Intercultural Film Analysis on Up in the Air Interpersonal attraction

Interpersonal attraction is one of the themes at the heart of Up in the Air. For the purposes of this analysis, interpersonal attraction is taken to mean the ways in which people are drawn toward one another. The main character, Ryan Bingham, is a challenging character to analyze in this regard because he has experienced significant success through resisting interpersonal attraction, and yet he eventually comes to realize that people cannot simply shelter themselves from interpersonal attractions, even if they desire to live in complete alienation from others. Ryan makes his living through flying to workplaces and firing employees so that the bosses do not have to perform the unpleasant task, and yet he also doubles as a motivational speaker. His character is unusual in that he effectively tells people they are not suitable for their jobs (in his job firing people), while also building peoples' motivation (as a motivational speaker.) The plot trajectory involves Ryan's acceptance of the value of interpersonal attraction, including his romantic attraction with Alex, the leading female character.

One filmic example that showcases the theme of interpersonal attraction is Ryan's motivational speech in Las Vegas. Ryan's standard motivational speech involves a "backpack" metaphor, in which he instructs people to view all of the factors involved in their lives as a backpack. Just as someone would not want to overburden themselves by carrying around an excessively heavy backpack, Ryan instructs people that they should not "carry around" too many items with regard to their lives. Specifically, he argues that lives are most burdened through interpersonal relationships, and that people are most happy when they are able to eliminate any forms of meaningful interpersonal interaction. He asks them to consider "How much you're your life weigh?" -- a comment that...

Additionally, Ryan states that "Your relationships are the heaviest components in your life," and that "We are not swans. We're sharks." According to this philosophy, interpersonal attraction is not only undesired but should be actively resisted.
However, Ryan's speech in Las Vegas involves the rejection of the philosophies that he articulates through the backpack speech. In fact, he comes to realize that people cannot simply discard interpersonal relationships and walks off of the stage. In the scene, there is a strong contrast between the suave, assured demeanor with which Ryan begins the scene and the almost horrified demeanor he exhibits when he realizes that he does not even believe in the philosophy that he is preaching. Throughout the film, one of the reasons why Ryan has been extremely successful as a motivational speaker is that he practices the same theories that he preaches, and this scene is the climax because he decides to reject his own core philosophy. Although Ryan does not appear to have any interpersonal connection with his audience, he does realize the value of intense human attractions and it is clear that he harbors strong emotions toward Alex. By this point in the film, Ryan has developed a strong friendship with Alex, even though he still knows very little about her personal life. Although he eventually finds out (through travelling to her house in Chicago) that Alex is actually married and has a family, Ryan's inability to have a romantic relationship with Alex is ultimately insignificant because he has learned the broader lesson concerning the value of interpersonal relationships.

Perception: Over-simplification (heuristics)

Over-simplification and heuristics are a recurring motif in Up in the Air. Heuristics can be thought of as "a rule, schema, or mental model that helps one to figure out or discover a solution to a problem or task in which there is some degree of indeterminacy or uncertainty" (Peterson, 2007, p. 14). Much over-simplification in…