Mean Girls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFLbviESZq8

The clip I choose to analyze is a monologue from the movie, Mean Girls.  It is a scene in which one of its main characters is talking about the schools “freak,” Janis Ian.  It is easy to tell that the monologue is extremely fast rate right from the start with minimal pauses.  This activity can be categorized as spontaneous speech, which is speech that tends to be discontinuous and fragmented.  Although, her speech is discontinuous, she uses a specific type of pause, filled pause.  Filled pause are vocalization like “um” and ”like” that fill pauses, covering up that there is silence. 

Expressions in her speech are also very noticeable.  For example, every time when she mentions a bad comment towards Janis Ian, the volume of her voice softens, demonstrating that is it not so “cool.”  Another example of when expression was easily heard was “oh my god, I love your skirt!” Her pitch got high and she expressed a sense of sarcasm. Once the girl responded back with “thanks. It was my moms,” a longer pause was noticed.  This defines a silent pause, which develop when stumped, emotional or reluctant to say anything.  She did not want to respond simply because she couldn’t believe the girl was even wearing a “vintage” skirt. 

A final vocalic that the girl demonstrates is breathiness.  Breathiness is an overabundance of air rushing through the vocal folds.  As previously stated her speech is very discontinuous, however when changing topics or time periods, she grasps for air.  By grasping for air, the audience is able to tell she is speaking faster than she can breathe. 

Overall I feel the girl performed the monologue with true meaning.  She used different ranges in rate, pitch, and volume to express different emotions through out the speech.  When more frustrated and disgusted with Janis the volume got louder with a few higher pitched moments.  When she was just rambling about Janis, the tone was flat and lowered.  

Spring break!

As his spring break came to an end, I asked my friend Kevin how his break was.  By a simple glance at his face, it seemed as if it wasn’t that great.  He responded with a plain “fine.”  He demonstrated the ultimate poker face, “the withholder” according to Ekman and Friesen’s facial expressions.  At this moment I knew it was going to be a challenge to read Kevin’s emotions and expressions, so I tried to dig deeper.  Knowing the insane schedule he has when he is away at school, I would assume his break would have been a time to relax.   I asked, “Well…did you do anything exciting, did you get a chance to just sleep?” He responds, “I feel so lazy when I am home, since at school I am all over the place with military plus art and work I don’t have time to sleep and am constantly busy.”  As he responded his face tilted down with knitted eyebrows, he sighed and his cheeks tightened, all expressing disappointment. 

I asked again, did you do anything exciting? Did you go out? Did you ride your motorcycle? Shooting?  As I mentioned a list of things I know he loves, his face lite up.  His eyes got large, raised eyebrows and he smiled from ear to ear.  As Kevin went on discussing riding and shooting, there was constant excitement on his face; the smile did not move.  I knew I had just learned the “best” part of his break.  While he was discussing shooting he was using his hands, demonstrating the stance he had and how close the bullet was to the target, he got so into it as if he was there again.  These expressions were easier to notice because they were such a drastic change from “the poker face” in the beginning of our conversation. 

In concluding the conversation, I asked him if he was ready to go back to school.  His response couldn’t leave his mouth any faster.  He leaned over with his elbows on his knees and looked at me and responded, “Yes, I don’t feel right just laying around, not doing anything. If I have down time, then I am not doing something right.”  With Kevin now having military background, it is very difficult to read his expressions; he is defiantly a withholder when it comes to serious discussion.  However, as previously mentioned when he is caught up in what gets his adrenaline moving he couldn’t be happier. 

Sneaky Observation

Being a female I find myself very dramatic and using a lot of facial expressions and hand movements when studying with others, therefore I was wondering if males perform in any similarities.   I thought it would be interesting to observe affect displays of two males working/studying together, which our nonverbal gestures, postures, and facial expressions that communicate emotion.

The two were sitting opposite sides of the table, parallel to one another.  In just “watching” the two, it was as if one was tutoring or reviewing work with the other.   One male seemed to have a mesomorph body type, broad shoulders with a bit of muscle.  He seemed to have a more relaxed posture than the other; he had his chair pushed back, with his legs sprawled out and hunched over just tapping his pencil, constantly on phone and occasionally glancing at his papers.  The other male, seen as tutor like was very thin, tall and studious looking, also seen as an ectomorph body type.  He was positioned closer to the table with an upward position, paying much attention to his notes. 

In a brief observation, I was able to distinguish that one boy was more focused and determined versus the other who seemed to just want to sit there and distract his self.  I was able to notice this by the nonverbal cues on their face.  Male one had undisturbed facial muscles such as in his face and forehead; his eyebrows were not crinkled and his cheekbones were not tense.  He seemed very comfortable.  Male two seemed determined; his eyes were never leaving his papers and every so often his head would make side tilt movements as if he was getting frustrated due to the other boys lack of focus.  It was very clear in my observing that these two men had different obligations in mind 1. wanted to study, get his work done and 2. Either not sure what was going on or simply did not care to do his work.

