The Chosen and the Primary Components of Attraction

The Chosen and the Primary Components of Attraction 

The Chosen is a modern television show that follows the lives of Jesus and his disciples. We see mother-son relationships like those between Mary and Jesus. We follow James and John, the sons of thunder, in their relationship with their parents, Zebedee and Salome. Observing friendships between Mary Magdalene, Tamar, and Ramah, and romance between Simon Peter and his wife Eden, and Ramah and Thomas, all the characters in this show have close-knit relationships with others. 

In Ramah and Thomas’ romance, the main components of attraction are social and physical. “If we like the way someone looks, we may want to hang out with them” (Bowman 2019). They find each other romantically appealing because they “get along well with” (Bowman 2019) everyone in their group, and notice this about one another. If we look at more platonic relationships like those of Mary Magdalene and Ramah, we see the main component being social. “We are attracted to someone if we think that she would be fun to hang out with or that she would get along well with our friends” (Bowman 2019). This is one reason Mary Magdalene and Ramah get along so well, they recognize how well they both get along with their peers, and this builds a sisterly friendship. 

Thomas communicates his attraction to Ramah by consistently pursuing her, and in turn she responds with flirtatious cues. They are both romantically attracted to one another, socially, and physically, and we can easily recognize this by facial expressions, subtle gestures, and their interactions. There is complementarity between Thomas and Ramah; where Thomas may be unable to find the words, Ramah is, and when Ramah is unsure of something, Thomas is usually sure. There is also a sense of homophily between these two characters, as they are both quieter and more reserved. Mary Magdalene and Ramah keep their friendship ablaze by constantly doing things together and communicating. This is an example of setting and pursuing relational goals. Thomas and Ramah’s constant pursuit of a romantic relationship results in Thomas asking Ramah’s father for her hand in marriage. Mary Magdalene and Ramah’s pursuit of a friendship results in a strong sisterly bond. Both relationships were impacted by the reinforcement of attraction in a positive way.  

Out of both relationships, Task-oriented attraction is not highly present, and social and physical attraction are dominant. Task attraction “seems very transactional or even may be characterized as shallow at first glance” (Bowman 2019). I reimagined each relationship as though it was task-oriented and this is what came to mind; Ramah may have been attracted to Thomas because of the good life he could give her, or because it would spite her father. Thomas may have been attracted to Ramah because he saw her father’s wealth and wanted to marry into it. Mary could have befriended Ramah for that very same reason. While these task attraction examples may seem shallow, other potential reasons for this type of attraction may not. Thomas and Ramah really wanted to get married because of a mutual knowing that they were both knowledgeable of scripture and holy principles since their Rabbi was Jesus. They may have known that because of this, they could have a mutually beneficial relationship where each of them could give and gain something. Task attraction does not always have to be selfish; it can come with a longing for mutual benefit. In the television series The Chosen, we see many examples of social attraction, physical attraction, and task attraction. 

 

Works Cited 

Bowman, Jonathan M. Interpersonal Communication: Interconnections Foundations and Contexts. MindTap - Cengage Learning, 2019. https://ng.cengage.com/static/nb/ui/evo/index.html?deploymentId=5799847154192693996956595&eISBN=9781337554121&id=1986405705&snapshotId=3798006.