Love Jones Review Essay Example for Free

Love Jones Review Essay The consummate ladies man, Darius silky smooth presentation romises more sell than substance. And Ninas recently Jilted heart isnt looking for anymore of loves kind of trouble. love Jones begins with Nina and her good girlfriend Josie Nichols (Lisa Nicole Carson) packing up whats left of Ninas disappointing relationship. Fearful that the scars left from this failed romance may be too deep for her to heal, Josie takes her to a night-time poetry-slam at the Sanctuary, where she encounters Darius for the first time. The Sanctuary is the local haven where poetry is the prime draw, and a favorite night spot for Darius and his friends Savon Garrison (Isaiah Washington), Eddie Coles Leonard Roberts), Sheila Downes (Bernadette Clark, and Hollywood (Bill Bellamy). The romance dies between couples, we overhear Darius telling his friends from his intellectual set, because theyVe (people) given up on the possibility of it. In an awkward introduction at the bar, Nina catches Darius off-guard and, uncharacteristically, he fumbles and spills his drink on her. He recovers minutes later when called to the stage to recite one of his poems. He makes the most of the moment by calling his sensuous creation A Blues for Nina. Flattered but embarrassed, she informs him in front of his friends that there are opics for poetry other than sex. When he asks her to name one, she writes the word love on his hand. Everyone is impressed; particularly Darius. Darius runs into Nina at a record store managed by his friend, Sheila. She is there because she has Just been fired from her Job as a photographers assistant and desperately needs to hear the Isley Brothers. When Darius approaches her, she acts as thought she vaguely remembers his name. Darius seizes the opportunity though, by playing her a tender rendition of Parkers Mood. While Nina remains unreceptive at that point, she finally buckles and agrees to a date when Darius ppears, unannounced at her door presenting the very CD she had been looking for at the record store. He bribed Sheila so he could get her address and phone number off of the check she used to pay for a CD. His persistence pays off when a romantic statement l Just want to come up and talk leads to a passionate night at her apartment. The next morning, Darius and Nina confide in their respective friends Savon and Josie that, in spite of the incredible sex, It aint no love thing, they Just kickin it. Unfortunately, these two individuals arent exactly the best advisors they could have ound Josie is way down on men and lives her life vicariously through Nina, and Savon is mired in the problems of his eight-year marriage (his wife left him and took their son). But Darius is getting interested. He even reveals to Nina the sacred location of the Batcave (his apartment), where some interesting foreplay ensues when she whips out her camera and tells Darius to take off his clothes. The romance advances. Then, out of the blue, Marvin Cox (Khalil Kain), Ninas former fianc ©e, shows up asking her for a second chance. At Josies suggestion, Nina uses the offer to test Darius: Will he be Jealous, or coolly let her go? Darius pretends not to care, of course, and Nina moves to New York to see if she should resume her relationship with Marvin. Inevitably, Marvin and Ninas differences are irreconcilable, and Nina returns the engagement ring and then heads back to Chicago. Hoping to reconnect with Darius, Nina and Josie go to the Sanctuary, to no avail. Darius has settled down with a new girlfriend, Lisa Oacqueline Fleming). Enter, Hollywood, whose friendly competition with Darius enables him to sense a prime opportunity for one-upmanship. Wood stops by the portrait studio where Nina now works to cheer her up. Tensions run high when Wood brings Nina to Sheilas house for a party that he knows Darius will be attending. Nina, feeling like a pawn in a bad game of male egos, asks Wood to take her home. He refuses and Darius comes to her rescue. Its their first meeting since she went to New York. She confesses she still has feeling for him, and he assures her that Lisa means nothing to him. Swooning, they make up and head for a date at the famous Blackstone Hotel. There, legendary Chicago DJ Herb Kent is hosting a steppers ball, featuring the inimitable dance style popular in Chicago. On the floor, Nina and Darius become a eam again. The fire is relit as they complete the evening with a wet, but romantic walk around Buckingham Fountain. Nina starts to inherit habits from Darius and vica versa. She starts smoking and develops a love for poetry. In return, he develops an eye for photography. But soon after their reconciliation everything starts to crumble. Nina finds Lisas telephone number around Darius apartment, and he gets the occasional Sam call that takes him out of the room. The issue of distrust rears its ugly head. Darius tries to smooth things over by whipping out her camera and telling her to take her clothes off, as she id in an earlier scene. But it is too late. Come get your things from my apartment why would you be with someone you dont trust? The scene ends with Nina returning the