Meanwhile, Kate Hennings, Andrew's mother and the Mayor of New York City, doubts Melanie's suitability to wed her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States. After wealthy Andrew Hennings proposes, Melanie returns to Alabama to announce her engagement to her parents and finalize a divorce from her husband Jake, whom she left after a miscarriage caused them to become estranged. In the present day, Melanie is a successful New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. Jake asserts that they will be married one day. Avoiding began when Melanie was no longer having physical or emotional contact with Andrew due to her feelings for Jake.On a beach in the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, 10-year-olds Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of lightning striking sand. Melanie began stagnating when she no longer had interest in marrying Andrew anymore and was just going through the motions. Circumscribing occurred when she was not returning to New York which decreased the quantity and quality of time spent with Andrew. It was then that she started regaining feelings for Jake again. Differentiating began when Melanie realized she did not want to be in the city with Andrew anymore. These are the steps a person goes through to terminate a relationship.
Differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and termination are all the steps of Knapp’s four stages of termination. This caused her to pull away from Andrew. Being in her hometown, around family, and with Jake made her want to come back to the life she had there. After time in Alabama she realized the reasons she fell in love with him.
Stonewalling is completely withdrawing to avoid conflict and convey …show more content… Toward the end of the movie Melanie began to regain previous feelings she had for Jake. Defensiveness is a form of self protection and reserves the blame to victimize yourself. Contempt is attacking with an intent to insult or abuse. The antinode to this is to complain without blame. Criticism is a complaint that focuses on a specific behavior and attacks the personality or character of a person. These are the four attributes of conflict and being aware of these will help to address conflict and resolve it when it occurs. Eventually, Melanie ends up re-gaining …show more content… The first step to avoiding conflict is identifying Gottman’s four horseman. Melanie was still married to Jake and had to revisit her hometown in Alabama so Jake could sign the divorce papers. They eventually fell in love and were planning on getting married. There she met Andrew Hennings who’s mother is the mayor of New York. Melanie and Jake were high school sweethearts who got married but eventually separated due to Melanie furthering her career as a fashion designer in New York. This film involves three main characters Melanie, Jake, and Andrew. She is forced to revisit her past to obtain a divorce from her husband after being separated for seven years. Show More Sweet Home Alabama is a romantic comedy that involves a southern girl raised in Alabama who became a big shot in New York City.