As I continued working out, I made notes on my Nook about the non-verbal actions going on. While I do not know names of characters with the sound off, I can clearly see this couple seem to not want to be around each other. They are sitting outside some place, and their bodies seem tense, locked on the seat they are sitting on. The man is sitting with his head down, close to his knees, with his hands on top of his head while the young lady is talking non-stop, using her hands and shaking her head. From what I am witnessing, these two are having quite a heated argument and do not want to be around each other. At one point, the man actually goes to touch the lady's shoulder, and she flinches and he jerks back. There seems to be more tension and a need to not be touched.
A second scene I observed was a family, mother, dad (I assume they are the child's parents) and a child. The mother and dad are hugging and smiling while watching the little boy play. The couple is very affectionate and do not want to remove their hands or eyes from one another. From what I am seeing, they are very much in love and adore their child. Several times, they look at this child with such love in their eyes. Finally, they scoop up this child and walk hand in hand talking and smiling at one another.
During this entire episode, I see many different feelings and expressions. I see tension, anger, and love and adoration. However, this is the very reason I do not watch soap operas; they are not how the real life operates, and oftentimes, it is quite comical because it is predictable. But, on the other hand, I enjoyed watching the communication with no sound on.
I made assumptions based on what I seen, and not what I could hear. I assumed, with the first couple, there was tension and anger, but I was very wrong. This man and woman are married, and are very much in love with one another. What I viewed as tension and anger was stress from a situation they did not know how to handle. They found out their child was bullying another child and they were so upset about him doing this and did not know how to handle the situation. If I would have been watching this show for a while, even with the sound off I would have known what was happening. Instead, I made the assumption that these two people literally cound not stand each other and did not want to share the same space whatsoever.
This was quite the experience for me as I thoroughly enjoyed watching communication take place without hearing any words. It made me realize just how important our non-verbal cues are. We must be careful, even with our body language and facial expressions to not send the wrong message to others.
References
Phelps, J. (2013). Young and the Restless, Los Angeles, CA.
I also thought that this exercise what really eye opening. I think that sometimes passion and anger looking very similar when there is no words to go along with it. Do you agree?
ReplyDeleteOuch, I imagine a soap opera show would be difficult to do this assignment with! I think those shows tend to be so over the top and over-dramatic it would be tough to get a good read on the characters feelings. Like you said the one pair seemed to be upset with each other when they were actually upset about their child. Plus, they bounce around to different characters and scenes every couple minutes it is hard to get a good idea of what is going on WITH sound let alone without! Bravo to you for at least coming close to accurate.
ReplyDeleteThe assumptions that you made while watching your show serves as an example that actions speak louder than words. I enjoyed this assignment because of the point it proves, I'm sure you got a lot from it as well. Learning that its equally important to pay attention to a persons non-verbal ques as much their verbal ones is the best take away for me. Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDelete