Question for anyone who has seen Pay it Forward

[ShuisFan584]

For my communication class, our final project is on the movie Pay it Forward. We watched it in class and we have to do a paper on it. There are six parts to the paper and one part has to do with the syle of loving. There are six styles of loving in our book and we have to pick the style of loving between the two main characters and write about it. These are the styles of loving:

Eros is a style of loving that is passionate, intense, and fast moving. Not confined to sexual passion, eros may be expressed in spiritual, intellectual, or emotional ways.

Storge is a comfortable "best friends" kind of love that grows gradually to create a stable and even-keeled companionship.

Ludus is a playful, sometimes manipulative style of loving. For ludic lovers, love is a challenge, a puzzle, a game to be relished but not to lead to commitment.

Mania is an unsettling style of loving marked by emotional extremes. Manic lovers often are insecure about their value and their partners' commitment.

Agape is a selfless kind of love in which a beloved's happiness is more important than one's own. Agapic lovers are generous, unselfish, and devoted.

Pragma is a pragmatic and goal-oriented style of loving. Pragmas rely on reason and practical considerations to select people to love.

I know this sounds stupid but I really don't know which one it is, and I don't want to write about the wrong one. I decided to ask here because I thought I could get a few opinions.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I think it's agape!

 

[AZKathy]

Ditto to agape.

 

[mickey65]

Another vote for agape. I loved that movie

 

[disfanatiks]

Definitely agape.

 

[SonjaB]

Agape, without a doubt.

 

[Disney845]

Maybe I am confused, since I have only seen the movie once, but aren't we talking about the relationship between Kevin Spacey and Helen hunt? I do not think that Agape fits very well. This relationship does not seem to stem from selfless love where they care more for their partner's happiness than anything else. I see it as more of a mixture of Mania and Pragma. Spacey's character seems to have very low self esteem (most likely do to his personal appearance and previous relationships). He doesn't feel totally comfortable in his relationship with Hunt, perhaps thinking she may in fact leave him, or that he isn't "man" enough for her. Hunt is a reformed tramp, for lack of a better term, who wears revealing clothing in an almost unconcious effort to win the attention and "love" of a man. Hunt has come to terms with the fact that she can no longer go for the great looking bad boy. She realizes she needs to make changes to elevate her and her son's situation. She sees Spacey's character as caring, intelligent, hard working, with a good job. She doesn't feel as though she is good enough for him (going back to the Mania again) with her past history. Both characters start out fairly insecure in their relationship, and at least on Hunt's part, she has chosen Spacey for practicle reasons.

Again, I know my answer does not fit with the popular majority here. If I am confused on anything (such as you were talking about characters other than Hunt and Spacey) then I apologize!

 

[ShuisFan584]

Thanks everyone I appreciate it.

 

[holycow]

yes, which relationship are you talking about?
I think the son/Mom....son/teacher is agape

Mom and teacher mixture of pragma, and mania....
Good luck!

Holycow

 

[shortbun]

Which of the three main characters are considered the "two main
characters?" I think one could argue that the mother had
a conflicted style of loving. She was unsure of people's
commitment to her and of her value in her relationships. The
son was definitely selfless/agape, but he chose the teacher to love because he thought the teacher would be good for his mother so that relationship was orginally pragmatic. I think Kevin Spacey's character was trying to create a comfortable and
reliable friendship type love with Helen Hunt's character but
dealing with her instability made it tough. Thus he was a
"storge?" type lover making the relationships rather confusing
and creating the weirdness between all three characters.