Interpersonal Movie Paper (Communication and Relationships in Film ) ESSAY

Interpersonal Movie Paper (Communication and Relationships in Film ) ESSAY

It is rather obvious that relationships can be complicated to initiate and maintain. There are many ways to define Interpersonal communication. It is, however, normally described as communication among people that are in a close relationship (Berger & Roloff, 2019). The movie called “break up” will depict typical scenarios that are a reflection of this definition. Individuals normally initiate relationships with the people they perceive as attractive. In as much as physical appearance can also dictate how a relationship is run, the ability to click between two people is also often dictated by how well the two can communicate, especially in times of crisis. Using this movie, this essay seeks to help learn many aspects of interpersonal relationships as well as communication.

Communication Process

The movie which stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston depict how bad communication can be a source of many issues in a relationship. As I watched the movie, both the main characters could show a total lack of skills to effectively communicate hence causing them to engage in endless arguments and disagreements on almost all the topics they were discussing. Every time a new issue cropped up, the two would tend to avoid it instead of engaging until they come to a solution. For instance, at one point, Bruce feels that Gary doesn’t appreciate her while on the other hand, Gary feels Bruce is too nagging. Even though it is clear from the movie that they love each other, their inability to effectively communicate leads to a collapse of their relationship.

Listening

In the movie, there seems to be a problem of effective listening between the two main actors. Since this is an important ingredient in any relationship, I keenly followed the scenes, especially when they were engaging each other on any issue. For instance, in the movie, Gary is confronted by Brooke for coming back home with three lemons instead of the twelve lemons she had initially requested. This results in conflict as Brooke doesn’t ask why, and neither does, she allows Garry to explain. It is therefore rather obvious that the two were poor in communicating non verbally (Barbuto & Jaya, 2016). In the scene, Garry does not pay attention to what Brooke was talking about. He, on the contrary, concentrates on the baseball on the TV. This act makes Brooke feel disrespected and her concerns of no value to Garry. The lack of keeping eye contact shows that Garry was less concerned with what Brooke was talking about. Besides this, the poor relationship experience can also be noted as the two don’t take turns in speaking but rather they imagine what the opposite person will say next/how they will react rather than keenly listening before responding. 

Perception in Interpersonal Communication

In interpersonal communication, perception entails making meaning from what people experience in each other. In the movie, there are many assumptions that the main characters make towards their opposites. This is especially regarding responding to a stimulus, making sense of what one notices as well as properly interpreting what one sees. In the movie, there is an ego conflict that occurs between the two actors, which mainly happens when one insists on being a winner during an argument. There are many instances when Brooke for instance, makes judgmental statements about Garry. During the purchase of lemons, Brooke assumes that she is disrespected and devalued. On the other hand, Garry doesn’t seem to care about her feelings as she assumes, she is a nuisance out to seek attention. These kind of self-imagination make the relationship between them hard to maintain.

Interpersonal Needs’ Theory

The interpersonal needs theory is depicted everywhere in the movie, especially by Brooke. According to the theory, every person has an inclusion, affection as well as control needs that people try to meet in the course of their relationship.  However, the needs for each of the mentioned attributes vary from one person to another. Throughout the movie, Brooke feels neglected by Garry at all times. This feeling of lack of affection can be depicted when she asks Garry to help her with the dishes. Garry shows no willingness to help and therefore, she feels as though she is doing so much without any reciprocation from Garry.

Using Knapp’s Model of Relationship Development

Knapp’s model suggests that every step in a relationship should be sequentially followed. However, not every relationship goes through these processes. If this approach is, however not followed, the relationship can easily collapse (McNulty, 2016). In the movie, it is rather obvious that there is a cold relationship between the couple. This suggests that they may have skipped some important aspects, especially in their dating experience.

Control Aspect of the Interpersonal Needs Theory

In the movie, it is evident that Garry shows the need to be in control of everything in the family. Brooke’s, on the other hand, feels that Garry only wants to dominate and doesn’t wait for her opinion. At the start of the movie, Garry asks Brooke whether she wants a hotdog even before they got to know each other. Brooke firstly denies the offer, but Garry forces her to accept it. After that, he again asks for them to go for a drink, she declines but Garry forces her to accept again. This implies that Garry’s control needs’ outweigh his other interpersonal needs.

Interpersonal Movie Paper (Communication and Relationships in Film ) ESSAY