to close to Darnell and she was not comfortable with being close to him. Every time the characters Darnell and Robin would go out Robin would withdraw herself from Darnell. It was difficult for Robin to trust people because her first husband cheated on her with a white woman in her own house and she didn’t trust people that closely anymore especially man.

The second theory that I felt the character Robin possessed was in Lee’s Six Styles of Love- Mania after the two characters Robin and Darnell shared and intimate part with each other Robin begin to get obsessed with Darnell and jealous of every woman he talked to, and she actually tried to kill a particular woman he was involved with. Robin also had a high need for affection and attention. Robin would always ask Darnell did he love her after the engaged in an intimate activity and when he didn’t respond she would do crazy things to herself such as bruise herself up to make it seem like he had beaten her.

      It's Paris in 1899. Christian, a young English poet, comes to Paris to pursue a penniless career as a writer. However, he soon meets a group of Bohemians who tell him that he should write a musical show for them to be performed at the Moulin Rouge, the most famous underworld night club in Paris. The night they arrive at the Moulin Rouge, Christian meets Satine, the club's star and a beautiful courtesan. The poet finds himself plunged into a passionate but ultimately tragic love affair with Satine, the club's highest paid star and the city's most famous courtesan. Though it takes a bit of convincing, she falls for him as well. Meanwhile, the club's owner, Harold Zidler, invests in a wealthy Duke to help pay for the club, however, the Duke will only pay if Satine is his. This crazy love triangle twists and turns.


Lee's Style of Loving:
     Eros is the best style to explain this movie. Christian falls in love at first sight when Satine comes down from the ceiling on a swing to sing. He immediately has to meet her and know everything about her. When they do meet she falls in love with him too even though she thinks he is a Duke. They hold a strong physical attraction the whole movie and have a hard time keeping their hands off each other despite  the fact they need to keep their love a secret. 


Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love:
     There are three components to this theory intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. During the beginning it was filled with passion with intense physical attraction and romance. This leads them to find intimacy which Satin has not ever had before and they become connected. Christian and Satin were always committed to one another even though it was short lived and at one point Satin pushed him away but for his own safety. They came back together in the end. 

A Walk To Remember

A Walk To Remember is about a popular high school student, Landon Carter, who pulls a prank with his friends and gets caught and is in deed of facing the consequences. He has to do community service and has to participate in his school play which brings him closer to Jamie Sullivan, a shy, conservative, religious girl. Landon faces the humiliation amongst his peers of the fact that he is hanging out with Jamie, but they end up falling in love with each other.

The first theory that best represent the love story of A Walk To Remember is Attachment Theory- Avoidant Style. Jamie is shy and uncomfortable being close to others. She gave Landon a hard time when he asked for her help with memorizing lines for the school play. She has a difficult time trusting others and letting them in. Jamie did everything she could to avoid from romance until it became impossible to deny. We also see this in Landon. He doesn't trust others because of what happened between his parents. They got a divorce, so Landon feels that if he lets them in that they will end up leaving like his father did.

The second theory is Lee's Style of Loving: Agape which is portrayed between Jamie and Landon. They both were kind and patient towards each other. When Landon found out that Jamie had cancer and was dying, he sacrificed his life and did everything that she wanted to do before she passed away. Jamie was kind and patient with Landon when he needed help.

A Lot Like Love

Summary: This movie is romantic comedy where Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet are opposities who attract and have a one-flight stand from LA to New York; once the flight is over they part their separate ways but cannot really let go. As they try to search for love they keep finding each other. However, the timing always seems wrong but eventhough many years pass they finally realize that it is love what they feel for each other. Ultimately, deciding to let their love take its course.

Lee's Styles of Love: This theory consists of a categorization of six types of love that describe how couples are attracted to one another. The six categories are: Eros, Storge, Pragma, Ludus, Agape, and Mania. In this love story Eros is the one that applies the best since Eros is about passionate, strong physical attraction and this is what Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet felt for each other from day one. The first day the met they had a sexual encounter. It was a love at first sight. They felt really attracted to each other and they did not second guess themselves on expressing that passion while on the airplane.

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love: This theory consists of three components: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet throughout the movie complete this triangular love. They first feel passion for each other but takes them time to reach intimacy meaning after awhile they felt a bond of trust and warmth for each other. They ultimately, reach commitment and decide that they are going to have a long term relationship filled with loyalty, faithfulness, dedicationa and devotion.

Friends With Benefits

Jamie (Mila Kunis) works as an executive recruiter for a leading job agency in New York city and Dylan (Justin Timberlake) works as an art director in Los Angeles, Jamie has to try and recruit Dylan to interview for a job with GQ magazine. He ends up accepting the interview and they spend time talking around New York City. Jamie presents the contract to Dylan the next day and they end up spending more time, and end up with the conclusion that sex should not come with any emotional or that many attachments. So they end up fooling around with each other and end up falling for each other in the process. 

