Interpersonal Relationship

Last month, the movie UP by Disney Pixar ended its run in cinemas and my favourite part was the love story between the old man Carl Fredricksen and his wife, Ellie as I am unable to put in the clip of the movie here as the DVD of the movie is not up yet. Here's the write up of their love story.

Carl's quiet and sort of shy, but his love of Muntz leads him to Ellie, a sassy little girl who is as outgoing as Carl is introverted. They make for a great team and in fact will go on to share their lives together. From elementary school through high school and on up into adulthood, Carl and Ellie are inseparable, sharing every moment of joy and sadness together while dreaming of a time when they can actually take off on an adventure in the wilds of South America just like their hero, Muntz. But jobs and health issues and whatnot have a way of intruding on dreams, and Carl and Ellie grow old never having visited the South American jungles. And then, sadly, Carl becomes a widower with just his lovely little house and his beautiful memories of Ellie to keep him company.

you could check out their official site or read up the full synopsis by clicking on the respective.

Though it was just a short section of the movie , I could see how their relationship was built up. Their relational formation and development could be due to

1. Dissimilarities and similarities : Carl would always listen to Ellie talk about her dreams and everything she had to share, he would always lend a listening ear to her. While Ellie , being the outgoing one would encourage him to do things that he would love to do but probably would not have the courage to do so. Despite their opposing characters , they were drawn together by a common dream as mentioned in the write up above. They were thus brought together by their complementary differences , their social preference similarity and attitudinal similarity where they shared a similar social activity and had a preference for adventure.

2. Proximity : Living in the same neighborhood gave them more opportunities for interaction

When they eventually got married , I was able to see their relational maintenance where they met each other’s relational needs. For example in the short run , Carl would help Ellie around the house , they encouraging each other on as they worked together and when they got older , Carl would help Ellie up the hill where they always had picnics , taking care of her when she fell ill. In the long run , they worked together to fulfill their dream as they made a joint effort to save up in hope that they could go to South America.

So which was the key to their relationship formation , similarities, disimilaritites or proximity?

To me , I feel their opposing characters was the key while their similar dream and proximity just made everything easier. Having dissimilarities allowed them to support each other and make up for each other's weaknesses and needs. If they had similar characters and similar dreams , they would not have needed each other to remind and help each other out they could have just done everything themselves and they probably would not even be attracted to each other as they each have what the other had. For example , if they were both talkative then there would be nobody to listen. Thus , dissimilarities is the most important component here.