Interpersonal_Crash

Interpersonal communication is "the process of exchanging messages, usually between two people, to create and share meaning" (Sole, 2011). The movie "Crash" shows numerous examples of interpersonal conflicts between different characters in which all are interlocked with another. This paper will identify one of the interpersonal conflicts of many that was poorly handled, and how it could have been dealt with in a different way. Conversation is an important part of connecting with others and forming relationships. It is the way things are said verbally or non verbally to how an individual will react or decide to form a relationship with another. The character named Anthony is constantly struggling trying to prove that everyone is stereotyping black people. His constant complaining about stereotyping shows how low his self esteem is to worry about what other people think. In the beginning he talks about how a waitress acted towards them by stereotyping. "That waitress sized us up in two seconds. We are black and black people don't tip, so she wasn't wasting her time. Now somebody like that, there is nothing you can do to change their mind" (Haggis, 2004). Anthony non verbally self disclosed a side of him that reveals that he also stereotypes individuals. It seems like he struggles with a personal issue of being black and being ashamed of who he is, he non verbally is reaching out for acceptance by the way he talks, what he talks about and his body language with such anger. He seems to reach out for empathy from his friend who has a hard hard time putting himself in Anthony's shoes of his feelings. The friendship that they have makes Peter feel comfortable enough to disclose his feelings about the racially motivated comments from Anthony. Later in the movie Anthony makes a generalized statement about a white couple walking down the street that was incorrect at the time. He bases his comments and actions on the body language of the couple he decides to rob. The woman just happens to grab her husbands arm at the point when he is places himself in her shoes with a concern about giving her enough personal time within their romantic relationship. The conflict Anthony has intertwines with the conflict the couple is having at the same moment. Mr. Cabot is using his listening skills to make sure his wife feels good about their relationship. He uses his effective listening process which is "a process that requires motivating yourself to listen, clearly hearing the message, paying attention to the message, correctly interpreting the message, evaluating the message, and remembering and responding appropriately (Sole, 2011). He listened to her concerns, paid attention by responding at the appropriate time, evaluated and responded by the offer of giving her his phone battery the rest of the night. Anthony could have use all six of the skills to realize everyone was not out to get him. The waitress in the beginning may have had a lot of tables to tend to. He could have really listen carefully to his friend Peter when he verbally told him to evaluate the situation when he told him Ms Cabot was probably cold when she decided to hold her husbands arm. Anthony had a problem with effective listening throughout the movie because is issue of stereotyping was consuming his mind. He continuously makes bad choices in the film because he never took the time to listen and pay attention to what was going on around him. In the end he begins to see morally the things he was doing was wrong. He was able to finally show empathy which is ,"the ability to identify with and understand how another person feels" (Sole, 2011) during the moment he decide to release the immigrant slaves. People got robbed, injured and killed from not effectively listening and being judged by stereotyping. Communication is the way things are said verbally or non verbally to how an individual will react or decide to form a relationship with another. This paper showed how stereotyping and generalizing can go in the wrong direction. The key to communicating and forming good relationships is listening.