There are few love theories that this movie displays first is Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love and then continues with Lee's Styles of Loving.

First Sternberg's Triangular theory of love comes into play by they first showed intimacy, by having connectedness or bonding with one another, when they started to hang out and get to know each other. Then this led to sexual attraction, but without the "emotional attachments." and their decision to be nothing but friends with benefits was the label of their type of relationship.

Lee's Styles of Loving was showed throughout the movie, the were playful and not serious with each other and at first had a mutual relationship with each other. They depended on one another for sexual pleasure and desired the other person.  They had  Ludus type of love, carefree and casual, little emotional rapport and no committment.

But as usual as people spend more and more time with one another their is an attachment to them and a wanting. So after falling for each other they practice a more understanding relationship, one that might be more long term, to maintain their commitment over time, this going back to Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love, in the decision/commitment component.

The Blue Lagoon

    The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 film of two adolescents falling in love without any societal influence. Both were stranded on an island as kids after a shipwreck, and through time as puberty hit and as they began to grow up they begin to fall in love. They grow dependent of one another for survival, companionship, but also form a special bond. Without any knowledge or guidance they fall in love slowly unaware of their changes. This is a story of love in its purest form.

     One theory of love depicted in this film I would say is Reiss's Wheel Theory of Love. In this love story, the four stages of love are portrayed in one way or another - Rapport, Self Relevation, Mutual Dependency, and Personality Need Fulfillment. Rapport, coming from similar backgrounds, equals the characters in the film, both Richard and Emmeline come from same social status seen in the first scene of the movie when they're kids. But both are also the only people on the island, after paddy dies, thus theyre both equal to each other. Self-Relevation, grows once they are stranded on the island. They talk about what they want when they grow up, and begin a bond between them. Mutual Dependency comes about when Paddy, who was the only adult in the island died. They grew dependent of one another for survival and company. As they hit puberty and soon had sexual needs, they depended off the other for sexual desire as well, though they were somewhat unaware of it. Emmeline ends up having a baby, surprising both of them as they're not sure why or how, but that stage in the movie brings mutual decision making. They support each other, work together, make mutual decisions and are pretty much a family by then caring for the others needs, goals, and ambitions.
      Another love theory that relates to this film would be one of Lee's Styles of Love, the compassionate Storge Love. "Peaceful and affectionate love based on mutual trust and respect." The blue lagoon love story is pure and peaceful, confusing but affectionate, dependent off one another and filled with trust and respect. The sense of protection for Richard to care for Emmeline was not taught, but natural.

Obsessed

In the movie, Obsessed, Derek is a business man who just received a promotion and is happily married to Beyonce's character, Sharon. Lisa is a new temp at Derek's work and begins to stalk him and throws herself on him (sexually), Derek is not only not interested in Lisa but his job is also on the line due to her behavior. As the movie progresses Lisa haunts Sharon and Derek with excessive phone calls, interfering with their life, attending events in their life that she was not invited to, her behavior exceeds to thew point where violence and attempted murder of Sharon takes place.

The theory that would best describe this situation is Mania in Lee's style of loving. Lisa represents mania in the way that she was delusional thinking Derek wanted her, she imagined the two of them together and thought that Derek was head over heels for her but Sharon was in the way. Lisa did not accept the rejection Derek was giving her  and kept referring to him as "hers." All the characters would loss sleep over the anxiety because they knew Lisa would be up at night planning and watching them. Lisa directed her anger of not receiving any love from Derek at Sharon because she was extremely jealous that Sharon got the attention and that Derek stayed committed to Sharon.

This leads me to the second theory of love Consummate love from Steinberg's theory. This represents Sharon and Derek's love because despite the tempted seduction and the high stress that may cause the couple to break down they both keep their intimacy, their passion and most significantly their commitment to each other. This event does not hurt their relationship at all because of their deep love and trust they have within each other. The contrast of these two theories is what makes this movie interesting and unique.

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What Happens In Vegas

What Happens In Vegas is one of my favorite romantic comedies. The movie is about a woman who gets dumped by her boyfriend and a guy who can't even hold a job with his father, both of whom don't know each other yet. In relation to recent events, both people end up in Vegas to try and have a little fun. After being assigned mistakingly to the same room, they end up all going out that night and actually getting married in a drunken haze. When trying to fit the pieces together in the morning, the man uses a quarter the woman gave him to play a slot and they win millions of dollars. When they try to file for divorce at home and see who has the rights to the money, the judge is fed up with "our generation" and how me me me it is and says they must try to make it work in the marriage and then come back to court and the money will be split half (whether or not the marriage works, they just have to try). Through hilarious pranks and events, the two opposite people who thought they made a mistake end up falling for each other in the end.

