Week 2
Record an episode of a television show you do not normally
watch. Watch the show with the sound turned off.
This week’s blog is very interesting. Watching an TV episode with
the sound turned off was very interesting.
It put me in the shoes of how a person who has no hearing feels. I was very frustrated and had to really
concentrate and almost guess and make my own story of what was going on.
The episode that I recorded was Cake Boss. This is a reality series of a family who owns
a famous bakery in New Jersey. The show
follows the family and how they run the bakery and make the different cakes and
pastries for their clients and for the public.
Sound Turned Off
The episode that I watched was very interesting. The bakery
seemed very busy and I assumed that the star of the show (Buddy) was sort of
angry or mad at the other workers. There
was much facial expressions by all the people involved. Eyebrows rising, hands flying
every which way, sad faces, there was even like aggressiveness when setting the
pastries down. I assumed that Buddy was
disappointed in his co-workers in that they were not doing something right. I
assumed that the relationships were close but they were maybe having a bad day
at the bakery. It looks as though they
have a heavy workload and that they were under much stress.
Sound Turned On
When I watched the show with the sound turned on my assumptions
were way off. Buddy is not mad and not
yelling and was not disappointed in his co-workers. Actually they are all family and they were
laughing and joking with each other.
When I thought Buddy was being mad at the coworkers, what he was doing
was explaining the expectations of what he wanted this certain cake to look
like. By his facial expressions without
hearing looked as though no one was having fun.
When listening and looking at his facial expressions it was understandable
and it was all positive.
I think if I would have watched this show on a regular basis, I
maybe could have figured out that he was not mad. Just viewing it for the first
time was a great eye opener of how communication can affect us in different
ways. Perception is another way as well. My daughter was watching with me and she had
a different perception than I did.
Very interesting Tracy! I think it is more difficult to figure out the relationships based on non-verbal communication in reality shows than in say soap operas. Since they are real people working, instead of trained actors performing and being mindful of each and every movement they make. But life is certainly not a soap opera, which brings me to the conclusion that, just like your observation of the reality show, it is rather hard to make assumption based only on situational context, despite the fact that they do provide us with plenty of useful clues and certainly affect our communication. It is the combination of both the linguistic context as well as situational context that result in better understanding of others.
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ReplyDeleteHi Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with the television show I watched. I assumed based on the facial expressions that everyone was mad and anxious. While I was partially correct, everyone was anxious, but there was a lot more laughter than I assumed. I realized for myself the incongruency between facial expressions and actual tone or content is hard for me interpret. I felt as you did that if I knew the show previously and had an idea of the character traits I would have had different assumptions.
Tracy, Is the cake boss sarcastic? I have found that sarcasm sends mixed messages, especially for children. I am wondering if the children in our program that English language learners often feel as you did trying to understand the dynamics of strong emotions without the benefit of words?
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