Interpersonal Communication In Martin Buber's The Blind Side

The phrase interpersonal communication to some might be a foreign term. To fully understand what interpersonal communication means one must be aware of the complexity regarding the many theories, concepts, and key elements that go along with it. Interpersonal communication happens everywhere, and after watching the movie The Blind Side I was able to visually analyze and identify many concepts and theories discussed in the reading. Beginning in chapter one page 12, the first concept by a man named Martin Buber who in 1970 established the three levels of communication: I-It, I-You, and I-Thou. These three levels of communication were very apparent in The Blind Side from the get-go. The main character, Michael Oher, upon arriving at his new school had encountered the three communication levels with his new peers. “In an I-It relationship, we treat others very impersonally, almost as objects. In I-It communication, we do not acknowledge the humanity of other people; we may not even affirm their existence” (Wood, p. 12). The I-It communication was with Michael and the students at school.

120). “Speech communities arise out of social locations-that is, people who share a social location tend to develop shared understandings of communication” (p. 120). An example of a speech community in the film would be the thugs where Michael was raised. In the scene where Mrs. Tuohy waits in the car for Michael you view a group of men sitting on the stairs communicating between one another using terms like “shawty” or “snowflake”. Not only do the group of men use unique words or phrases but they also all lack in their education and is noticeable with every word said. When Michael begins to distance himself from the people he was raised with, which all share the same speech community, Mrs. Tuohy is quick to correct his grammar in one of their first