key. Because of a Job offer from Vibe magazine in New York, Nina decides to move. Josie, serving as a reluctant Cupid, intercedes by telling Darius of Ninas plans. He takes the cue and makes a gallant but futile effort to talk to Nina before she leaves. A year later, his book has been published, her career is off and running and Nina has been sent to Chicago to shot a Michael Jordan layout. Looking in vain for Darius t the Sanctuary, Nina takes the stage to recite a poem of her own. Startled, Darius turns and listens to her recital, which is about love remembered. Funny what you can do in front of a room full of people, she says, and cant do in front of one person. The movie ends with Nina leaving the Sanctuary and seeing Darius outside. Darius starts off by saying, Longtime no see. I enjoyed your poem. Nina, there have been mistakes on both sides and I apologize for my part. I want to put the past in the past. Once again your timing couldnt be worse you always want what you want hen you want it why is everything so urgent, Nina says. Nina, this here, right now, at this very moment, is all that matters to me. I love you and thats urgent like a mother fucker. love Jones shows that love can be inconvenient. It encourages everyone to approach love the way Nina and Darius do scared, awkward, and even sometimes alone. Theres the obligatory handful of tragic misunderstandi ngs, prideful arguments, over-orchestrated sex scenes, and betrayal and reconciliations. ove Jones steps back, allowing its characters to closely examine what is happening to them. They analyze their own instincts; wonder about each others feelings and even plot little traps to reveal the others true intentions Nina and Darius relationship is built upon the use of some key things: sex and sexual invitations, pick-up lines and relationship openers, music and poetry, the actions of all the movies characters, friends being confidants and advisors, and the use of Baxters techniques to acquire information about the relationship play vital roles. Their relationship proves that the movement in and out of the interaction stages is not set in stone. The stages conform to your situation. Nina and Darius seem to ollow this type of pattern: initiating, experimenting, intensifying, terminating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, stagnating, terminating, and initiating. They are also struggle with the roles society has laid out for women and men. And are both trying to fgure out how to play without getting played. Theyre both secretly wondering how you get beyond playing and move on to the love. When youre in your twenties, as Nina and Darius were, loving someone outside your friends and family can seem like a task for Mother Theresa. We twenty- somethings have been unleashed from our parents and the chances to experience exual encounters of all sorts are numerous. But flirting and playing is one thing. Building relationships with the human objects of our desires is a challenge that many of us fail at miserably. At one point in the movie, Darius asks his married friend Savon if he believes in the concept of soulmates. Savons response is that it depends on what day you ask him. Youre with who youre with, he says. Love and marriage are pretty much what you make of them. love Jones doesnt fully answer the soulmate question. In the end, we are only promised that Nina and Darius will be together as long as their belief in he possibility of romance lasts. eeting in a bar, the reluctant coupling, the Jealously and conflict, even a mad rush by one lover to stop the other from leaving on a train. love Jones showed me that there is Just no way around it: Love between a man and a woman is hard work. A conscious effort to relate to the opposite sex is whats needed if were going to get the satisfaction we crave from that someone special. Our twenties can be about a lot more than simply getting our groove on. We can build lives with people while we are enjoying the fresh experiences we are having in our y outh.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay -- English Literature

A Good Man Is Hard To Find The story "A Good Man is Hard To Find" begins with a family planning to take a vacation to Florida. The grandmother who does not want to take the vacation in Florida is persuading the family. She has read about a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit, who is on the run, heading for Florida. The mambas of her family ignore the grandmother. On the day of the trip, ironically, the grandmother is dressed in her Sunday best. She is decked in white gloves and navy blue dress with matching hat. She is the first one in the car and ready to go. O'Connor is getting the reader to visualize the Southern culture. The grandmother's purpose of dressing this way is to be recognized as a lady, in case someone saw her dead on the highway. This tells me the grandmother's thoughts of death are shallow. Later in the story, the Misfit says, "There never was a body that gave the undertaker a tip." (qtd, in DiYanni 202) The grandmother's readiness for death is an indication that she does not want to go where there is a prisoner on the loose. However, her read...

