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A Wom An Analysis Of Friendships Between Men And Women

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Coitus has often been the binding agent between the two sexes over the last couple hundred years; only recently have real platonic friendships begun to surface around the world. These friendships were previously completely unheard of and still remain almost blasphemous and idealistic in nature to many within society and around the world. William Deresiewicz, an accomplished author and literary critic, addresses this topic and scrutinizes it in great detail, and ultimately decides that the two sexes can be friends in his essay “A Man. A Woman. Just Friends?” I believe that men and women can be friends because it is no longer the early 19th century and equality is becoming far more prevalent, the argument that sexual intercourse is required is …show more content…

Deresiewicz alludes to the 80s film When Harry Met Sally… in his essay and brings up Billy Crystal’s character’s quote, “the sex part always gets in the way” when referring to a friendship between men and women. Within the film, Harry and Sally have an established friendship but have differing views on whether or not a non-sexual friendship can exist; in addition, they begin to feel attracted to one another and Harry can’t find out how to be just friends. “In fact, one of the most common solutions to Harry’s quandary is to have sex and then remain friends.” I admit that it doesn’t help when the entertainment industry barrages society with films and shows that say differently than my opinion. “Popular culture enforces the notion relentlessly. In movie after movie, show after show, the narrative arc is the same. What starts as friendship ends up in bed.” Deresiewicz and I share the same sentiment. The reason we see so much of this occur in popular culture is because we practically demand it to and it sells. “Put a man and a woman together in a movie or a novel, and we expect the sparks to fly.” If the studios and publishers were to suddenly change the way they approached these projects and instead made them about platonic companionships, I doubt they would be successful or as critically acclaimed. …show more content…

Deresiewicz states that it can be difficult to recognize the relationships between these individuals, “We have trouble with mentorship, the asymmetric love of master and apprentice, professor and student, guide and guided; we have trouble with comradeship, the bond that comes from shared intense work; and we have trouble with friendship, at least of the intimate kind.” Take the friendship between the wizard Gandalf and Lady Galadriel from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and its related works. Throughout the events of the books, their deep love of each other and everyone they know helps them defeat Sauron and to a moderate degree, evil itself. Following Gandalf’s death and resurrection, Lady Galadriel sought him out because she did not believe he was dead. Fortunately, she was correct in her assumption. There are no sexual feelings between the two, only feelings of great love; given they are, more or less, of a higher power and race than humans are. I do not think humans are completely capable of understanding that kind of a relationship and challengers of my views on the subject will simply say that The Lord of the Rings is a work of fiction. However, compare that relationship to the political giants of Russia and Germany: Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel. Deresiewicz quantified earlier in the essay that “…friendship [between the two

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