What Relationship Stages do Lloyd and Diane Experience?
To answer the posed question, it is crucial to state that Lloyd and Diane are in a romantic relationship. Caroll (2014) explains that there are five main stages of any romantic relationship. The five stages are initial meeting or attraction, curiosity, interest, and infatuation, becoming a couple, power struggle, and commitment. Taking the film Say Anything by Cameron Crowe, one can argue that the main characters, Lloyd and Diane, go through each of these stages by the end of the movie.
The first stage the two characters go through is the initial meeting or attraction stage. The two meet at a graduation party and realize that they like each other. They then start dating a few days after. In the second stage, the curiosity, interest, and infatuation stage takes place during the first few weeks of dating. Even though the two characters are very different, they seem to enjoy each other’s company. Analyzing some of the activities the two engaged in, one can argue that they were starting to fall in love with each other.
The third stage is becoming a couple. During this stage, Lloyd and Diane notice their differences and their relationship begins to become tense. Indeed, the couple goes through some challenges but they appear to always choose each other. The relationship, therefore, grows into the fourth stage, which is the power struggle. The power struggle occurs when Diane’s father asks her to stop seeing Lloyd. It is during the power struggle that the relationship suffers and the two characters break up. The last stage, the commitment stage, comes in when Diane realizes that she needs Lloyd in her life. She reaches out to him and they get back together. To show the commitment, they relocate to England together.
Reasons for Self-Disclosure between Diane and Her Father and Between Lloyd and His Female Friends
From the film, it is obvious that Diane and her father are very close. They have very open communication in regards to what they are feeling, and how they perceive different things in life. One of the factors that can be identified to have an impact on the self-disclosure component between the two characters is the fact that James Court, Diane’s father, is a single parent. Being both mother and father to Diane, Court has to ensure he understands everything that goes on with his daughter. For the stated reason, the character introduced a culture of open communication between him and his daughter.
Another reason for self-disclosure is a feeling of gratitude that Diane has towards her father. She appreciates that he is willing to do anything for her, and has been there for her throughout the years. Diane, who lacks a mother figure, understands that her father is trying as hard as he can to provide the motherly support she requires. Therefore, she feels the need to tell her father everything that is going on with her. On the same breath, she thinks that her father has to be involved in everything she does, including her relationship with Lloyd.
Lloyd and his friends also present some form of self-disclosure. Lloyd is keen on telling his friends about his relationship with Diane as he wants advice on how to treat a lady of such high class. When he realizes that some of his friends are misleading him, he opts to keep quiet and a limitation of self-disclosure is presented. After the heartbreak and disappointment, both Lloyd and Diane decide to only trust one another.
Why Did Diane’s Father Choose to Lie to Her about His Finances? What Effect Did His Dishonesty Have on Diane and Their Relationship?
Diane’s father decided to lie to her about his finances due to several reasons. The first reason is that he engaged in illegal processes. Court uses the nursing home he funs to acquire dirty money. It can be argued that he was protecting his daughter by not telling her how he makes money. When Diane confronts Court about his illegal business, he explains that he did it to ensure she did not lack for anything. Taking the statement as genuine, therefore, it can be argued that the Court did not tell Diane about the illegal business to protect her.
As mentioned, the Court explains to his daughter that he had embezzled money to allow her to get what she needed in life. Using the premise, it can be argued that the Court thought that telling his daughter about his illegal business will entail stopping similar future transactions. Thus, his daughter would not have had the financial security he felt necessary to provide. It can also be argued that the motives for not telling his daughter about the embezzlement were selfish. Perhaps the Court was not ready to give up the rich lifestyle he enjoyed if his daughter found out the kind of business he was participating in. If the IRA had not approached Diane about her father’s crimes, he probably would never have told her what he does for a living.
References
Caroll, L. (2014). Love cycles: The five essential stages of lasting love. Novato, CA: New World Library.