But if you left it up to me..

Agenda setting is defined as the “media’s ability, through repeated news coverage, to raise the importance of an issue in the public’s mind”.

This phenomenon is commonplace nowadays, even on well respected news channels, such as CNN or BBC, whereby, more often than not, the personal lives of celebrities are given just as much attention as global issues.

(I apologise for the low quality of the video, as it was shotduring a concert, where most members of the audience were using mobile phones to capture the incident)

When singer Beyonce Knowles tripped and fell down a short flight of steps during one of her concerts, the incident was reported on CNN’s newsbar (at the bottom of the television screen), right after the announcement that 24 soldiers had died in Iraq from another bomb explosion. News of the media’s discovery that Jennifer Lopez was pregnant with a set of twins was also given equal coverage as the falling US currency. 

Just today, CNN’s lineup on World News consisted of updates on the ongoing US elections as well as the results of American Idol. This is real life evidence of priming, where the media attends to certain issues over others, thereby altering the standards by which people evaluate the issue.  

Another example of how the media uses agenda setting to exaggerate the importance of certain news items is the launch of the Airbus 380.

A friend and I were watching the morning news on TV Mobile, the day that the Airbus was to go on her inaugural flight to Sydney. The amount of news coverage that the event was given was astounding, not one but two reporters from local news channel Channel News Asia were on the scene; with one interviewing the other who was lucky enough to be a passenger onboard the plane. In the timespan of half an hour, the same video clip about the plane was shown at least three times. In between the repeated screenings of the video were more ‘live’ updates from the two reporters at the airport.

While I concede that the inaugural journey of the huge plane was a huge deal, especially sinc the plane took off from Singapore’s very own Changi Airport, I fail to understand why or how this news item was given precedence over other global issues.

One instance in which priming is put to good use is the recent nationwide manhunt for escaped JI leader, Mas Selamat. All four of Singapore’s telcos sent out 5.5 million MMS to their suscribers, containing a brief description and a photograph of the terrorist. Posters and notices with Mas Selamat’s face have also been posted at every public location, in different languages. All the hype about the escapee has guaranteed that every single Singaporean has been put on the look out. This particular news item has been given more coverage than any other local news, in an effort to not only make sure that the members of the public will be able to identify Mas Selamat if they see him, but also to ensure that the public knows that it is of the utmost importance that the fugitive is caught as soon as possible.

 Media, television in particular, is a powerful communication tool which has the ability to reach out to billions of viewers everyday, influencing the way they perceive global issues. Measures should be taken to guarantee that every news item is being given an appropriate amount of attention so as to prevent TV viewers from ranking the events in a celebrity’s personal life over issues involving world wide issues.

According to my Comm 101 notes, “groups meet member’s interpersonal needs (ie: the need for inclusion, control and  affection)”. 

I, for one, agree that it is an intrinsic need for us to want to be part of a larger group of people. The need for inclusion often means sharing certain similarities with the other members of the group.

Similarity is  one of the key factors in relational formation because it gives us the confidence to voice our opinions, knowing that our views will be supported by the rest of the group, since they are likely to be on the same side of the issue.Sharing similarities with other people also encourages communication, which may result in more time being spent with your conversational partner, bringing proximity (another element in relational formation) into the picture.

Although an increased amount of interaction with a person or a group can lead to a decline in the relationship, it normally gives rise to some forms of affection for the people (or person) you are in contact with. 

If the relationship progresses far enough for you to have developed an affinity with the rest of the group, then chances are, you’ve already been initiated as the newest member of the clique. Having being inducted into the social circle of your choice, you should be able to command a certain degree of respect from your fellow group-mates. This will give you some control of the actions of the group and its members.

One movie, in particular, documents a young woman’s (Brittany) obsession to fit into her group of friends, and how it leads her to desperate measures to ensure her long term membership in that clique.

Brittany needs the three things that are mentioned in the Comm 101 notes; inclusion, affection and control. Being slightly pudgy when she was younger, she was ostracized by her sister’s group of friends; hence her need to feel like she was part of them after her sister’s mysterious disappearance. Affection came in the form of a romantic relationship, involving her and another member of the clique, who, quite incidentally, was the boyfriend of her sister. Having assumed her sister’s former position in the group as the leader, she was granted control over the entire clique. She decided where they would meet, what they would do, and personally saw over the induction of new members into a clique.

The movie is about how another young woman, Adrien, is drawn into the group and a complicated web of lies woven by none other than Brittany herself. I will not reveal the movie’s ending, so as not to spoil the fun of watching this gripping movie.