There are two theories that can explain this sort of situation.
The first is Reiss's Wheel Theory. In class, we were taught that the wheel theory has four stages of love; rapport, self-revelation, mutual dependency, and personality needs fulfillment. This wheel can stop, continue going, or even go in the opposite direction. In the film What Happens In Vegas, We can see that this wheel spins backwards, stops at stages, and even returns to stages that passed already. In the beginning, they make a mutual agreement to get married and had shared each other's lives with one another (intoxicated) which is the end of the wheel; they sort of work backwards since they married first. Throughout the movie, as they start to fall for each other, they visit each stage. At the end, when they decide to stay married because they are actually in love now, they re visit the personality needing fulfillment stage and is evident that they will work together and support each other in marriage. This just shows that the wheel doesn't have to go in order, as explained and it is also very applicable.

The second theory is Sternberg's Triangular Theory. This theory sees love as a triangle, each side being intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. Depending on what type of love is being described, some sides hold more weight than others. In the case of this film, I would say that the love starts out as empty love; only staying together for the commitment. However, as the critique mentioned, this theory doesn't take into consideration time and development and this is evident in the film. They grow and end up falling for each other which, after all is experienced and said and done, it more reflects consummate love.

Maid in Manhattan

The Holiday

The Holiday, pictured above, is the story of two women who participate in a home exchange program at difficult points in their lives and ultimately fall in love with men they never expected to meet in a foreign land. The two love stories that develop and progress between the four main characters in the movie can represent micro-level perspectives on love that focus on the interpersonal nature of love with three different combinations of the components of love within Sternberg's triangular theory of love and two unique types of love within Lee's styles of love. Iris and Miles, played by Kate Winslet and Jack Black, represent Sternberg's Liking in the film because they have a good friendship that lacks passion and commitment throughout the movie as they spend a significant amount of time together but are emotionally attached to other people. They eventually realize at the end of the film that they have developed feelings for each other and that their relationship could lead to Sternberg's Consummate Love which contains all three components of love, intimacy, passion, and commitment, if they choose to pursue it further. The behaviors of these two characters also represent Lee's Storge love because their love develops slowly as a friendship as they get to know each other and finally advances in the areas of commitment and intimacy to become a comfortable love once they discover their true feelings for each other. Amanda and Graham, played by Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, represent Sternberg's Romantic Love in the movie because they are deeply passionate and intimate with each other as they get to know one another, but they do not have any degree of commitment in their relationship as they live across the world from each other and do not desire a long-distance relationship. After deciding to pursue the relationship without commitment, they discover that they do not want to give up their special connection and decide to put all of their time and effort into achieving Sternberg's Consummate Love, the kind of love that encompasses all that love can be. While they are getting to know one another, their actions represent Lee's Ludus love because they are playful and carefree with each other without thinking about or discussing short-term or long-term commitment for they would rather enjoy the little time they have together than say goodbye shortly after meeting and making a connection. These different parts of two micro-level theories on love are displayed by a romantic comedy that attempts to communicate the complexities and capabilities of love and loving relationships.

"The Vicious Kind" is a film about a man (played by Adam Scott) who has been emotionally damaged by his own experiences in love as well as the failed relationship of his parents.  When his younger brother brings a new girlfriend (played by Brittany Snow) home from college for Thanksgiving, Adam Scott's character tries to warn his brother about the ills of love and steer the couple apart to protect his brother from getting hurt like he has been.  In the process of doing so, the older brother finds himself infatuated with his younger brother's new girlfriend, and vice versa.  They end up having sex the same night the younger brother loses his virginity to his girlfriend.  The father discovers this but because the older brother and and his father both have blackmail worthy information on each other, neither of them says a word and the younger brother and girlfriend head back to college.  

1) Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love is very applicable to this film.  The love shared by Adam Scott and Brittany Snow's character would be classified as infatuating love because it is full of passion and irresistible excitement. However, when it is time to return back to college, the two surrender to going separate ways without a fight.  The little intimacy that had been developed is dissolved and the two seem to move on, denoting the lack of commitment.  

2) Lee's Style of Loving is also applicable to "The Vicious Kind."  In this case, Lee would classify the love present as erotic (eros) and maniacal (mania).  When the older brother first sees his younger brother's girlfriend, he is immediately drawn to her physically, being reminded of a past lover.  He cannot stop staring at her, dreaming about her, thinking about her.  They lose sleep thinking of one another.  Adam Scott's character even follows his brother's girlfriend into the grocery store and comes to the house she is staying in at night in hopes he will run into her.    

