For this week's assignment, we were told to watch a TV show that we are not familiar with. At first, we are supposed to watch the show without sound on and make observations based on the non-verbal communication skills between the characters on the show. Then, we were required to watch the show with the sound on and see what the communication truly showed.
For this assignment, I chose a show called "How I Met Your Mother". During the first half of watching the show without sound, you could tell the show's characters knew one another well and we extremely close to each other as their nonverbal interactions showed a closeness and an ability to communicate without words. Having never seen this show before, I was able to conclude that the tallest male and the redheaded woman were either married or dating as they were in constant physical contact and were frequently seen next to one another. Another male with dark hair, seemed to be a close friend as he was always seen hanging around the other two, yet never in a physical proximity like the proposed couple. In this episode, it seemed like the three were upset over not being able to remember something that happened the night before. There were frequent flashbacks that arose after confused looks on the character's faces which made it seem like they could not remember everything that had happened.
After watching the show with the sound on, my original assumption about the two individuals being a couple were confirmed and the dark-headed male being their friend was also correct. The premise of the show was that the dark-headed male got drunk and did not remember the events from the previous night, just that he had woken up with a pineapple in his bedroom. After continuously communicating and collaborating with other characters, he was able to somewhat piece together the events from the night before, which I will not give away in case there is a fan of the show!
I thought that it would be more difficult trying to understand communication within the show without the sound, however, I realized how easy it actually was. The use of nonverbal clues and cues truly helped me understand what was going on in the show without actual verbal speech. While not all shows are probably this well done in the sense of a bond between the characters that translates without sound, it was an interesting assignment that put me in tune with communication and collaboration without verbal speech.
Emily, I agree. Communication is listened to and heard. I enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteCamela
I love this show. I think each of the characters always has a great communication when they are sitting at the table talking about the good and bad times. This show teaches us a lot about how we should talk with our friends.
ReplyDeleteHello Emily,
ReplyDeleteI love watching "How I Met Your Mother" very humorous. I too find it a little challenging the first five minutes when watching a show without sound. It was also brought to my attention how important effective listening was for this assignment. We would have not accomplished this assignment without listening to some of the verbal communications.
Thank you
Cheryl
awesome observation.
ReplyDeleteDo you think some observations can be misjudged without sound?
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ReplyDeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post and being someone who has watched the show, I think you did a great job with your observations and the assumptions that you made. I must agree with you that I also thought this assignment was very interesting and eye opening. I think you were also right that this show did a great job with non-verbal forms of communication. You were spot on with assumptions about characters. I could only imagine how hard life could be trying to get through with just non-verbal forms of communication. This assignment was very eye opening! Great post!
-Traci