After observing two males it was clear to me that there are many similarities when two are studying. As like females, there is usually one who does not have any motivation to study and it constantly distracted by texts or other friends around them. This causes another if not more members of the study group to become frustrated because they are not contributing or annoying the rest of the group.  

My environment

A question found in the textbook by Ivy states; how does the environment communicate something about people (Ivy 62)?  My environment is my bedroom, someone who may not know me can learn a lot about who I am simply from glancing at my room.  The connection between people and the environment is made for two reasons, 1. the choices you make about the environment in which you live or work reveal a good deal about who you are and 2. your nonverbal communication is altered by the environment in which you communicate (Ivy 62). I will now use these two reasons to describe "my environment."

By first glance of my room, one can tell it is all neural colors; relaxing and calm giving the room a warm, home feeling. Warmth goes beyond temperature, it is how we perceive and desire comfortable, welcoming context (Ivy 68).  The shelves are full of items which people can use to find out what I enjoy such as scent, who my friends are, the music i enjoy, the classes I am taking, etc. On my desk, there is the basic work equipment, my laptop, bulletin board and lots of sticky notes. I use sticky notes to stay organized and the bulletin board as a schedule to write down dates and assignments.  Additionally, about four bottles of tanning lotion are on my desk, providing others with the info that I love to tan.  In conclusion to describing my room, it is always tidy; my bed is made every day, cloths are always put away, and things are in their space.  These are all choices in which I make to reveal who I am.  

In describing my room, everything I listed can be coincided with nonverbal communication.  First, my color scheme, brown, tan and black, nonverbally reflexes on the type of space I enjoy.  I decorated it warm and comfortably to provide me with a soothing atmosphere and not one I will easily get distracted in.  Next, my shelves, Burberry, DNKY, and Fancy Love perfumes are "my" scent; they are subtle and light on the nose.  I have fun, crazy photos of my friends, showing I enjoy having a good time with the people I care about.  My iPod is always on my iHome, and playlists indicate exactly the type of music my ears enjoy hearing. As for the sticky notes and tidy room everyday, they nonverbally are expressing, I am an organized person and rather a neat environment over a cluttered space.  

I like to categorize my room as welcoming.  The door is always prompt open, whether it is cracked for semi-privacy, or widely open for no privacy.  People coming in an out are always a pleasure, whether its to sit and watch a movie, study or get ready for a night out, my door is always open.  I enjoy the "environment" in which I communicate to others; it provides them with a lot of information about who I am as an individual.  

My Reflective Cycle

Inventory self- Inventory self-means becoming more aware of your own nonverbal communication.  Before this class I never noticed how much nonverbal I actually use.  I talk a lot with my hands and noticed that my eyebrows assistant in a lot of my conversations.  Although, talking with your hands can be very helpful at times, it can also be too much and cause a big distraction.  The "talking" with my eyebrows, when I am listening to someone can lead to misinterpretation and possibly be seen as a rude gesture.  However, on a positive note, I am ALWAYS caught smiling during conversations as well, perhaps a little to smiley.  

Change self-When in conversations or when listening I need to become more aware of movement and facial movement.  The talking with arms and hands will be a little easier to "change" than my eyebrow movement because I cannot visually see my eyebrows.  I am going to try and focus on only using hand motions when I am accenting or emphasizing. As for my eyebrow movement, if I catch my self-doing it, I will apologize and continue trying to prevent it.  

Inventory others- when I view others, a big nonverbal attribute I notice is their posture and position of their arms.  For example, when I see a girl standing with her hip popped out and hands crossed, to me, she is sending off the "leave me alone" or "not good mood" vibe.  Where as a girl standing, talking with her hands, head bobbing and smiling reveals she is into the conversation and is in a good place.  

Transact with others- Interacting with others is the best way to pick up nonverbal communication.  By viewing others and having others view you, it is a good way of letting each other know the different cues you are putting off.  By asking friends to observe your nonverbal cues, it will assist you in correcting your flaws and allow you to continue your good nonverbal actions.

Reflect, Assess, and Re-Inventory Self- It is hard to view all the nonverbal cues I give off.  However, doing this exercise and going through each phase I was able to come notice some nonverbal flaws.  I plan to work on those the best I can. I know it will be difficult to maintain because I have made them a way of communication.

Before taking this class I never took notice to my nonverbal communication.  I am about to enter the work place and find it is very important to understand nonverbal cues, good or bad.  Having people judge me off poor nonverbal skills is not a way I wish to be judged. Throughout this class I hope to learn the proper nonverbal cues in which people will look at me in a positive way.