Communication Skills - T.V. Show

The television show I chose to watch was How I Met Your Mother. In this Episode, it was Robin’s wedding day and Ted recounts the time he insisted on leaving Victoria’s fiancé a note before they drove into the sunset together.

While watching the show with no sound, I looked at the relationship between the characters as well as their feelings and expressions based on their nonverbal behaviors. A lady had come up to Ted at the train station and began talking to him.  Ted looked angry or frustrated by his facial expression and force when slamming a book closed before it went to the flashback while the lady was just starting a conversation that must have set him off.  The bride in the flashback looked nervous based on her hand gestures and watery eyes. At other times everyone looked happy and smiling at a baby that their friend just had. Then, it appeared they were having a deep conversation and blocking the other person out by their facial expressions of pretending to fall asleep while she was talking and their body language and hand gestures when talking.  When Ted is with Victoria he seems to be frustrated when he snatches the pen right out of her hand in the car causing Victoria to shake her head and talk back in a disgusted way (like did you just really do that). Then while talking with each other they body language and facial expressions appeared to be sarcastic and anger. Ted then leaves and gets out of the car. Towards the middle of the episode, Ted was trying to sneak into someone’s apartment and then is caught by a girl who grabbed his shoulder out of anger and spun him around with an angry looked on her face and a scared look on the guys face she began yelling (her eyebrows were up and she was staring in his eyes).  The relationship between these two did not seem to be very friendly. Towards the end, the friends had concern looks on their faces when their other friend was fighting with a girl in front of them. They all have a conversation together and at the end they seemed forgiving because the people they had a problem with began to cry and then they hugged. At the end, all the characters seemed relieved.   

Their relationship with each other appeared to be close friends. They hugged each other throughout the episode and held hands. It appeared that the conversations were honest and open which friends should be able to do even if the content might be deep and maybe sometimes hurtful.

When I watched the show with sound, I had a much better time watching it and understanding what was going on. I had a good interpretation of the beginning because it started out with Ted telling the lady he would rather not talk about it and then began venting to the lady.  I did however misinterpret the one scene because I thought the friends were all having a deep conversation when really they had just found out their friend was engaged and then the other couple who I thought was blocking out the person talking was really delirious from just having a baby and not sleeping in days.  I also had a misunderstanding of the scene when Victoria left her fiancé at the alter for Ted and he brought up writing a letter.  She said she never did so he was getting loud and frustrated with her because she never wrote the letter.  He forces her to leave a letter so that is when they write it in the car and Ted is forced to sneak in a leave it on the bed for him while Victoria is out in the car. When he gets caught, he waits for another opportunity and that time, leaves the keys in the room which causes him to find a way to sneak through the window and get the keys.

While all this is going on, the other friends are discussing the recent engagement of their friend.  The soon to be bride asks all the girls to be her bridesmaids.  Robin feels some kind of way because that is her ex-boyfriend that she is marrying.  When she pulls him aside, she finds out that he never told his fiancé that they ever dated.  He refuses to tell her and therefore asks all his friends to never say a word about them dating.  Then, the two friends that are delirious didn’t remember inviting everyone into the baby’s room and they accidently blurted it out thinking they were in private but she was in there. This caused tension and shock based on the brides facial expressions.  The other two really had no clue she was in there and therefore could not believe what really just happened. She then confronts her soon to be husband about the dating. She was very angry and he rushed to tell her the story before she walked out. After his story, she walks out and he is upset. Looking to the end of the show, I misinterpreted the gathering when Robin hugged her two friends; she hugged them because she was trying to tell the new parents to get some sleep when the baby started crying. She did hug them to make them feel better and then they fell asleep standing up. 

Reflecting back on the show and comparing what I interpreted with no sound and then what really happened, I learned the importance of active listening and fully comprehending what is going on.  I learned that my assumptions throughout the show were completely wrong.  I interpreted many scenes as negative based on body language and facial expressions when really they were positive.  I also learned the importance of body language and facial expressions and how you feel might not always be how another person perceives them to be. I think if I was watching a show that I enjoyed on a regular basis and knew what was going on based on previous seasons or episodes my interpretations would not be so wrong.  The one thing that I was correct on was that they were all friends and that in the end nothing will change that.