A Walk To Remember

A Walk to Remember is a love story in which the two main characters Jaime and Landon fall in love. London was a trouble maker that after getting into some trouble he is punished by doing some community work where he gets to know Jaime. After spending time together the two fall in love, however Jaime does not want to fall in love because she has cancer and she knows that there is no real cure for the illness. London and Jaime lear the true meaning of love and marry and stay together through Jaime's illness. Jaime end up dieting but London turned his whole life around and became a doctor to try to find a cure for the illness that killed Jaime. I think that we can apply Attachment Theory to Jaime's and London's characters. They both in my opinion have a n Avoidant Style of attachement at the beginning of the film. Jaime is to scared to get to close to anyone because she is afraid of falling in love and then her partner leaving her because of her illness. While London is afraid to truly trust anyone because of the relationship that he has with his father. His parents are divorced and he feels that every person that he trusts and gets close to him will end up leaving him just like his father. I think that we can also apply Agrape Loving from Lee's styles of loving to this love story. After finding out that Jaime had cancer and will eventually die, London choose to stay by her side and marry her. He made sure that all the the things in her wish list came true. He sacrificed his friends and life to be with Jaime. And after she died he continue to sacrificed himself in order to try to find a cure for her illness.

The Vow

The Vow is a movie based on two people who meet each other spontaneously and fall deeply in love with one another. Although they are very much alike now, she comes from a totally different background than he does. After a car accident, she loses the part of her memory that includes him and their marriage. He does his best to try to recreate things and for her to fall back in love with him.
I would say this movie is like Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love because when they were in love and when he was trying to make her remember him they had a lot of intimacy and passion within their relationship. They were very physically attracted to one another and it started to build on their closeness. Once she falls back in love they reach the decision/commitment aspect of it. I would also say that they show a bit of Lee's Styles of Loving because they have this powerful physical attraction (like I said before) and they have a sort of Ludus playful love that is really fun and they can make each other laugh and be goofy before she got into her accident. He tried to bring that out in her while he was getting her memory back as well. 

    Love and Other Drugs is a romantic comedy between this guy name Jamie and this girl name Maggie. The main character Jamie was trying to make it in the medical business by trying to get doctors to prescribe to his drugs. However, Jamie managed to get a doctor to let him prescribe his drug so he got to an assistant and that’s when we met Maggie. Soon after Maggie found out that he was a pervert to let the doctor do what he did to her; as a result, they started going out. Then Jamie finds out that Maggie has Parkinson disease and that she will soon need to be dependent on someone to take care of her. Jamie then understood that he truly cares about her and wanted to help her through her illness. Maggie later finds out that it was just all of a scam, she felt like he was just using her. In the end, Jamie realized he can’t live without her so they ended together.
    Attachment theory can be related to the film because of the way Maggie felt about her illness. The attention that she need from others and how the way she behaved when others cared about her. During the film you can see that Maggie experience the feeling of being secure when she knows that someone will be there for her no matter what happens to her. It was a constant struggle for Maggie to feel the need to let someone in her life that she would feel secure with. Avoidant came up when she felt like she could be independent and didn’t feel like she needed someone to feel bad for her because had Parkinson’s disease. Maggie tried to avoid meeting people and letting them into her life because she was worried about getting hurt. As for anxious it made it worry that she was not able to find anyone to want to take care of her for the rest of her life.
    Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love fit right into this film. Throughout the movie we got to experience Jamie and Maggie go through the stages of intimacy, passion, and decision/ commitment. Both Jamie and Maggie bonded in the beginning because of similar interest. Then their relationship got closer because of Maggie having Parkinson ’s disease and it got them to connect on a different level. Sooner or later, Jamie and Maggie both had a physical romantic attraction to one another. Eventually, a long term relationship is formed between the two when Jamie realized he wants to spend the rest of his life with Maggie.  

Ever After is one of my favorite movies because it is a Cinderella story. The main character, Danielle, is a servant who disguises herself as a noble to save another servant's life. In the process of saving the servant's life, she meets Henry, the prince, who is captivated by her personality and passion. Through spending time together, they get to know each other and fall deeply in love with one another. He finds out that she is not a noble, so their relationship ends for the moment. After she is sold to another master, he realizes that he is still in love with her and goes to find her. They marry and live happily ever after.

1. Reisswhey Theory of Love
Ever After definitely follows this theory because they first get to know each other by conversing at the lake and going on dates at the library. They talk about their desires; the prince tells her that he does not want to be king because that will only be his identity. They have a mutual dependency because they anticipate being in each others presence. They fulfill each others personality because they are different, but their love for each other is greater than their different social statuses.

2. Lee's Six Styles of Love
Danielle and Henry's relationship is a storge kind of love. This love is peaceful and affectionate based on mutual respect. This really becomes their love at the end of the movie. He is so free to be himself around her which makes him realize his true identity. She has an unfailing love because she does stop loving him even after he yells at her for deceiving him and ending their relationship.