Saturday, May 12, 2012

TV Show Communication


Such a fun assignment this week!  The show I chose to watch was Happily Divorced.  The episode began with Fran Drescher and a man kissing on the couch.  Another man walks in to ask her a question.  Fran’s body language and facial expressions show that she is annoyed with the man.  She then uses her hand to motion for him to leave the room.  With the sound off it was not obvious to me who the man was or why he was in the house.  The couple continues to kiss but stops suddenly and Fran goes to answer the door.  An older couple walks in and right away I can tell they are her parents.  This is obvious because as the woman walks in she licks her finger and wipes something off of Fran’s face.  Only a mother would do that.  Watching the same scene with the sound on I quickly discover that the man who interrupted the kissing is her ex husband who is gay, something I could not tell from his body language earlier.  

Another scene from the show took place in a bar with Fran’s ex husband and friend.  Watching with the sound off, I could tell they were drinking because they each had a martini glass in their hand.  I could also tell from their body language that they were both sad about something.  Their facial expressions were very sad and they both hung their heads down.  I was surprised when watching it with the sound on that they were drunk.  Nothing in their body language gave it away.  Only when I heard their slurred speech did I know. 

If this had been a show I had watched before I may have picked up on the husband’s body language indicating that he was gay.  I also would have known that he still lives with Fran.  

I loved this assignment and may do the same activity on my own just for fun. :)

1 comment:

  1. It was an interesting assignment. It is interesting how much we can understand by watching nonverbal cues, but we cannot fully understand the content or the context that gives us the full picture of the conversation.

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