Friends With Benefits

This essay is talking about the movie “Friends with Benefits” in an interpersonal communication scale.

Just as its name implies, “Friends with Benefits” means two friends who have a sexual relationship without being emotionally involved. Typically, it refers to two good friends who have casual sex without a monogamous relationship or any commitment.

This film is telling a story between two young people—Jamie Rellis and Dylan Harper. Jamie Rellis is a headhunter in the New York City. She is trying to sign Dylan Harper as an art director for her client, who is from Los Angeles. They become friends. However, their friendship turns into a friendship with benefits with Jamie's emotionally damaged past and Dylan's history of being emotionally unavailable.

Then the relationship of friends with benefits (P. 258 Friends with Benefits) begins. This kind of relationship is somewhere between regular friendship and intimacy and encompasses friendship as well as sex. There is some level of emotional attachment but not to the degree as normal couples—they see their relationship as a permanent or exclusive one. It has advantages that this relationship is easy to access to sex with a friend you familiar with. You do not have to take responsibility for each other. You have absolute freedom. However, it may hurt someone else as a disadvantage. Sometimes, this relationship may hurt parties as well when they can not handle

263 Family Relationship). Dylan and his father were close in the past. But things change after his father has senile dementia. Dylan does not know how to get along well with his father. He always feels uncomfortable when people give them a sight of sympathy. On the contrast, Dylan and his sister are intimate. They take responsibilities for each other: comforting them when they are stressed; feeling their pains and raising their spirits. They also live together (P. 265 Shared Living Space). It is a tradition for American families. Even those who live apart for significant periods, like Dylan, perceive a shared place at least part of the time. When Dylan is hesitating how to deal with the relationship with Jamie, his sister supports him to pursue his true love. And their little cousin, he treats Jamie as a friend as well.

When Dylan confronts the awkward situation, he is afraid of the emotional relationship. The talk with his sister is heard by Jamie. Jamie gets hurt and goes back to New York City. They start a cold war and do not see each other again. Finally, they realize that they already have fell in love with each other deeply (P. 258 Love Relationship), just like British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli said, “We are born for love.” Their love focuses on not only beauty and physical attractiveness but also the entertainment and excitement they feel when they are together. Love is experienced as a game, as fun. The