Directed by Sophia Coppola in 2003, Lost In Translation received critical acclaim and was lauded as a cinematic masterpiece. The movie centers on Bob Harris, an aging actor whose career and marriage are on the rocks. He arrives in Tokyo, Japan, to film an advertisement for Suntory whisky, running into some problems stemming from the language barrier between him and the director of the commercial.     The scene is played without subtitles, so as to allow the viewers who do not speak Japanese to feel as lost and bewildered as Bob does. His inability to understand what exactly it is that the director wants of him makes shooting the commercial a laborious task. This is a good example of how miscommunication can occur because of language based barriers, even if the use of exclusionary language is completely unintentional, such as in this scene.  Nonverbal communication also plays an enormous role in this movie, and emphasizes the extent to which Bob feels alienated by his surroundings.   The first photograph shows Bob in an elevator, towering over the rest of the Asian men, the second has Bob sitting alone in a room. In both pictures, Bob’s discomfort at being set apart from everyone else is  made clear through the use of facial expressions.  Another protagonist in the movie is Charlotte, a young woman who has recently graduated from Yale, and is in Japan to accompany her husband, a professional photographer, on an assignment. She, however, gets bored of being left alone while her husband is at work, and begins to explore Japan on her own.  Charlotte’s loneliness is especially evident during the later part of the video, when she walks across the snow covered courtyard of the temple. She is completely alone, with absolutely no one near her, which when cross referenced with Edward Hall’s four zones of personal space, is a clear indication of how alone she feels in a foreign land. The two main characters’ feelings of alienation from everyone around them, including the ones closest to them, draw them to each other, fulfilling their need for companionship. Although the movie’s ending is ambiguous, and leaves the audience to come to their own conclusion of what happens to Bob and Charlotte, I still feel that Lost In Translation is still one of the most well made movies in recent times. 

its  strange that when the topic of relational formation came up in one of my Comm 101 lectures, i immediately thought of my relationship with 4 of my friends, while everyone else seemed to have only BGR relationships on their minds.

as i examined my friendship with my these 4 girls, i began to identify with some of Knapp’s 10 stages of relational development.

Our friendship did not really have a stage 1, as we never felt the need to impress one another. Instead, we moved straight to stage 2, where we exchanged “cultural, social and psychological information”. In other words, we found out more about one another’s interests and family backgrounds, and were delighted when we saw how much we all had in common. 

This new found ability to relate to one another saw us going out as a group more frequently. From spending our breaks in school together, to accompanying each other to meet prospective boyfriends, we were beginning to think of ourselves as a group. We also confided in each other, as it was a relief to finally find other people who understood our problems.

As we progressed onto stage 4, other people began to see the 5 of us as a single entity, and we were more than happy to be associated with one another. After a Dance & Drama performance, of which we were all involved in, we sat around a table in Swenson’s, sharing an enormous sundae. Eventually, we found ourselves trying to come up with a name for our little clique. Suddenly, one of us pointed to the menu and squealed, “Nibsters*!”

* the term used to describe chopped almonds in ice cream parlors.

Hence, we were known to the rest as the Nibs.

As for stage 5′s “public rituals”, we did not have much except for meeting for tea every week.

Every friendship has its ups and downs, and ours was no different. Conflicting opinions brought us right past stage 6, and into stage 7, where “communication was restricted to only safe areas”. We still had our lunches together, but we met only because we felt that it was necessary that we continue going through the motions of our friendship; an indication that we had entered stage 8.

Curiously enough, we went through a phase that was somewhat similar to stage 6′s”reaffirmation of identity”, where the group is no longer an “us”. Our case was different in the sense that we did not break off as 5 individuals, but rather as pairs. For example, I found myself keeping a distance from everyone in the group, except one girl. This girl would eventually be the only one from our little clique that I stayed in contact with in stage 9. 

In stage 10, we all found different groups of friends when we started going to different schools in different countries. The relief or heartache that is supposedly characteristic of this particular stage was definitely present in me. I grieved for the loss of 3 friends (I was still very good friends with 1 girl) whom I had shared countless good times with; but part of me found that I was relieved that I no longer had to keep up the pretense of being on the best of terms of all the girls in the group.

So while it was fascinating, spotting all the similarities my friendship with these 4 girls had with Knapp’s model of relational formation, I also found that it was also rather disappointing to know that such an important phase of my life is just another typical example of interpersonal communication.

 Japan Hour is an hour long television program that is aired on Channel News Asia every Sunday at 1pm. It chronicles the journey of a particular guest on the show, usually to a hotel in a particular province of Japan, where the emphasis is on the food served during the person’s stay at the hotel.

Nonverbal communication plays a huge part in this show, even without looking at the subtitles, television viewers are often able to tell what the person on television thinks of his hotel room, hot spring, or meal.

Not much verbal communication takes place during eating scenes because the television guest hosts are usually preoccupied with slurping up their noodles or soup, or gasping and squealing in pure delight as they watch waiters bring in their food. Females on the show often clap their hands in excitement and anticipation just before they begin to eat, while the men choose to express their impatience to start eating with a grunt, or an “Aaahhhhh” to show their appreciation for the food.

