As a movie fan, what can be more interesting than connecting your favourite movie to the OB knowledge you are learning? The current hit movie La La Land tells a touching love story of how a young couple, Mia and Sebastian, pursue their dreams and maintain their relationship, which reminds me of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory.
The theory hypothesized that individuals possess a hierarchy of five needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. Apparently there is a progressively increase in transition. At the beginning of the movie, Mia works as a barista serving latte at a coffee shop in Los Angeles, but she dreams to be an actress therefore sparing no effort to attend tons of auditions but never getting chosen; Sebastian, a jazz musician who loves traditional jazz and dreams to open his own music bar, tries to play piano songs at a cocktail bar but gets fired. As the hierarchy of needs shows, Mia and Sebastian have to do the jobs far from their dreams to satisfy their basic physiological and safety needs (i.e. hunger, shelter, security, etc.) , in other words, to make a living at first.
And as the story goes, the two dreamers encounter, mutually attract each other and then fall in love , which I think fulfills the social need, for example, emotional support. With opportunities showing up, both of the young couple get the chance to realize their dream: Mia’s short play at theatre wins recognition by a casting director, and Sebastian accepts Keith’s, his old acquaintance, invitation, starting to play pop jazz with his band and winning success. This is the period when individuals, after satisfying the first three phase of needs, begin to pursue higher level of needs: esteem and self-actualization. The process shows that human beings tend to keep pursuing higher-order needs after satisfying lower-order needs. After the lower-order needs are substantially satisfied, the higher-order needs become more dominant.
Though this is not the end of the movie, the process vividly illustrates how the hierarchy of needs theory influences people’s life. By the way, great movie, really worth seeing.
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