English Composition MLA 9
03/02/2022
P.S I Still Love You
The movie P.S. I still love you is a sequel movie about a hopeless romantic named Laura Jean. In the first movie LJ wrote five love letters to the five crushes she had over the span of her youth; she had written them in private and never intended on sending them. Well one day her little sister thought she should do LJ a solid and sent all five of the letters to all five of her crushes. After a month of pretending to be in a relationship LJ found herself in a relationship with Peter, the most popular guy in school. The sequel is about the new relationship between LJ and Peter, all about LJ figuring out how relationships work. While figuring out how to be a good girlfriend Peter and LJ’s relationship goes through a series of turning points which both strengthen[d1] and threaten their relationship. Embedded in each turning point in the movie was also some communication concepts that Lara Jean experienced. These concepts include co-cultures, message planning, and internal noises.
The movie opens with Laura Jean dancing to a song from a movie called Adventures in babysitting. Her sister comes in and teases her about fantasizing about the old 80s movie. Laura Jean replied “today its different because it’s not a fantasy. It’s my real life.” (P.S. I still love you) This is a positive turning point for LJ because it shows that she had extremely high expectations about love and dating. On the night of the date Peter picked Laura Jean up with a bouquet of flowers, he also gave her little sister one of the pink daises which was very sweet! Peter then took LJ to a fancy restaurant where he was a complete gentleman; he was also a fun date and made Laura Jean laugh a lot. After dinner LJ drove them to a balloon release site where Peter promised he would never break LJ’s heart. Their night ended when Peter walked LJ to her front porch and kissed her goodnight. Laura Jean called her first date experience “perfect.” (P.S I still love you) Embedded in the first turning point of their relationship is also the communication concept of cocultures. A coculture is a culture that exists side by side with the main culture, they also usually hold different beliefs, values, and attitudes than those in the main culture (chapter 3). An example of coculture is shown when Lara Jean takes Peter to release the paper balloons on their date. Releasing paper balloons is something that is done during the Korean New Year, which is a part of Lara Jean’s culture.
A second turning point in the relationship between LJ and Peter is when Lara got a return letter from John Ambrose Mcclaren. This turning point weakened their relationship because it was the first time that Lara Jean found herself thinking about someone who was not Peter. After John wrote LJ, she started to remember some of the feelings she had for him in middle school. She even attempted several times to write him back which all failed because her letters were too flirtatious. This being LJ’s first relationship, she assumed that other guys would not tempt her anymore, that she would only see Peter. When she started to have these feelings for John, they confused her because they challenged her beliefs about love. While writing the letter to John Ambrose Mcclaren, Lara Jean experiences a communication concept called message planning. She experiences message planning because she cannot figure out the right things to Say to John. She attempts to write about four letters but keeps ripping them up and starting over because she does not know what to say (chapter 1).
Lastly, Laura and John’s kiss was a also big turning point. This was a big turning point for Laura and Peter’s relationship because it made LJ remember who she was in love with. At first, LJ thought that her relationship would be perfect. She thought that their relationship would be full of love, kisses, and dates but she soon found that relationships are not that easy. It took her and John sharing a kiss for her to realize that her feelings for John were not the same as the feelings she had for Peter. After the kiss Laura went to find Peter because she realized that their love was not a love that she could find with just anyone else. When she went to find Peter and found him coming for her she was shocked. She had prepared herself for the possibility that he would not want her back and here he was confessing his love for her. He told her that as long as he got the chance to love her, he did not mind if she broke his heart. Throughout the entire movie Lara Jean dealt with a communication concept called noise when it came to her relationship. Peters ex-girlfriend Genevieve always had comments about their relationship which got to LJ. This noise was considered internal noise because it caused LJ to have thoughts and feelings that interfered with her relationship. Another example of internal noise was the idea that LJ has about love. She was so caught up in her idea of the perfect love story that she almost ruined her and Peter’s relationship (chapter 1).
Throughout the movie Laura Jean transformed from a naïve hopeless romantic to a girl who understands that love is not always perfect. It took many turning points in the relationship between Lara Jean and Peter for her to gain this understanding. Though they had many turning points throughout their relationship some major turning points were their first date, the return of a past crush, and the reconciliation of her and Peter’s relationship. These turning points were very important in their relationship and helped to mature and shape LJ’s outlook on love.
