Movie Analysis Rebecca Martin
Main Characters • Mary (Protagonist): Meg Ryan
• Sylvie: Annette Bening
• Edie: Debra Messing
• Alex: Jada Pinkett Smith
• Crystal: Eva Mendes
• Molly (Mary’s Daughter): India Ennenga
• Mary’s Cheating Husband: Never Seen
Plot
• Mary learns of husband’s affair
• Couple separates
• Mary’s friends offer support through time of need
• Mary becomes inspired to follow her dreams • Designs a clothing line and showcases it in a fashion show
• Concludes with Mary’s soliloquy over the phone with her husband • Discusses Mary’s requirements in their relationship if
they give it another try
Relevant Theories in Communication
• Social Perceptions: specifically self-‐perception
• Dominant & Co-‐cultures: specifically social class and cultural identity
• Types of nonverbal communication: specifically body language
• Self-‐Disclosure
• Social Exchange Theory
• Listening Style: specifically people-‐oriented listening
• Types of Empathy: specifically perspective taking
• Effects of Disclosure & Privacy on Relationships
• Personal Feedback
• Asserting Rights & Expectations: specifically the assertive approach
Social Perceptions
• Scene: Lingerie Store
• Crystal’s self-‐concept :
• attractive female, capable of seducing a man, confident, manipulative, unintelligent, and arrogant
• Extremely confident about who she is:
• Knows she is attractive and confident in her ability to seduce a man through manipulative ways
• This confidence makes her arrogant
• Has very high self-‐esteem
• Believes herself to be worthy
• Believes herself very competent in her abilities
• This is portrayed when she flaunts around the lingerie shop in a seductive piece visible in the picture above.
Dominant & Co-‐Cultures • Mary and her friends are part of a higher social class commonly referred to
as socialites • Evident in the house she lives in
• Connecticut resident in the suburbs of New York City • They all drive high value vehicles such as BMW and Lexus • Mary’s husband works on Wall Street • Shop at expensive lingerie stores
• Mary’s cultural identity is based on the social calendars she grew up with • Adopted the dominant culture of the upper class
• Plans luncheons for women’s committee
• Although middle class America is larger than upper class America, it is the upper class that holds more power • The upper class makes up the dominant culture because they have more
influence and power
Types of Nonverbal Communication
• Scene: Mary informs her housekeepers that she is leaving her husband
• Body language: intentional/unintentional movement of various body parts that send nonverbal messages
• Eye contact: one housekeeper fails to make direct eye contact, in this scene it shows discomfort
• Facial expression: both housekeepers drop their jaws to express their state of shock at the news
• Gesture: when sharing the news Mary waves her hand nonchalantly to show little concern for the situation
• Body orientation: Neither housekeeper squares their shoulders to Mary=indirect body orientation-‐shows Mary has more power
Self-‐Disclosure • Scene: Mary, Edie, Sylvie, and Alex have cocktails at a bar
• Mary and Sylvie have high disclosure, high feedback relationships • Sylvie admits to having shared information about Mary’s
separation with a gossip columnists knowing Mary will provide negative feedback to this information
• During lull in friendship there is more information left secret
• They make up later in movie on a New York street when they have a battle of words, all of which is completely honest
• The closer friends are & the longer the friendship the more open it is likely to be
Social Exchange Theory • Scene: Mary tells her mother about the affair in a
restaurant
• Theory states that people continue to develop a relationships as long as the rewards outweigh the costs
• Mary’s mother explains how the rewards outweigh the costs despite the affair • The other woman means nothing to the husband • Mary needs to worry about her daughter’s best interests • Despite the pain Mary knows that the “pumpkins” she
talks about later outweigh the pain
Listening Style • Scene: Mary tells her mother about the affair in a restaurant
• People-‐oriented listening style: focus on what information tells us of conversational partner and their feelings-‐become personally involved
• Mary’s mother relates to what Mary is feeling • Notices how hurt Mary appears • Describes how she thinks Mary is feeling • Becomes very involved in the conversation
Types of Empathy • Scene: Mary tells her mother about the affair in a
restaurant
• Perspective taking: empathizing by using everything we know about our partner and our partner’s circumstances to help us understand how he/she is feeling
• Mary’s mother can relate to the situation because she experienced the same thing • Understands Mary’s feelings and beliefs • Perfect example of perspective taking
Effects of Disclosure & Privacy
• Effects on intimacy: Mary and Sylvie were less intimate after Mary learned that Sylvie had sold her out and more intimate after the reconciled • Relationships fluctuate in level of intimacy based on what
information is disclosed-‐intimacy may be preserved when one chooses privacy
• Effects on reciprocity: at the onset of the movie Sylvie tells Molly she likes her dress and Molly replies that she likes Sylvie’s sunglasses • Mutual disclosure of similarly sensitive information by both
partners deepens the relationship through common history
Personal Feedback • Scene: Behind the scenes at Mary’s fashion show
• Personal feedback: disclosing information about others to them and how it relates to issues of privacy
• Molly expresses how cool the fashion show is to Mary • Example of positive feedback • Important moment in their relationship
• Molly praises her mother • Molly accepts her mother as human being and makes it
known
Asserting Rights & Expectations • Scene: Mary speaks to her husband on the phone while
Edie delivers a baby
• Mary self-‐disclosed a lot of information about what she expected their relationship to be like • Took assertive approach: direct and honest about her
expectations while respecting her husband’s rights • She stood up for herself
• She owned her statements, described her feelings, made use of facework, and used appropriate nonverbal behaviors
Representativeness of Reality
• Accurate representation of female friendships • Mary, Edie, Alex, and Sylvie always there for each other and
willing to go to great lengths for each other • Still have squabbles
• Accurate representation of relationship between mother and teenage daughter • Difficult conversations • Miscommunication and inefficient communication
• Semi-‐Accurate representation of marital relationship • Always possibility of cheating in a marriage • Debatable whether majority of couples reunite
Relation to My Communication Style
• Unlike the main characters I am part of the co-‐culture • Come from a middle class family with less power than the dominant culture
• My nonverbal communication is similar to Mary in that we both make extensive use of body language
• Especially gestures and facial expressions
• Experience high disclosure, high feedback relationship with my best friend
• One major difference is my tendency to be passive and aggressive over assertive
• I tend to remain passive until my emotions boil up and I release aggressively
• I think I would do well in the relationships depicted
• I have similar friendships
• I think I would be a similar type of mother • I would have reacted differently to my husband cheating