Paranormal Activity – A Relationship Movie Review

Paranormal Activity – A Relationship Movie Review

Here is what we can learn about relationships from the very interesting new low-budget horror flick, Paranormal Activity. Many spoilers.

#1: Living Together Without a Permanent Commitment is Confusing to Both Parties

Early in the movie we see Micah smirking that they are “engaged to be engaged,” and, from Katie’s mute reaction, that she finds this label irritating. As the plot progresses and problems arise, the fact that their relationship is unclear makes it difficult for the characters to deal. This would be true with any couple basically “playing house,” even when demons are not involved.

#2 Take Care When He Thinks He is Smarter Than He Really Is

Micah makes a good deal of money from day trading –and consequently he has a very high opinion of his own abilities. He is adamant that he, not an outside professional, is going to fix the problem.

However, almost every decision he makes is bad. He doesn’t even have sufficient common sense to close the bedroom door, or to sleep on the side of the bed nearest the door.

In real life, this is the kind of guy who decides that it’s not necessary to pay income tax and brings IRS demons into the picture, which is actually a much, much worse fate.

#3: It’s Hard to Be Assertive When You Don’t Know Where You Are

So Katie is in this dilemma – she’s in an ill-defined relationship with a guy who has all the financial power, but she has ambiguous legal rights. She realizes that she’s the smart one of the two, and yet she cedes a lot of the decision making power to Micah.

• In a marriage, a girl can have confidence that they are working together as a couple for the same long-term goals, but in this situation Katie can’t have that confidence.
• In a marriage, a girl can be more assertive about the decisions that are made that affect them both – in part, frankly, because she has legal rights – a husband can’t throw the wife penniless into the street, but a boyfriend probably can.

Katie has the worst of all worlds here – she’s put a great deal of the power over her life into the hands of a guy she’s smarter than, who doesn’t take her opinions and wishes seriously, and who could leave her homeless at any time. She yells at him, but she never really takes a firm stand.

And there are consequences – Micah thinks he’s smarter than the professionals and does the opposite of what they recommend and what Katie wants, and it all ends very badly.

Quick Note: Katie and Love’s Hinckeys

Love’s Hinckeys are the little blips on the continuing graph of a love affair -- the silent alarm system we're all equipped with to keep us from making mistakes in relationships that could ruin our lives.

Every relationship you've ever had that ended, whether it bombed or expired gracefully, you knew – and you knew in the early stages, too - how it would end, and why.

You knew because of the hinckeys – your almost involuntary reactions that are there to tell you that something just isn’t right. But you get so intent on having a great love affair that you shrug them off.

Go watch the movie again and you’ll see Katie experiencing these hinckeys – when he says the “engaged to be engaged” line we see her thinking that maybe he doesn’t plan to make a permanent commitment to her; when he talks her out of contacting the demonologist, we see her thinking that he’s not taking her opinions or her genuine fears seriously enough.

The Ouija Board Incident Hinckey. Katie says, “Micah, don’t bring a Ouija Board into this house.” Micah says, “I promise I won’t buy a Ouija Board.” He borrows a Ouija Board. He thinks he’s so clever, because he only promised not to buy one. This should raise all kinds of hinckeys -- when a boy has been raised properly, he will not go through life trying to get away with this kind of stupidity. If you stay with him, you’ll have to be the one to finish raising him.

We can see her deciding to think about it all later when things calm down. We see her never getting the chance.

Paranormal Activity Relationship Advice Summary: Just Playing House is a Bad Plan.

It's out on DVD!:

Also see About Last Night teaches the same lesson, and watch All That Jazz for the scene where the guy is in the hospital, and the live-in girlfriend isn’t allowed in to see him but the ex-wife is.

About Last Night was based on the David Mamet Play, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, which is worth reading as well.