iCarly, I Sell Penny Tees
with NO sound!
I watched the iCarly, I Sell Penny
Tees” show with the sound turned off to notice nonverbal communication. I have never seen an episode of iCarly, and
therefore only knew what I could surmise from the title. The characters seemed to be a family
consisting of a male in his late teens and his blond girlfriend, a girl and a
boy in their mid-teens, and a boy about 12 years old. A blond girl in her mid-teens befriended the
family. The group seems to be a
combination of family and friends in and out of school.
We know that the episode is about
selling Tees by the title. The show
begins with a filming session. The
mid-teen group is evidently planning to sell Tees. The brother films the sister and her blonde
friend as they display non-verbal communications of happiness and laughter for
an apparent commercial. Eventually, the
blonde girl walks in with three cases of Tees, and the sister and brother are
apparently not happy with her. They look
disturbed. Later, the blonde girl shows
off where she obtained the tees, in a child labor sweat shop she had set up in
a basement. The children in the sweat
shop were sweating, hungry, and displaying signs of despair. The brother and sister were visibly
shocked! The brother took control,
angering the friend, but shutting down the sweat shop. Brother and sister still want the tees, and
resume the sweat shop under better conditions, but cannot reap the same output
on tees. The blonde returns, I assume to
help run the new sweat shop with increased output, but the children
revolt. In the end, two representatives
from the child labor sweat shop, the friend, and the sister and brother have a
group meeting to discuss the sweatshop, only to notice that the children turned
the business over to another group of young children.
During the scenes about the sweat
shop, the oldest brother receives a DVD in the mail, which he shows
non-verbally that he is very excited about.
Later, he shows the DVD to a girlfriend, and both are visually excited. They show their love for each other with a
kiss. Later, a younger brother angers
his older brother, with the result of a girlfriend being lost.
If I had seen iCarly before, I would
have been able to relate to the characters more accurately. At this point, I am guessing as to their
character roles within the television show.
iCarly, I Sell Penny Tees
WITH sound!
The assumptions I made about the
characters and the plot were fairly accurate.
Some of the finer details, such as names, were missing. The non-verbal communication I witnessed was
also fairly accurate. I did miss some of
the major plots in the show. One major
omission was the fact that the oldest boy’s girlfriend did not speak English;
he had to communicate with her non-verbally.
The DVD he was so excited to receive in the mail was in her native
language. In the end, she left with
another person that spoke her native language.
I do not think a familiarity with
the show would have made a major difference in the way I understood the
non-verbal communication. The show was
filled with non-verbal communication, with the level being much higher than one
would experience in a real life situation.
Very little was said without physical or emotional communication
added. I wonder if this unnatural
addition of non-verbal communication is a planned addition by the producer to
increase watcher understanding. The
producer may understand that the listening environment, skills and/or abilities
of his audience may often be reduced.
Reference
The iCarly show[Video Podcast]. (2012, June 23) Retrieved
from http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/isell-penny-tees-full-episode.html
Mary,
ReplyDeleteThe iCarly show is full of nonverbal communication. I have watched it with preteen girls a few times. I think that nonverbal communication is what helps the preteen and younger girl connect to the show. They laugh at the over the top nonverbal reactions. I think you are correct in assuming that the producers do this to keep the middle childhood age children engaged in the show.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteMy son watches this show and there are a lot of non verbal cues. I think it is interesting how the show portrayed a relationship were non verbal forms of communication was what kept this relationship going....people have relationships where they do speak and their message is often misunderstood...I have learned that non verbal forms of communication is just as important as verbal forms of communication.
Nicky
Mary,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how people look at the same thing but has different interpretations. Same thing with what we hear, we hear the same thing but relay different messages depending on the people who received it. This assignment made me realized that listening, seeing and talking were all important in communication. Verbal and non-verbal communication are equally essential in understanding people.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with this show and episode thanks to my eleven-year-old daughter. I had never considered the intention of the director to include the non-verbal cues that you mentioned. I have noticed the over exaggeration of these cues, but never considered there could be an intentional purpose for them. I like how you presented this post. Great job!