"You've Got Mail"

I just want to start of by saying this is such a cute movie. I love Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Ok but back to the education part of the movie. The movie hit on a lot of things that we discussed in class. Anonymity was a big part of the movie. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan did not know who each other were when they first met online in a chat room. Until Tom Hanks found out that it was Meg Ryan, there was a mutual agreement that they would not share too much personal information. There was acctually a part in the movie when Tom Hanks asked what her line of business was and she said "remember nothing personal." If it were not for anonymity online, I do not believe that they would have continued to chat online and form the relationship that they did. It also seemed as if they both a an addiction to the words "You've Got Mail." They both immediately checked their e-mail after their significant other left in the morning. There was also a part after Tom Hanks found out that it was Meg Ryan, and he could not resist going to his computer and writing back to her. This brings up the topic of online affairs that we discussed in class. Could Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks's relationship be considered an affair. I think that in a way they were cheating on their significant others because they would not check their e-mail while they were around and also ended up breaking up because of "the idea of someone else." There was also the use of symbolic markers in the movie. Their log on names can be considered as symbolic markers. There was the scene when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were discussing what the 152 meant on his log in name. Her log in name was shopgirl which portrayed herself well because she owned a shop. Tom Hanks also did a little identity play in the movie. He pretended to be someone other than Joe Fox. He displayed different aspects of himself to Meg Ryan through their online communication. To conclude, the movie represents today online communication between two people fairly well. The way they met and how they built a relationships through CMC.