Marriage and Counseling Essay

Abstract The structural family therapist goes about helping the entire family instead of singling out the specific person with the issues. When families have good relationships with each other it is mainly when each family member has their specified role and fulfills that role to its entirety. This type of psychotherapy was created by a researcher name Salvador Minuchin, from New York. The primary strategy of this therapy is to develop a bond between the family members that are having problems within their family. The therapist’s goal in this theory is to develop a bond with every member of the family so he or she can figure what the problem is and how to solve it. The structural family theory also brings in a biblical perspective to psychology. This therapy will help shed a new light on how God planned families to be and what roles he wanted each of them to have. Introduction Every person in the world has a family. Some people may be closer to theirs than others but that does not negate the fact that they have a family. With that being said, each family has a different way of functioning. The majority of families raise children and they grow up to be fair adult citizens. Although the majority of families raise their children with no problems, there are still those that have their share of misconceptions. The  structural theory specializes in individuality. It examines each person of the family with their own characteristics and aspirations, while being apart of their entire family. The basic concept to structural therapy looks at rules of a family, roles of each individual, wholeness and organization. ( Goldenberg ; Goldenberg, 2013). A therapist analyzing this data thinks that a person can either function or not function. Functional families make changes and shifts as the members of the unit develop and go through different developmental stages (Becerr a., ; Michale., 2012). A dysfunctional family is not open to change and seeks to keep the members of the unit stuck in the way things always have been and does not foster growth within the individuals members of the family. (Becerra., ; Michale., 2012). Assumptions The relationship individuals have with their families is a source of mental stability for each individual. (Becerra., ; Michale., 2012). This theory thinks that when families talk to each other through speaking and non-verbal communication it is passed down through the generations of their family. Aside from those dysfunctions, structural therapist’s looks at the way families form family triangles, coalition, and family belief systems ( Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Structural theory believes that every member of the family have a different role to play as it related to the workings of their family. Healthy families are not families that have no conflict, rather healthy families are able to see the conflict and handle it in an appropriate manner (Harway., Kadin., Gottlieb., Nutt., & Celano,. 2012). Everyones family has their own element of growth and sometimes this causes problems within the family. While going through these growing pains it causes the family members to not be able to adapt to things without their dysfunctional family. Development of The Theory Research was conducted and clinical data was collected on different family systems to understand the patterns of psychosomatic families. Research was conducted at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, where Salvador Minuchin  was the director of the center (Goldenberg, & Goldenberg, 2013).A vast majority of these families came from normal homes with each of them having problems within their family. A psychosomatic family is when the child or children in the family develop severe psychosomatic problems as a result of their families dysfunction (Becerra., & Michale., 2012). While working with families that showed signs of a psychosomatic child, the goal was to change the structure of the relationship and develop boundaries, and to deal with underline conflict within the family system (Goldenberg, & Goldenberg, 2013). Salvador Minuchin and his regime of researchers worked diligently while studying this theory and this is now one of the most influential theories of conducting solutio ns to family conflicts. Counseling Technique The main priority of the therapist is to find the solution to the families and help them discover what the roles should be in each family. Structural family therapists address current problems within the family instead of past events (Harway., Kadin., Gottlieb., Nutt., & Celano., 2012). One of the main jobs of the therapist is to find new ways to hinder the present problems the family has and make sure that the problems do not reoccur. The families that do have a hard time solving their troubles need to have a major change in their roles as a family. There are many techniques that counselors employ while working to bring health to the family system. The main techniques are joining, boundary making, enactment, restructuring, and reframing (Hammond., & Nichols. 2008). Boundary in this therapy basically states that there needs to be separation in the family but at the same time it needs to be known that each member of the family knows they have special meaning and are cared for by everyone else in the family. Counselors look to change the hierarchical relationship between the husband/father and the rest of the family (Goldenberg, & Goldenberg, 2013). When referring to enactment, this is stating that a counselor cannot take one person’s side of the family favorably over the others. Counselors that take the side of one member over the other members will interfere with the creation of healthy family functioning (Goldenberg,  ; Goldenberg, 2013). When the therapist sees that there are problems happening within the family he will exemplify positive patterns which can help the family outside of the counseling aspect. This is one factor that will help the families problems not be pissed on from generation to generation. When the therapist reframe s with the family it means that they are coming up with new ways of viewing the problem. The old ways did not work or the therapist just wants to give them a new perspective of the problem, hoping that the new way would be successful. Christian View A Christian view refers to having a biblical foundation in your life and how they feel the presence of the Bible through their every day life and culture. Christians believe that every word in the bible is inspired by God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states that everything in the Bible is inspired by God, and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instructions (Crabb., 1977). A Christian views marriage and family as one of the greatest things ever created by God. All Christians know that we were all created in Gods image as a reflection of God’s glory. Everyones family is set up in a different and unique way. God created the family concept for the husband and father to be the leader of his wife and his children. God created Eve for Adam with the assumption that they would meet each others needs and have children together. Ephesians 5:25 says that Adams main objective should be to love his wife the was Christ loves the church. This is how all men should treat their wives and if not, it can lead to serious dysfunctional relationships and families. The wives number one priority should be to submit to her husband and to care for the children. The children should respect and mind their parents as long as the parents are still in a steady walk with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 6:1). Many families stray away from these simple concepts and it also leads to havi ng a broken family. If families remain true to their Christian view of life and their culture within their family they can live happily and not be hindered by outside influences, also known as the Devil. My personal family theory is the same as structural family therapy. When the therapist focuses on each individual of the family it creates a better way to deal with the problems that Christian and non-Christian families have. Structural family model looks at creating balance within the concepts of family dynamic. Structural therapist looks at defining family rules, roles, coalition, subsystems, boundaries, and wholeness (Goldenberg, & Goldenberg, 2013). Dr. Crabb stated He looked at the life of Paul and stated that as believes we should do everything to please God and not man (Crabb, 1977). When Christians are involved in counseling they should make sure that all of the counseling sessions not only help their family but also reflects God in every single aspect. Compare/Contrast Structural Family Therapy has a lot of similarities as family directed therapy. Family-directed therapy is a younger model of structural therapy, but with different aspects to the theory that structural family therapy doesn’t look at (McLendon., McLendon., & Petr., 2005). Both of these types of therapies determine that the parents should care for the children, not the other way around. They also both show the families the positives in their system, the negatives, and what needs to be changed throughout their maturing process as a family. Family-directed therapy is more time limited and while working on goals that were set by members of the family (McLendon., McLendon., & Petr., 2005). In the structural therapy the family members do not set the goals for the members. The therapist sets them because he knows exactly where the weaknesses and the strong points of the family are. Conclusion Structural Therapy is a counseling model created by Salvador Minuchin and his crew of researchers. Much of the early research for the theory was done at an inner city to understand the how families functioned when high levels of poverty and single-mother lead homes where older child were more like a second parents in the family (Harway., Kadin., Gottlieb., Nutt., & Celano., 2012). The purpose for this theory is to aid families with providing them counseling and making their family functional in all ways. These counselors  find ways to establish roles within the family system and to establish boundaries between the family members. The goal of the therapist with a Christian view is to strengthen the marriage, parent/child relationship and to help each family understand their role in their family. Christian counselors rely on God to help guide them into bringing change within the family unit.

Analysis of Parenthood Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The text involves analysis of ethical concepts such as rights based approach and utilitarianism. Introduction It would not be a mistake to point out that the social environment should be regarded as one of the irreplaceable prerequisites for the development of the human inner potential. However, any society consists of smaller units, known as families. While families choose not to give birth to children, the majority regards this as their primary function. Nevertheless, the concept of parenting is not as simple as it seems: there are numerous ethical aspects that are involved in it beginning from the very right to being a parent and up to what makes a person qualify as a parent. Discussion of ideas To begin with, it would be advantageous to analyze the idea of right of parenthood. If one takes a close look at the history of the development of the social environment, one can not help noticing that the public has always defined the limits of parenthood. In other words, this category is not objective and is largely influences by the peculiarities of social life. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Parenthood or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now For example, closer to the end of the previous century, right to parenthood was not seen as an exclusive right of heterosexuals, but this scope was enlarged to cover homosexuals as well (Hanscombe, 1983, 134). In any case this issue should be viewed from different perspectives: a legal right that every citizen is entitled to as well as a moral right of a person. It must be noted that there are numerous families who are willing to become parents, but are not able to because of various reasons. While there may be biological obstacles, such as lack of fertility, same sex couples are also experiencing a desire to have a child. The latest technological advancements suggest that theoretically it is possible to give birth to a child that will be genetically to two same sex parents (Newson, 2005, 185). In other words, the society actively supports all kinds of families that would like to act as parents. Nevertheless, this support does not mean that there sh ould be a universal right to become a parent, as there may be certain aspects that make a person unfit for this role. For example, the applicable law as well as public opinion suggests that those individuals who are experiencing some kind of addiction or are not mature enough should not be recognized as parents (Schepard, 2004, 15). In other words, if a person is not independent enough in various meanings of this notion, one should become a parent. Speaking of the way a person may be recognized as a one who qualifies for a role of a good parent, one should point out that this is primarily carried out through personal determination as well as public opinion.