Reference no: EM132407911

Project - Group Movie Analysis

The movie is Dirty dancing 1987.

To wrap up the entire course and provide a context in which you can intentionally practice your interpersonal communication skills with each other, our second project is collaborative. And fun. Here's the plan.

Watch the movie ________. Then work with your group to share your ideas about how interpersonal relationships are depicted in the film and write your responses to selected questions from the assignment. Each group will hand in only one assignment, which will receive a single grade based on the accuracy and thoroughness of your analysis and the clarity of your writing.

Each individual will also write a personal reflection on the group process and her/his/their role in that process, as well as an evaluation on the contributions of each member of the group to the final outcome. This reflection will be used to determine your individual grades on the project.

MOVIE ANALYSIS: THE GROUP PAPER

COMMUNICATION BASICS (any TWO questions)

1. Choose one character in the movie who could be considered a competent communicator. Give examples of that person's behaviours that illustrate any four of the following:

a. A wide range of behaviours

b. Ability to choose the most appropriate behaviour

c. Skill at performing behaviours

d. Cognitive complexity

e. Empathy

f. Self-monitoring

g. Commitment (caring about both the other person and the message)

2. Identify and explain one example for each of the following communication principles:

a. Communication can be intentional or unintentional

b. Communication is irreversible

c. It's impossible not to communicate

d. Communication is unrepeatable

e. Communication has a content and a relational dimension

3. Identify and explain one example for each of the following often communication misconceptions:

a. More communication is always better

b. Meanings are in words

c. Successful communication always involves shared understanding

d. A single person or event causes another's reaction

e. Communication can solve all problems

SELF-CONCEPT, PERCEPTION, AND EXPRESSION (any FOUR questions)

4. What issues with identity does one of the main characters reveal in the movie? Discuss the factors that are influencing his/her/their sense of self at this time in his/her/their life.

5. Use the Social Penetration Model (Chapter 8) to analyze the self-disclosure between two main characters. What benefits of self-disclosure are evident? What are the risks each one is taking in their disclosure? Give specific examples.

6. What emotions does a different character reveal throughout the movie? How does he/she/they reveal them and to whom? What emotions do you think this person feels but does not reveal? What factors contribute to this person's ways of expressing and managing emotion?

7. Nonverbal communication through clothing, physical appearance, and physical environment are all focused on by various characters in the story. Explain how each one is a factor in a character's relationships with others.

8. Give details of when two of the following fallacies were accepted by a character (or by two different people) in the movie and discuss how this thinking affected (impated) the person's emotions:

a. fallacy of perfection

b. fallacy of approval

c. fallacy of shoulds

d. fallacy of overgeneralization

e. fallacy of causation

f. fallacy of helplessness

g. fallacy of catastrophic expectations

LISTENING AND RELATING (TWO questions)

9. Effective and ineffective listening behaviours.

a. Who in the movie demonstrates effective listening? Illustrate by identifying the specific listening behaviours/strategies used by that person in one or more situations.

b. Identify two examples of ineffective listening and identify the specific problem you see. What is the outcome of the behaviour?

10. Give an example of a lie or deceitful action in the movie. Do any of the following reasons explain the reasons for the deception? Explain. If not, what reasons for it can you offer?

a. to save face

b. to guide social interaction

c. to expand or reduce relationships

d. to gain power

e. to avoid tension or conflict

11. The movie includes numerous scenes in which one person directly criticizes, or offers feedback to, another person; not everyone who is criticized responds in the same way. Find one example of a defensive response and one example of a nondefensive response. For each situation describe by whom and how the criticism is expressed (verbally and nonverbally), plus how the receiver responds (verbally and nonverbally). Analyze the type of defensive/nondefensive strategy being used and the outcome. (Hint: Review the terms in Chapter 9 to help you with this.)

RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS (Essay)

12. Analyze the relationship between two of the main characters. Here are some questions to get you started. It is expected that you will use theories and concepts from the course to shape your analysis and to develop the topics in whatever order makes sense to you.

a. Analyze the development of the relationship. What brings them together? What strengthens their relationship and causes it to grow? What threatens it? Do any of the stages of relational development apply?

b. How do perceptions affect the relationship? For example, do these two main characters have accurate perceptions of one another? Do they have shared perceptions of others? How might their perceptions or attributions be distorted?

c. How do the messages they give one another affect (impact) their relationship's development?

d. Analyze the distribution of power/control evident in the relationship. Is it a complementary, symmetrical, or parallel relationship? Explain why you see it this way.

e. What threatens their relationship? Analyze one of the character's relational transgression and repair.

f. What are the factors that maintain the relationship(s)? For example, what needs are being satisfied by their relationship that make it worthwhile? Why do you think their relationship grows and continues?

CONFLICT ANALYSIS (Short essay)

13. Choose another relationship depicted in the movie, one in which there is some type of conflict.

a. Describe the relationship and any relevant background on it.

b. Describe the conflict. What it is about? What leads to the conflict? Does it escalate or does it diminish? How/why?

c. What conflict styles do the individuals use (non-assertive/passive behaviour, direct aggression, passive aggression, indirect communication, assertion)? Is it destructive? Do these characters deal with the conflict in a constructive manner?

d. Do they resolve their conflict? If so, how? If not, why not? And with what consequences . . . for the individuals themselves? For their relationship? For other people?

GROUP PROCESS: INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIONS

1. Keep a log of your participation in the group's interactions. Here's a sample of the kind of chart you could create. Fill it in each time you communicate with your group about the project. Include both face-to-face and electronic communication.

Date/Place

Purpose

How I Prepared

How I Participated

Outcomes

Comments

In case you're not sure about what to write down, here are the kinds of things you can identify with respect to how you contributed to your group's functioning:

Suggested ways to focus our conversation on the task

Brainstormed ways in which the theories of interpersonal communication that we've examined apply to the characters and interpersonal communication situations depicted in each movie

Stated my perceptions on how effectively the characters communicated with one another

Offered my ideas about how to develop the relationship analysis

Completed the tasks I agreed to do

Offered feedback to other group members on the answers they came up with

Looked for ways to include a quiet group member

Used perceptions-checking statements to clarify concerns or problems as they arose.

2. Write your reflections on the group process.

Did your group become a team?

Did your group experience effective leadership?

Were group members responsive in performing task and maintenance roles?

Did your group successfully deal with conflict or self-centered role behavior?

Did your group develop a healthy level of cohesiveness and establish norms for being productive?

How did you contribute to the group's functioning?

If you could change anything about your participation in the group, what would it be? Why?

What did you learn about interpersonal and small group communication by doing this project?

3. Evaluate the relative involvement of each group member in preparing the movie analysis. Give each member, including yourself, the portion out of 100 points that he/she/they contributed to getting the job done. Explain your reasons.

e.g. Mel 20

Pat 40

me 40

100