While watching the show "The Firm" without sound, it was obvious that the main male and female characters were a couple. The beginning of the show they were being escorted through a building as if the man escorting was a realtor and showing the inside of the building to clients. The couple nonverbal gestures of their togetherness were hands held while they walked, when one talked the other looked on with an adoring gaze, the woman did take the man’s arm and draw her body into his. They both were smiling and seemed happy about that showing. In a bedroom scene, it was unmistakably evident that they were a couple.
With the sound on my assumption on the nonverbal cues were correct about the couple. The actors were playing a married couple and they seemed to be much in love with each other. Their nonverbal cues were good situational context. I was wrong when I assumed that they were on the market to buy the building. They were in fact being shown the office building of where the husband was being offered a partnership at a law firm. The man showing them around was a lawyer of the firm ‘courting’ him.
There were many characters in this show and without verbal communications, my assumptions to the mini plots were completely wrong. One man I thought had ill intentions to the main character had been entrapped and was angry. The main character was trying to help that man. It is clear that one must watch for nonverbal communications as well as verbal in order to grasp everything.
Thanks Jayme for sharing. I agree that both are just as critical as the other. You can speak effectively, but if your nonverbal skills are less than par, you risk the chance of your message being taken the wrong way or misinterpreted.
ReplyDeleteI did watch "The Firm" however, I watched the show for enjoyment. I thought watching the show without the sound very interesting as most of the nonverbal communication matched the message (happy, frustrated, etc). With the sound, the relationships and the story made much more sense.
ReplyDeleteTamara