COMM 1008 Week 3 Interpersonal Comm in Movies PDF

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Movie analysis using communication skills...

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Interpersonal Interactions in Film Heather McCain March 13, 2020 Walden University COMM 1008: Interpersonal Communication for Personal and Professional Success Professor Johnson

The movie The Break-Up revolves around the relationship between two newlyweds, Gary, played by Vince Vaughn, and Brooke, played by Jennifer Aniston. Like many newlywed couples, the two are learning to adjust to married life together. The scene that comes to mind when analyzing interpersonal interactions in this movie is the scene where the actual break up occurs. From start to finish, this scene shows is a communication breakdown that exemplifies verbal and nonverbal communication between two parties of different cultural background. The scene opens with Gary laying on the couch playing video games. Brooke says that she is going to do the dishes, and that it would be nice if Gary would help. Gary asks to do them later or the next day because he is busy playing video games and wants to relax. At this point, with arms flailing, Brooke begins to get frustrated because she wants to get the dishes done tonight. Finally, Gary tosses his gaming controller, and gets up to help Brooke. From this point, the disagreement between the two escalates. Brooke continues to get after Gary about not wanting to want to do the dishes, and Gary says she is acting crazy. Brooke continues to express that it would be nice if Gary did things that she asked and even did things without her having to ask. The original conversation about the dishes moves into an issue with brining Brooke lemons, not bringing home flowers and not taking her to the ballet. At his point, the two are in a fullblown yelling argument. Gary begins to express his frustration by inferring that he is not appreciated and asks Brooke to show her frustration by giving him a few minutes a night to relax when he gets home. He yells that nothing he ever does is good enough for her and that he just wants to be left alone as he leaves the room. Brooke chases after him and confronts him again and tells Gary that she deserves better and will not spend another minute of her life with an “inconsiderate prick” as she stomps out of the condo.

In the interaction between Brooke and Gary, the nonverbal communication can be seen and heard clearly. Brooke constantly shows her discontent using her gestures. She continuously points to herself, flails her arms in anger, and even at one point slamming the counter to get his attention. Most of the conversation, Gary is standing there with his hands on his hips until he starts to get angered toward the end of the argument. At this point, he also starts raising his arms in frustration and anger. These are uses of illustrators in the conversation animate the feelings of anger both Gary and Brooke are feeling. To further the nonverbal communication, the use of vocalics is used in this scene to show the anger and frustration. Even though vocalics is nonverbal communication, it pairs directly with the verbal aspect of communicating. Vocalics is the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal aspects that go along with vocal messages such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers (University of Minnesota, n.d.). In vocalics, a louder voice is typically associated as more intense (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Throughout the argument, both Gary and Brooke increase the volume of their voice to match the frustration and anger they are feeling. At times, they are both yelling during the conversation. For example, when Gary says that he just wants to be left alone, his volume is as loud as possible. This ultimately will affect the way that Brooke reacts to his message. The other aspect of vocalics that plays a huge role in this scene is tone. Tone can be controlled somewhat by pitch, volume, and emphasis (University of Minnesota, n.d.). It is said that our tone communicates what we’re feeling when we say it and impacts the way what we are trying to communicate is perceived (Lickerman, 2010). The tone of the conversation from the very start indicates the discontent in both Gary and Brooke. As the conversation escalates into an argument, Brooke’s tone becomes much more negative as she begins to raise her voice and speak condescendingly toward Gary. Proxemics also played a small role. Proxemics is the study to

how space and distance influence communication (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Gary tries to deescalate the situation by getting into Brooke’s personal and intimate space. Rather than this being comforting for Brooke, she found this to be annoying and quickly backed away to refocus the conversation on the issue at hand. She then distances the two of them to more of a public space proximity, which makes it difficult to have a deep conversation with someone. Verbally, the expression of needs is key to successful communication. Brooke and Gary clear did not communicate their needs effectively in this communication, mostly because of their nonverbal cues. By using judgements and evaluations in their verbal aspects of communication, the outcome is negative. An example of this is Gary yelling that we just needed to be left alone. This expresses a thought and a feeling more than it does a need which typically will result in negative outcomes. I also feel that Gary and Brooke make use of unsupportive messages throughout the conversation. Unsupportive messages can lead to feelings of separation or actual separation of dissolution of a relationship (University of Minnesota, n.d.). One form of unsupportive messages is dragging up the past. There are several examples of Brooke doing this throughout the interaction, like when she moves the conversation from the current issue about the dishes, to the issue about Gary not bringing the correct number of lemons, to the issue that Gary never takes her to the ballet. Gary returns the unsupportive messages by telling Brooke that she is acting crazy, which is a judgmental message. The outcome of the conversation was that the two broke up and separated. The result of the conversation was extremely negative and leads to more negative interactions between the two of them. The movie continues to show the relationship between the two continuing to devolve when neither want to move out of the condo that they are in. I think that the conversation started off poorly from the beginning and continued to escalate and get worse. I believe the root cause

of the situation stems from a failure of both Gary and Brooke to express their needs effectively. Brooke needs Gary to do more things for her without her asking. On the other hand, Gary wants a few minutes to relax when he gets home from work. Neither communicated this well, and as a result, the conversation turned into a negative argument. In communication, it is important for us to convey those needs to others, while being cautious of letting evaluations or judgments into the expressions of need (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Another aspect that could have changed the conversation outcome is the tone and volume of the conversation. By keeping the tone neutral and at a normal volume, the messages that were being communicated by Brooke and Gary could have been perceived better. To further this, I think that choosing an effective distance, somewhere in the personal or social proximities would benefit the outcome greatly. This interaction between Gary and Brooke helps to portray how communication, both verbally and nonverbally, can greatly have an impact on the effectiveness of communicating and receiving the message effectively.

References: Lickerman, A. (2010, August 5). The Importance of Tone. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-in-world/201008/the-importancetone University of Minnesota. (n.d.). Chapter 4: Nonverbal communication. In Communication in the real world: An introduction to communication studies. Retrieved from https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/part/chapter-4-nonverbal-communication/...