The Humanistic Values In Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is a movie that resonated with the audience of the 90s as it deals with humanistic values and issues as self-development. It does that through the use of the flawed but handsome protagonist archetypes of the trickster and the mentor and the real-life relationship conflicts. The realistic and honest perspective of the movie made it a hit.
Jerry Maguire played by Tom Cruise is a character that resonated with the men of the time. He represents flawed men struggling to succeed in work and relationships. Jerry’s world is turned upside down when he decides to adopt humanistic values and writes a manifest to his company. He realizes he hates what he became “Who had I become? Just another shark in a suit?”. He is never alone and has never had time to reflect on his own self. Jerry is reflective of the men of the 90s so caught into the rat race that they forgot of the more important moral values of life. He goes through a journey of change and improvement to become the better version of himself. A version that is capable of being a good husband for Dorothy.
The co-protagonist of the movie Tidwell played by Cuba Gooding Jr. is a great sidekick to Jerry. He is one of the factors that push Jerry to change. He brings values as family and responsibility to the movie. He also shows Jerry that there’s more to business than the movie as they end up being friends and actually rooting for each other. He is the trickster archetype as he brings comedy to the movie and challenges the main character. Dicky Fox played by Jared Jussim is the mentor archetype as the movie cuts to him giving life advance that relates to the storyline as: “ The key to business is personal relationships” or “Roll with the punches, tomorrow is another day”.
Jerry Maguire is an adult romantic comedy. It deals with real-life conflicts of very flawed people: “ We live in a cynical...cynical world”. Jerry is not the prince charming saving Dorothy but rather the guy who puts Dorothy in a difficult situation. He is very self-centered and narcissistic, he has intimacy problems and can’t stand being alone, so he jumps from relationship to relationship without giving himself time for self-reflection. He puts a lot of pressure on Dorothy to make him a better man and it leads to their relationship not working as it’s not a woman’s job to fix a man. It’s a movie about self-development and recommitment to your true values. This resonated with the public at the time as it was a period of transition for people to try to work on themselves for better relationships and a better life.
Jerry Maguire was a huge critical and commercial hit due to its realistic perspective and authentic relationship issues. It resonated with the audience of the time as it tried to get a grip on the real world and offered the public relatable issues.
