Film Analysis Essay on Meet the Parents

Introduction

Meet the Parents is an American movie written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg in the 2000s. It portrays the aspects of romance and comedy. The movie revolves around the major protagonist, Gaylord Focker commonly referred to as "Greg," who has the desire to propose to his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes. Nonetheless, Greg is a mere nurse, and his cultural and social background is juxtaposed against the Byrnes family. Based on the movie, the paper thus aims at analyzing how various concepts are portrayed and how these concepts contribute to developing the characters across the plot of the movie. The concepts include; communication competence, communication accommodation theory, cultural dimensions, sources of self-knowledge, characteristics that increase the probability of selection, attributions, meanings of words, channels of nonverbal communication, forms of non-listening, and appraisal theory of emotions.

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Communication Competence

Communication competence refers to the formation of language in the form of grammatical structures that portray syntax, phonology, and morphology. It provides the social knowledge of how certain utterances are used appropriately. The aspect of communication competence is evident in the meet the parent's movies in various instances. The efficient interpersonal communication portrays this among the various characters in the movie. Across the plot, the characters use the English language to communicate and convey the message. The character used well-structured sentences that follow the appropriate syntax structure such that the listeners are able to understand the entire flow and communication in the movie. For instance, there is interpersonal communication when the two families meet during the wedding at the Byrnes family's home. Furthermore, the interpersonal communication contributes significantly to the character formation in the movie. It allows the listener to differentiate the message from each of the characters in the movie. In this case, without communication competence and interpersonal communication, it would be difficult to understand the movie.

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication accommodation theory refers to the behavioral and pattern change in communication when people converse with a different individual. The behavior in communication changes with the partner to accommodate the social differences that may exist. It may also vary depending on the context, identity of the partner, power, communication efficiency, or the goals for social approval. The aspect of communication accommodation theory is evident where Greg tries to impress Byrnes family, in particular, Jack Byrnes, Pam's father. In this case, Greg tries to use an impressive communication aspect that accommodates his goals for social approval. In this case, it means that Greg communicates in such a way that he wants to impress the Byrnes family since he is in love with their daughter Pam Byrnes. Although it does not materialize, the communication accommodation theory allows the listeners to capture the juxtaposition between Greg and the Byrnes family. It magnifies the theme of the cultural and social gap between the protagonist and the Byrnes family.

Cultural Dimensions

Cultural dimension refers to the impact of the cultural and social practices of the society on the formation of the values of the members. The dimension explains how the personal values relate the behavioral perspectives of the individuals therein. There are various cultural dimensions; however, this scenario will focus on the aspect of Masculinity vs. Femininity. The Masculinity vs. Femininity cultural dimension explains the distribution of various values between genders in the society. In this case, the Meet the parent's movie portrays the society as feminine. For instance, the Byrnes family disapproves of the fact that Greg is a nurse. Jack Byrne, Pam's father, criticizes the decision of Greg to become a nurse. In their perspective, the Byrnes family feels that the nursing career belongs to the females. More often, males tend to pursue physician careers, and those that fail such as Greg thus lack the masculine attributes. Nonetheless, this cultural dimension is significant in the plot as it portrays the core misconception and stereotypes of the society. In this case, the character Greg is seen as a professional misfit in nursing since feminists often dominate the industry.

Sources of Self-Knowledge

Ideally, self-knowledge is a psychological perspective that refers to the knowledge of self. People with self-knowledge are aware of their capabilities, characters traits, emotions, feelings, and motivations. Self-knowledge can be as a result of self-reflection or social comparisons. In the case scenario, Byrnes family incorporates the social occurrences to rank Greg's character. Nonetheless, Greg is aware that these occurrences do not reflect him and thus pursues more action to impress the family. Moreover, being a male nurse and considering the professional misconceptions and stereotypes in this field, Greg is aware of the cultural gap that exists between him and Byrnes family. This is evident when Greg pursues whatever it takes to impress Byrnes family to win their social approval. In this case, the aspect of self-knowledge contributes significantly to developing the gap between Greg and Byrnes family. However, in the end, Jack finally approves Greg.

Characteristics That Increase the Probability of Selection

It refers to the factors that drive the selection of characters in the movie based on the theme and genre therein. In this case, the meet the parents' movie is a romantic comedy. Therefore, the selection of the characters ought to portray these aspects cross the movie. For instance, the key protagonist in the movie, Greg Focker portrays both elements. He portrays romance where he appears to be in love with Pam Byrnes. On the other hand, Greg portrays humor in his various occurrences during the Byrnes family wedding. Besides, Greg accidentally set fire on the altar during the wedding. He also accidentally uses a malfunctioning lavatory that floods the entire Byrnes backyard with sewage. The selection of the characters is efficient in unfolding the core themes of the movie. In this case, Greg helps to develop the aspect of romance and humor in the meet the parents' movie.

Attributions

Attributions explain the situation where an individual believes that a particular event causes an event of the behavior of a person. The concept of attribution is evident in the meet the parents' movie in various instances. For instance, based on the social stereotypes, the Byrnes family believes that Greg is a male nurse due to his inability to possess the necessary intelligence and masculine attributes to pursue a better career that suits his gender. Moreover, Byrne family also has a misconception that Greg's character is as a result of drug abuse. Attributions are significant in developing the character traits of the cats in the movie. Through attributions, it is easy to understand the traits and the unfolding of events in the movie.

Connotative vs. Denotative

Connotative refers to the secondary meaning of a word or phrase. On the other hand, denotative refers to the literal meaning of the work regardless of the different ideas or feelings that the words appear to suggest. These town aspects are evident in the meet the parents' movie where Greg mentions the word 'bomb' on the airplane. In the connotative aspect, the airport security understands the meaning of this word as danger showing that Greg had a bomb that he intended to destroy the airplane attendant. Nevertheless, this is not what Greg meant. This brings the denotative aspect where Greg was mentioning 'bomb' as a form of exclamation regarding the loss of his luggage.

Channels of Nonverbal Communication

Non-verbal communication refers to the situation where people pass information by use of wordless cues such as gestures, body language, or posture. The sign language is the most prevalent channel of non-verbal communication in the meet the parent's' movie. In the movie, Greg engages in baby talk with Little Jack (LJ), Jacks grandson. However, Jack is not impressed and tells Greg that LJ is learning to use sign language since baby talk is not appropriate at his age. Although LJ does not speak a word, he uses signs to show that he would love to eat more. This shows that non-verbal communication such as gestures is an excellent form of communication. Furthermore, LJ communicates effectively without uttering a single word.

Forms of non-listening

Non-listening refers to the situation where an individual appears to be attentive and pretends to listen to the speaker. For instance, at some point in the movie, the Fockers, Greg's' parents appear to be upstairs and noisy. Greg tells them to be silent as the noise is not good since there are guests in the downstairs. However, the Fockers pretend as they are listening to Greg's concerns, but they continue making noise anyway.

Appraisal theory of emotions

The appraisal theory of emotions asserts that an individual must begin by thinking before experiencing an emotion or a psychological response. For instance, when Greg mentions the word 'bomb,' the airport security detains him as they thought Greg was threatening the flight attendant. In this case, by the mention of the word 'bomb,' stimulates the flight security to think there is danger ahead. Is this case, they respond by detaining Greg.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the analysis shows the close relationship between the various concepts. These concepts depict the interpersonal communication among the multiple characters in the scene. They explain how these characters communicate and relate to each other. Moreover, the concepts help in developing the characters across the plot of the scene.