Signs

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Recommended: Four principles of interpersonal communication by: donnell king

The movie “Signs” by M. Night Shyamalan is an excellent movie that explains how reflections and occurrences of the past can influence your overall perceptions and views of the future. It takes place in a small farm town where everyone knows each other very well. A single father is forced to continue raising his two young children due to the tragic death of his wife who was involved in a fatal car accident. This causes him to resign from his preaching career and become a stay at home farmer due possibly to his question of faith. Being a preacher, this man must have thought that nothing would have ever happened to him because of the way that he reacted to the stimuli. He was probably one preacher of only a few in the whole area. With the arrival of extra terrestrials all over the globe, including in the corn crops of his farm, this already upset father ends up with his hands full of problems that he is unwilling to accept and face. It is hard to understand what this man has had to deal with. There is an extreme lack of communication in this household and something happened for a reason to bring them back together and much more tightly knit. The presence of the uncle has been positive and well received during these tough times for the whole family. There are many theories that can describe what is happening. They are the attribution theory, causal attribution theory and the social penetration theory which will be included in the following paragraphs.
First of all, the social penetration theory is a theory that we as people disclose to others in stages like pieces of a pie. Each piece is different facets of self and has the potential to be superficial or deep. It was very interesting to analyze how things were, or more the less weren’t communicated in this seemingly lifeless household.
The children did not talk or play like most children grow up doing. There was a blank stare on their faces most of the time and their voices were monotone. The father would experience flashbacks of the incident where his wife was killed which was sending him a message that he needed to change his ways of non communication towards his children. Even in the case of traumatic events, it is necessary to talk about them to ensure closure and strength to the survivo...

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...the children live their lives the way that they should. He was punishing himself as well as his surroundings for something he could not have controlled. A main point that his wife made for him which he recalled was that everything happens for a reason. That is what triggers his change of attitude and communication skills.
Overall, this movie made me realize how important interpersonal communication is. If there were to be a sequel to this movie, I think that there would be a significant change in communication between everyone. Especially after the father is faced with the possibility of his son dying because of an asthma attack. There are many theories that can explain what causes the actions and behaviors in the movie. The one that best explains what is going on is the attribution theory because of the given circumstances and how the events that occurred caused a chain reaction that affected everyone in the family. It created a snowball effect of denial until finally the father decides that he must stand up and face reality. Interpersonal communication is and will always remainideal to the success in families whether they suffer from trauma or not.

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