rant 2: Jerry Maguire,dependancy and love

In many ways the 90's classic Jerry Maguire is the standard romance films, however there are a few things that keep it from being completely typical. One of the biggest things that drive the movie, is that it has three women to draw an example of what a relationship looks like. The best thing that shows how  a successful relationship works is through how dependent the couple is on each other. The first female lead Avery Bishop(Kelly Preston) treated her relationship with Jerry very casual. She was emotionally distant, controlling, and manipulative. She is meant as a stereotype of what he modern career woman is like. The modern career woman is the exact opposite of what was expected for women for most of human history. Throughout history most women were expected to be obedient, chaste, dependent, and only took care of the family. Now the modern career woman is portrayed as independent, driven, job oriented, and willing to use any method to get the job done. However Bishop was a little more developed than your average career woman character. Her character had a certain degree of vulnerability, despite her collected nature throughout the film when Jerry finally broke up with her, she was devastated. Most people expect her reaction to be one of indifference, but she is sincerely distraught as evidenced when she attacks Jerry in retaliation. Bishop is meant to represent one extreme in a continuum of dependency, on the other end of the continuum is Dorthy Boyd(Renee Zellweger). Boyd is the epitome of an older female stereotype, she is needy, moody, a hopeless romantic, and always forgiving. In a sense she is a very one dimensional character that seems to be cut from a preset model. The only thing that truly separates her from being a unnoticeable character is her son Ray Boyd(Jonathan Lipnicki). The young precocious Ray also immediately forms a bond with Jerry, which Jerry eventually becomes a father figure which allows him to bond with Dorthy. The fact Jerry, Ray, and Dorthy form a rather unorthodox nuclear family allows her character to develop much further than it did if she was by herself. After she goes to work for Jerry, she has taken a big risk because not only is she risking providing for herself, she also has to worry about providing for her son. Jerry eventually realizes this and has to try to set things right by becoming not only a better provider for them as a boss, but eventually as a father and husband. Some may argue a key driving factor in starting their relationship is the guilt he feels for causing chaos in their life. It is also guilt in the end which causes him to return at the end of the movie. Even after Jerry abandons the Boyd's, she is more than ready forgive him for all that he did and is willing to continue their relationship. The final woman lead is Marcee Tidwell(Regina King). Marcee is the wife of the up and coming NFL player Rod Tidwell. However by no means does she play a passive role in her husband's career. She is actively advocating for her husband publicity and making sure that Jerry is providing for all that her husband and her family needs. Despite the way she acts towards Jerry, at home she is a supporting wife, caring mother and trying to make sure Rod's brother isn't wasting his life. She is portrayed as woman who cares deeply for her family, yet is willing to fight to make sure they are provided for. The movie is basically showing the the Tidwell's marriage is the foundation for which Rod can fully develop his career as a professional athlete.  Marcee is the middle of the dependency continuum between the aloof Bishop and the needy Dorothy. She shows she is capable of working by herself to meet her family's needs, but was shown to be supportive and reliant on him in times of turmoil. The final character whose dependency needs to be analyzed is Jerry Maguire himself. In the beginning of the movie he starts similarly to of Bishop in the sense are emotionally distant. However the reason for their distance is completely different. He becomes distance from her because of a crisis of conscious in his career. He was a hot-shot sports agent who was cable to meet all his needs independently from his romantic partner. However when his financial stability is threatened, his pride prevents him from relying on her. They are physically together but emotionally distant. Jerry only finally breaks off their relationship when he believes he will be able to financially support himself again by landing an important new client. His relationship with Dorothy is based of her dependence off him both financially and emotionally. When he is fired and decides to start his own firm, she is the only one who follows him. At first she is completely reliant off him to support her and her young son financially. Then as the movie progresses, they later become emotionally dependent on each other. However, Jerry has never experienced this type of serious emotional dependence in his adult life, so he eventually becomes over whelmed and leaves her in his confusion. Only after they both see how the Tidwell's successful relationship works are they both able to fully handle a mature adult relationship. Jerry Maguire is a movie that shows how a balance of dependency, love, commitment, sharing of responsibility and respect is needed for a successful relationship to work. This is Corey Weiss saying: "you stay classy San Diego".