Abby's Pragmatic View
In the beginning of this movie Abby (Katherine Heigl) accidentally comes upon a show called "The Ugly Truth," which is hosted by Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler). Abby is disgusted by what Mike had to say to women about how to get a man. Basically Mike told women to have a great body. All men care about is sex, not the actual relationship. Abby calls the show and tells Mike the characteristics of "the perfect guy" and ridiculed.
Abby is a pragmatic lover. Six types of love exist: Eros, Ludus, Storage, Mania, Agape, and Praga. According to Guerrero, "pragmatic lovers search for a person who fits a particular image in terms of vital statistics." Abby's pragmatic view in her relationship with her neighbor, Colin (Eric Winter), makes the journey difficult to stay fresh. Mike on the other hand is more of a ludus lover. Ludus lovers are more active, fun, and exciting in their relationships. According to Guerrero, "Ludus lovers look for partners who are physically attractive and good lovers." He goes for different women and believes that all men go for attractiveness and sex for relationships.
Abby is a pragmatic lover. Six types of love exist: Eros, Ludus, Storage, Mania, Agape, and Praga. According to Guerrero, "pragmatic lovers search for a person who fits a particular image in terms of vital statistics." Abby's pragmatic view in her relationship with her neighbor, Colin (Eric Winter), makes the journey difficult to stay fresh. Mike on the other hand is more of a ludus lover. Ludus lovers are more active, fun, and exciting in their relationships. According to Guerrero, "Ludus lovers look for partners who are physically attractive and good lovers." He goes for different women and believes that all men go for attractiveness and sex for relationships.
Styles of Attraction
In the first part of the movie, Abby dressed comfortably for any occasion. She thought that dressing comfortably, not going all-out and sexy, was a better way to attract a man that was not looking for just one thing. Mike has a different theory on clothing for attraction. He thought that a women had to look beautiful and sexy all the time to attract every type of guy. When Abby met Colin, Mike intervened and offered to "coach" her through the first phases of starting a relationship. Mike transformed Abby's wardrobe into his way of how a woman should dress. Since men generally have higher sex drives, they want women to have that "hour-glass" figure and wear form-fitting clothing. Knapp and Vangelisti's five stages of Relationship Development is use here. The five stages "provide a useful means to organize the research related to the various stages that couples and friends go through as they move from being strangers to close relational partners." The new look worked for Abby as she successfully got a date with Colin.
*For more information, see the "notes" page