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AUTHOR Higgins, Mary Anne TITLE Overcoming Communication Obstacles through Films in the Classroom. PUB DATE 1997-11-00 NOTE 8p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association (83rd, Chicago, IL, November 19-23, 1997). PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative (142)-- Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Audience Response; Characterization; *Communication Problems; *Cultural Differences; Discussion (Teaching Technique); *Films; Higher Education; Identification (Psychology); Instructional Effectiveness; *Interpersonal Communication IDENTIFIERS *Film Viewing
ABSTRACT C.M. Condit (1986) has pointed out that audiences regard characterizations as the most salient feature of any text. The power of identification or "the result of all the components in the rhetorical act" (K. Burke, 1945, 1950) is compelling. The power generated by viewers' responses to character-centered films can be harnessed in the classroom to overcome communication obstacles. For instance, students often minimize the role that sociocultural differences play in interpersonal communication processes. That attitude may change while watching "Dances with Wolves" or "Secrets and Lies." The students' identification with the film's key characters makes it difficult for them to dismiss the devastating consequences of social stereotypes and cultural clashes. In addition to the concept of identification, the medium itself helps students overcome communication obstacles. Because discussions focus on the behaviors of characters in the film instead of people in the classroom, they are less likely to trigger defensive reactions. The films' settings provide a common, but neutral, ground for discussion. Through character-centered films, students recognize how human reactions to human differences create communication obstacles. By looking through the film camera's lens, students can also see that the similarities among people are just as numerous as the differences. (An appendix list 16 character-centered films.) (NKA)
******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Overcoming Communication Obstacles through Films
in the Classroom
by
Mary Anne Higgins
Department of Communication
Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne
and
School of Communication
The University of Akron
Akron, OH 44325
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Overcoming Communication Obstacles Though Films
in the Classroom
by Mary Anne Higgins
In such moments that occur not only in groups, but
in individual responses to works of art, one is
transported to a world which seems even more real
than the everyday world (Bales,1970, p.152).
Such is the world of movies filled with powerful character studies or character-centered films(see Appendix). As Condit (1986) pointed out, audiences regard characterizations as the most salient features of any text. She found that the character-centered nature of the civil rights text enhanced public participation in the Civil Rights Movement. As they read or watched Newsweek or the nightly news, members 3 of the public audience focused on stories about the individuals involved in the movement instead of
accounts of the movement itself. Although they may have been frightened by stories about bus boycotts and freedom rides, they admired the courage of people like Rosa Parks and Medgar Evans.
Characterizations became points of focus (Condit) for members of the public audience, many of whom had denied the existence of racial inequities. The
character-centered nature of the civil rights text changed their attitudes (Condit) because they understood the motivations and shared the values of the people they read about in magazines or watched on tele-
vision. Because they identified (Burke,1945;1950) with Rosa Parks and Medgar Evans, they became proponents of civil rights for all Americans.
The power of identification or "the result of all the components in the rhetorical act" (Burke, 1945;
1950, p.273) is compelling. It is the same force that convinces viewers to suspend their disbelief of fantasy
storylines while watching films like It's A Wonderful
Life and Field of Dreams. Because they identify with
the characters portrayed by Jimmy Stewart and Kevin
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Costner, they accept implausible storylines. Audience members join an interacting group whose culture creates a new reality (Bales). They share a common symbolic reality (Bormann, 1972) with the characters. They may discover it's a wonderful life after all and believe that someone would come if they built a baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. The power generated by viewers' responses to character-centered films can be harnessed in the classroom to overcome communication obstacles. Denial, perhaps the most formidable communication barrier, is difficult to maintain after watching or while discussing character-centered films. Identification with key characters compels students to suspend their disbelief about the causes of communication obstacles. For instance, students often minimize the role that sociocultural differences play in interpersonal' communication processes. That attitude may change while watching Dances with Wolves or Secrets and Lies. The students' identification with the film's key characters makes it difficult for them to dismiss the devastating consequences of social stereotypes and cultural clashes.
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In addition to the concept of identification, the medium itself helps students overcome communication
obstacles. Because discussions focus on the behaviors of characters in the film instead of people in the classroom, they are less likely to trigger defensive reactions. The settings of the films provide a common, but neutral, ground for discussion. Discussions may occur in the classroom, but the film's action occurs in
a distant locale. Through character-centered films, students recognize how human reactions to human differences create communication obstacles. By looking through the lens of the film camera, students can also see that the similarities among people are just as numerous as the differences. Both acknowledgments represent important first steps in destroying communication barriers and building community. 6 Appendix
CHARACTER-CENTERED FILMS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY BARRIER-BUSTERS
Babe
Breaking Away
The Color Purple
Dances with Wolves
The Dewdrop Cafe
Ghosts of Mississippi
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Love! Valour! Compassion!
My Left Foot
Nell
The Philadelphia Story
A River Runs Through It
Secrets and Lies
Shall We Dance?
The Shawshank Redemption
Ulee's Gold 7
Reference List
Bales, R. M. (1970). Personality and interpersonal behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston.
Bormann, E. G. (1972). Fantasy and rhetorical
vision: The rhetorical criticism of social reality. .
Quarterly Journal ofSpeech, 58, 396-407.
Burke, K.(1945, 1950). A grammar of motives and a rhetoric of motives (1962 ed.). Cleveland: World
Publishing Company.
Condit, C. M. (1987). Democracy and civil rights: The universalizing influence of public argumentation. Communication Monographs, 54, 1-18.
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