COMM 100: Movie Analysis Guidelines
Overview:The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of interpersonal communication concepts discussed throughout the course. You will explain course concepts and use the movie "The Break-Up" to demonstrate your understanding of the concept by providing relevant examples. While this assignment does not require a cohesive paper, you still need to make sure you take the time to proof read your work and submit a polished product. Please number your response to each question to correspond with the question number.
Use the clips located in this week's module from the movie "The Break-Up" to answer the below questions. These scenes will be sufficient in giving you content to draw from for the assignment; however, feel free to watch the movie in its entirety (available on streaming services such as Netflix) and draw from segments of the movie other than those included here.
Question 1 (12 points - draws from Social Exchange Theory Video Lecture):Explain and apply the Social Exchange Theory (SET) of Interdependence by fully and thoroughly answering the following:
- What is a comparison level? How do we develop our comparison level?
- Do you think that Brooke's comparison level was met by her relationship with Gary? Explain. Do you think Gary's comparison level was met by his relationship with Brooke? Explain. Did the degree to which their comparison level was met change over time? Explain. Quote or summarize segments of the movie to explain/support your response.
- What is a comparison level of alternatives?
- Apply the concept of comparison level of alternatives to the characters from the movie. Based upon this theory, how did either Brooke and/or Gary's evaluation of alternatives influence their decision to break up? What would need to occur in relation to comparison level of alternatives for them to decide to get back together?
Question 2 (10 points draws from chapter 10 of your text):Identify two of Knapp's stages that you see Brooke and Gary demonstrating. For each, clearly explain the stage and the type of communication that is typical for this stage, and then give specific examples of communication within the movie that demonstrates that the characters are in the identified stage. Make sure you clearly link how the communication of the characters is representative of the identified stage.
Question 3 (4 points each concept for a total of 28 points):Explain and apply to the movieseven (7)interpersonal concepts/ideas, choosing from the list below. For each concept, number it as concept 1, concept 2, concept 3 etc. and fully explain what it is/means and then explain how the concept is being demonstrated in the movie by summarizing what occurred in the movie and then explaining how it demonstrates this concept. When appropriate, quote specific dialogue from characters in the movie to clearly make your point. Concepts you can choose include: psychological noise, semantic noise, field of experience, self esteem, social comparison, reflected appraisal, ethical lapse, ethical dilemma, self-fulfilling prophecy, identity management, impression management, reciprocal nature of self-disclosure, johari window, words are powerful, connotative/denotative meaning, negative contagion, perspective taking, I-messages, indexing, kinesics, paralanguage, haptics, proxemics, barriers to listening, strategies for better listening, psudolistening, defensive listening, ambushing, listening styles, dialogue enhancers, metaemotion, social penetration theory, types of conflict, symmetrical escalation, symmetrical withdrawal, pursuit-withdrawal, withdrawal-pursuit, symmetrical negotiation, conflict styles, autonomy and connection dialectic, openness and protection dialectic, novelty and predictability dialectic, judgement and acceptance dialectic, affection and instrumentality dialectic.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are not explaining and applying all of these concepts; you only need to explain and apply SEVEN of them. If you explain and apply more than seven, I will use the first seven for evaluation/grading purposes.