Topic: Movie Analysis Paper
Movie Analysis Paper
The movie ‘ The Kids Are Alright’ is a film about a lesbian couple ; Nic and Jules and their two kids ; Joni and Laser, aged 18 and 15 respectively. The movie begins with Joni, a responsible and academic high-flyer, who just turned 18 and is about to leave fo college. Her half-brother Laser, pleads with her to contact their biological father (their sperm-donor) since she has reached the appropriate legal age to do so. She reluctantly agrees and they eventually decide to meet up with him after he agrees to see them (Altman, 1993). Paul, their sperm-donor father is in his late thirties , owns a restaurant and is a co-op farmer. Their first encounter is awkward and they mainly circle around general pleasantries and introductions. When they finally part ways, Joni is pleasantly surprised and wants to meet up with him again.
Nic and Jules accidentally find out what their kids have done through an unfortunate incident with Laser who lets it slip thinking that they already knew. They decide to meet up with Paul to get to know him better, after finding out that their kids want to maintain some kind of contact with him (Altman, 1993). They do so dispite the fact that they did not want him interferring in their lives. The families relationship with Paul grows and everyone is receptive towards him with the exception of Nic, who feels like Paul is taking away her family from her.Havoc arises when Paul offers Jules a job which draws them closer. With all the pressure at home from Nics’ overbearing personality, Jules ends up sleeping with Paul several times. When Nic finds out, it sets the family in havoc with Paul eventually being cut-off from their lives completely by Joni and the entire family. The movie ends with Jules taking responsibility for her actions and asks for forgiveness. The family is seemingly on its way to recovery and this begin to get back to normal with the exception of Joni being away from home, at campus.
The moive has characters encompasses a wide range of personalities. Nic is a self-assured middle-aged woman with a highflying career as physchian. She is domineering and is usually very critical of others. On the other hand Jules is less-assured, composed and a free-spirit. She, more often than not finds her self submitting to Nic’s domineering nature (Altman, 1993). Each of their two kids cloesly resemble their biological moms personalities; with Joni being succesful and responsible like her mother (Nic) and Laser being more like his free-spirited mother Jules. Paul is a self-assured and seemingly very content with his life, thats until he meets up with his kids who make him yearn for something he did not even knw he wanted.
Their are a number of interpersonal communication concepts in the they movie, this include istrategies, self-discolsure, stages and reverse patterns. More specifically for the purpose of this essay, i will focuse on strategies and self-disclosure. Their are also a number of interpersonal communication theories that feature in t he movie and relate to the above mention concepts; these are to Social Penetration Theory, Self-discolsure ,Uncertainty Reduction theory (URT) and Relational Dialetics Theory.
Social Penetration Theory (SPT).
This theory asserts that as relationships develop, the communication between persons moves from a fairly superficial one to a deeply personal one that slowly penetrates through ones’ public persona to reach their in core personality (Berkowitz, 1981). This theory proposed by Altman &Taylor looks at the‘idea that relationships become more intimate over time, when partners disclose more and more information about themselves’(Littlejohn,250; Important People In Our Lives, R.Smith).
As seen above, relational closennes progresses with self-disclosure, which is one of the interpersonal concepts mentioned above. Self-disclosure is when one shares uniqe infomation with another with the aim of making the other person understand them better; it is the act of making one transparent to others to help them see ones uniqueness (S.jourard,Interpersonal Communication Theories and Concepts., Oregonstate) It is a key concept since it fosters trust and bring people closer if reciprocated.
In the movie, we have a number of incidents that can help us relate and illustrate Altmans &Taylors Social Penetration theory. Take the case of Paul, Joni’s and Laser’s first encounter. The intial stage of this relationship was superficial and non-intimate. They basically circle along normal introductory plesantries such as what he (Paul) was upto all those years. What Laser and Joni do in school, their interests; Paul finds out that Laser is quit the athlete while Joni is the intellect of the family and is a bit shy. As their interraction increases, self-disclosure comes into play and Paul begins to find out more about his children. He is thus able to more individually and unqiuely relate with each of his childern since he begins to understand them at a deeper level as the theory states. For example Paul is seen enjoying some quality time with Laser playing basketball (one of Lasers’ interests) and in a different seen he is gardening with Joni.
This theory is also applicable in the case of Paul and Nic. Nic’s unwillingness to let Paul in hinder the growth of their relationship (Berkowitz, 1981). However, when she did eventually let him seen a little part of her (self-disclosure); during the dinner at his place when they realised they shared the same taste in music. This incident brought them closer together, even though it was just momentarily because she eventually learned that he had slept with her wife,Jules.
Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT)
This theory proposed by C.R Berger and Calabrese (University of twente), encompasses a series of universal truths that describes the relationships uncertainties and other communication factors. The theory presumes the fact that people do not like uncertainties and are thus motivate to communicate with the objective of reducing those uncertainties by learning more about the person and their behavioural patterns. This uncertainty reduction follows a pattern of developmental stages; this is the entry stage, personal and exit stage (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2010). Communication during the first stage is governed by social rules and norms and issues discussed are basically general. During the second stage the atmosphere less constrained by social norms and rules and the kind of issues discuss are at a more personal level. The last and final stage is the exit stage. This is when one weighs the possibility of a future interaction and if so how to make that posssible.
During this theory, we apply the concept of strategies. This is a way that enables us to learn more about the other person. There are three different kinds of strategy. Passive strategy. This is where one observes the other person in situations where the person is either likelyto be self-monitoring or more natural (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2010). Active Strategy.This is when we ask others about the person we are interested in or when we are try to setup a situation where we can observe them either passively or interactively. For example when we Nic and Jules invited Paul the first time to their house to get to know him better. Interactively strategies. This is when we communicate directly with the inetersted party.
In the movie the above concepts are used varyingly by the characters to deduce more about the other party and the progress pattern is as explained in te theory. For example when Jonis’ and Laser’s first encounter with their biological father follows the same phase patterns as those outlined above (Berkowitz, 1981). There is the entry stage when they first meet, where the initial conversation is superficial and non-intimate. Communication during this phase was bound by a social rules and norms.As their interaction continued the proceeded to delve into more personal interest, such as the childerns hobbies and what their father is upto. This phase usually captures the other persons interest and is a determinant of the finaal outcome of the last phase (Berkowitz, 1981). The last phase; exit stage, determines the future interaction of the two parties at hand. If the other is positively interested then, it is during this stage that one can try and negotiate ways to allow for future interaction and thus growth of the relationship. For exmple, when Paul hinted that he would like to see them again, Joni was also positively responsive to his suggestion.
References
Altman, I. (March 1993). “Dialectics, Physical Environments, and Personal Relationships.” Communication Monographs 60 (1). 26-29.
Beebe, A. S. Beebe, J. S. & Redmond, V. M. (2010). Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others. Boston : MA. Allyn & Bacon,
Berkowitz, L. (1981). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. New York: Academic Press, Inc.