The word ‘sugoi’ (great or wonderful in Japanese) is used in every episode, without fail. It is used so much, that even viewers who do not speak Japanese are able to come to a conclusion that the word is associated with something positive.

During scenes where by the guests are enjoying a relaxing soak in the hot springs, silence plays an essential role in expressing their feelings of peace and serenity. Contented sighs as they gaze onto the setting sun sinking below the horizon allow the viewers at home to imagine and understand how the people on television feel.

This program is an excellent example of the effectiveness of nonverbal communication, and how it can be used to put across ideas and emotions just as well as, if not better than, verbal communication.

One of the topics in a recent communication 101 lecture was verbal communication, and an example of exclusionary language that the lecturer cited reminded me of events that had happened way back when I was in primary school. The ‘F language’ (nothing vulgar) was used by many of the pupils in school to speak in code, preventing other people (mostly teachers, since the bulk of the student body was well versed in the language) from understanding what they were talking about. The ‘F language’ gradually evolved into many other forms, such as the ‘C and Z languages’. These languages are an example of argot, a particular language form that is used to prevent outsiders from understanding your conversations. Interestingly enough, author Victor Hugo was one of the first people to conduct research on argot in his novel Les Miserables.

Another language form is jargon, a type of exclusionary language that is used only among the practitioners of a certain field. Dancers, for example, are often heard rattling off names of exercises and dance steps when watching other people perform. Terms like releve, plie, grande jete and Pas de Deux must all sound quite foreign (indeed, since the terms are all in French) to an untrained ear, but to ballerinas, they make perfect sense, and are as much a part of their everyday vocabulary as other terms such as running, walking or sitting. Here is a link to a joke that serves as an excellent example of how the use of jargon can render a joke hilarious to some, while leaving others clueless as to what the whole joke is about.

One of the most intriguing forms of language is Taboo, in which different societies deem particular words unacceptable in polite company. Take for instance, most Asian families, who consider any sex related topic as taboo. This is because Asians believe in a more convservative society, while caucasian families are more likely to adopt a more open approach to their children’s sexual education. This is not to say that caucasians do not have taboos of their own. For example, the fact that Australia’s first immigrants were all English criminals is an extremely sensitive subject for most Australians.

Even in everyday life, taboo topics are avoided so as not to offend other people who may not feel comfortable discussing them. In school, the exam scores for a certain subject may suddenly become taboo if your conversation partner has done badly.

Exclusionary language should be used carefully, use it too often and it may result in the people around you feeling left out and alienated; use it too little and others may find you tactless and inconsiderate.  

The 5 canons of rhetoric were especially interesting to me, as they corresponded to what my drama trainers had taught me in junior college, in preparation of our performance at the SYF. First of all, invention was similar to the writing process, in which the scriptwriters had to rack their brains to come up with suitable plots; developing believable characters, and make sure that the entire play would be in check with that year’s theme of “Souls searching for their identity”. Members of the cast and crew were asked for ideas for the play, and later, cast members were given opportunities to shape the personalities of the onstage characters.The second canon, style is defined in the communications textbook as how “the speaker must select and arrange the wording of the message carefully”. In this stage of the production, our drama trainers sat down with us actors and went through the script, taking great pains to make sure that we all knew how our respective characters felt at any point in the play. As mentioned in our communications notes, the purpose of style is to “instruct, please or persuade”. In this case, the intention was to persuade the audience to believe whatever was happening on stage. To make the relationships between characters more convincing, the onstage “couples” were made to go out on “dates” with each other on a regular basis. I found myself getting closer and closer to my husband in the play, and soon, we no longer found it awkward to embrace each other on stage. Being able to act convincingly as a couple on stage was definitely one of the most difficult tasks, in relation to style.Arrangement makes sure that the order of the necessary elements of the play is just right. The story should unfold at the right pace, and the sequence of events should flow smoothly, avoiding any confusion on the audience’s part. As our play consisted of monologues by the main characters and several flashbacks, so it was essential that all the scenes were in the proper order.One of the most important jobs of an actor is to memorize all his lines. Like the textbook, our drama trainers also suggested using mnemonic devices to remember our lines. Finally, delivery was the crux of of the entire production. Actors were put through a grueling rehearsal schedule, where trainers grilled us on memorizing and delivering our lines properly.”Voices should convey … emotion, and gestures should match the major ideas in the speech”. This particular line in the textbook reminded me of the scene in which I had to give a monologue of my own. In my speech, I was to confide in the audience, sharing with them my desperation to get pregnant and the secret that I was keeping from my husband, that I was afraid I had suffered a miscarriage. I had to inject just the right amount of sadness and fear into my voice, and my trainers had informed me that my character was mentally and emotionally unstable, so I was to include elements of schizophrenia in my performance. Needless to say, all the time and effort that the entire cast and crew put into the production did not go to waste, as we won a Gold for our performance, and walked away with memories that will stay will us forever.