The movie, Safe Haven, was written and produced by Nicholas Sparks. The beginning of the movie shows Katie, the main woman character, running away from her abusive husband. Katie’s relationship with her husband was not a satisfying relationship, that is why she was running away. She ends up in Atlanta where she settles in and finds a man named Alex, who is completely different than Kevin, Katie’s husband. Katie and Alex start having a relationship with five factors included. Their relationship consists of initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding.
After Katie arrives to Atlanta in hope of a new, fresh start in life, she comes across a store owner. The store owner, Alex, maintains a tourists shop where a copious amount of tourists sift through every pit stop, then proceed to get right back on the greyhound and go to the next destination. Alex is taken aback when Katie actually stays in Atlanta, and visits the store quite often. When the two finally become acquaintance, they began the initiating step. The initiating step is where the small talk begins, and people tend to not share as much details about their life as they would with a life-long friend.
Katie and Alex exchange names when she approaches him for paint samples, resulting in him giving her a ride back to her house because she does not have a car in which to put her paint cans in. The next step in their relationship is the experimenting step. This stage in their relationship is all about getting to know each other through small talk. While Alex is giving Katie a ride home, Katie finds out that he has two children that enjoy Mark Twain. That information was all found out through small talk.
Alex has yet to really get to know Katie, but really enjoys her company. The two slowly begin to expand their topics to get to know each other better and to strengthen their relationship. In the movie, Alex leaves a bike at Katie’s house in the middle of the night so she will have some sort of transportation. This shows a sign of affection and that leads to the next step in their relationship, which is the intensifying step. The intensifying step is where the couple begin to communicate more frequently than before.
This is shown between Alex and Katie due to Alex always finding a reason to talk to her. Katie also seeks Alex’s attention by going into the store throughout the day and playing with his kids. The couple goes to a crab shack to eat and have a drink, resulting in them being able to say” We went to eat together last night. ” Which is another sign of the intensifying step because they are doing more and more things together. Going on the dates and spending more quality time together can lead to their relationship getting more intimate.
Katie is now helping out with Alex’s kids more often by watching over them while he works, or even getting to know the kids better. This is the integrating step, which is when a couple begins to share the same routine, or having “a song. ” In the movie, the kids join Alex and Katie on a trip to the beach where they act like a family. The kids are becoming more involved in their father’s relationship with Katie. This can be an example of sharing a common interest with each other, because Alex and Katie are both sharing a bond with the kids, Josh and Lexie.
The last stage in the relationship is bonding, or making it official that they are dating, or together. Before Katie had arrived in Atlanta, Alex had a wife before her. His wife, Jo, died from cancer and left the family too soon. Jo knew she was terminally ill and took the conditions in her own hands by writing letters to Josh and Lexie. A letter for Lexie on her wedding day and a letter for Josh on his graduation day. She also wrote a letter to Alex for when he thought he found the love of his life, besides Jo.
The letter is like the bonding of the relationship, once Alex accepts that he wants to truly be with Katie, then he will give Katie the letter for her to read. In the end of the movie, Alex gives Katie the letter marking that he wants to be in the relationship with her, and to finally be official. Of course, Katie accepts the letter and they begin their lifelong journey together. In the end, the two became a couple with the help of the five stages. Their journey to the relationship was not an easy one because they did have conflict.
They especially had interpersonal conflict due to Katie’s ex husband who was very abusive to her. The ex husband, Kevin, stalked Katie after she left him, and he ends up going to Atlanta to try, and get her back. Kevin and Alex both want Katie, but Kevin will not accept Katie leaving him for Alex. A fight breaks down between the two men, causing Kevin to become very violent and leaves before things get even worse. After that, Alex and Katie can finally be happy, and start their life together. Initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding are the steps to a Safe Haven.
