We chose the Golden Palace Buffet
for our space ethnography. The Golden Palace is a little ‘hole in the wall’ Chinese
buffet on Forbes Ave. When you walk in, you are immediately greeted by the
cashier. The buffet is located in the middle of the restaurant and there are
tables the whole way around it. The lighting is not the best and the music that
is played comes from a small radio by the cash register. The tables and chair
are outdated and some of cushions in the chairs are starting to rip. The carpet
looks old and worn. The current set up of the tables is crowded and
uncomfortable. It is easy to overhear the conversation of a table nearby due to
the lack of background noise.
To make
this small space more appealing and to draw more customers in, we have made
changes to the layout as well as to the fixtures and furniture. To start, the
carpets will be replaced with laminate flooring. The lights will also be
replaced with dimmed recess lights. We decided to move the buffet and the drink
fountain to the back wall. This will free space in the middle for a small
soothing water fountain. The updated tables and chairs will circle the fountain
at the center. Also, a surround sound system will be added so that the music
can be heard throughout the entire restaurant.
We
believe that these changes will bring in more people because it will be more
appealing to the eye. The dimmed lights and water fountain will create a
relaxed atmosphere in which people are able to eat and talk with friends and
family members. The fountain will also appeal to little kids. We notice that it
was most busy for dinner around 6 pm when people are leaving work and getting
out of school. We also noticed that around this time a lot of people come in
and get take out. The more relaxing atmosphere will invite people in and encourage
them to stay and eat instead of leaving.
The Concrete
Angel is about a little girl who is abused at home by her mother. In the
video, she goes to school wearing the same dress she wore the day before and
tries to hide her bruises. The teacher sees the bruises anyway, but doesn't ask
or do anything. The abuse has gotten so bad that the little girl finds herself
wishing she had never been born. Then, the girl seems to befriend this little
boy who lives next door and they become friends. She finally has a friend and
things are looking up. But one night, the little boy looks into the window of
the little girl's house and sees her mom beating on the girl. The police are
called and arrive on scene to find that the little girl has passed away. The
last scene is at the cemetery and we see her grave. The little boy turns around
and sees her. They embrace before running towards the sun with other children.
Lyrics
She walks to school with the
lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holding
back
Wearing the same dress she wore
yesterday
She hides the bruises with the
linen and lace, oh
The teacher wonders but she
doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind
the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret
storm
Sometimes she wishes she was
never born
Through the wind and the rain she
stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise
above
But her dreams give her wings and
she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
Somebody cries in the middle of
the night
The neighbors hear but they turn
out the light
A fragile soul caught in the
hands of fate
When morning comes it will be too
late
Through the wind and the rain she
stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise
above
But her dreams give her wings and
she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned
face
A name is written on a polished
rock
A broken heart that the world
forgot
Through the wind and the rain she
stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise
above
But her dreams give her wings and
she flies to a place
Where she's loved concrete angel
According to Floyd (2011), disconfirming messages are “behaviors
that imply a lack of regard for another person” (p.339). This is clearly seen
in the video by the mother’s actions. She shakes and hits her daughter which is
obviously harmful to the little girl. The mother reacts violently to deal with
her aggression with no regard for her daughter. The little girl is in pain
emotionally and physically but the mother is blinded by her own anger. When the
mother hits the little girl this disconfirming message is interpreted by her;
thus, she thinks that her mother does not care about her.
An example of disconfirming messages is Donald Trump’s
presidential plans. He claims that he will deport millions of immigrants
without going through the court system. “I will have perfect legal authority to
circumvent the courts,” Trump said (Tani 2015). Trump plans to deport millions
of people with no regard for the affects it will have on our economy. He has a
lot of money so he does not think about the rest of America. This disregard for
millions of people can have dire effects on our society.
References
Floyd,
K. (2011). Interpersonal communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tani,
M. (2015). We pressed Donald Trump about the practicality of his plan to deport
11
million people. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-deportation-plan-2015-11
In the movie Inside Out, there are many examples of nonverbal communication.
According to Floyd (2011), nonverbal communications are “behaviors and
characteristics that convey meaning without using words” (p. 179).
The
movie Inside Out, is about a girl named
Riley and her emotions. Inside Riley’s head, there is a whole new world.
Headquarters is where her emotions live; they help Riley get through her
everyday life. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear are the five emotions
that control Riley.
In
the movie, the emotions use many nonverbal cues to display how they are
feeling. They each display many emotions (not just the emotion that there name
describes). The emotions do not try to conceal information from one another by
hiding there non-verbal cues. They embrace them to show what they are feeling. In
this clip, Anger uses many non-verbal cues that fall under the different
non-verbal channels. A non-verbal channels are the various forms in which
communication takes place (Floyd, 2011, p.181). We use our different senses to
pick up non-verbal cues. We use our vision to pick up the non-verbal cues Anger
uses such as his facial expression, body language, gestures, and personal
appearance. We use our sense of hearing to hear the different tone and volume in
Anger’s voice when he gets mad compared to when he is not agitated. When Anger
gets mad, he clenches his fists, shoots fire from the top of his head, and
yells. He also becomes very aggressive.
People
use non-verbal communication in their everyday lives, whether they are aware of
it or not. Some of the many non-verbal communications we use include many, if
not all, of the same as seen with Anger (facial expressions, body language,
gestures, personal appearance, tone and volume of the speech). Most of the
non-verbal messages that we send are involuntary; this is why most people trust
the non-verbal cue over what the person is saying.
References
Docter , P., & Del Carmen , R. (Directors).
(2015). Inside Out [Motion Picture].
Flyod, K. (2011). Interpersonal Communication.
Boston: McGraw Hill.
In the movie The Lion King, there are many different ways communication is used.
One of the forms of communication most easily seen is deception. According to
Floyd (2011) deception “the knowing and intentional transmission of information
to create a false belief in the hearer” (p. 384). Simba’s Uncle Scar uses
deception with him throughout the movie to manipulate Simba. Scar manipulates
Simba so that he can become king.
One
of the scenes that Scar uses deception with Simba is the scene where, he tells
Simba about the elephant graveyard. In this scene, Scar uses the Act of Simulation.
The acts of simulation fabricate or exaggerate information to mislead others
(Floyd, 2011, p. 389). There are two forms of simulation, falsification and exaggeration.
Scars uses exaggeration when he is talking to Simba about the elephant
graveyard. Exaggeration is when information is inflated or overstated (Floyd,
2011, p. 390). In the movie, Scar says “It’s far too dangerous. Only the bravest
lions go there” and “I suppose you would have found out sooner or later. You
being so clever and all”. Scars exaggerates when he says only the “bravest
lions go there” because in reality no lions really go there. He also
exaggerates how clever he really thinks Simba is. Scar uses the exaggerations
to spark curiosity in Simba. Simba’s curiosity causes him to want to go to the
elephant graveyard and explore.
A
real world examples of deception can be seen in politics. One example is when Donald
Trump says that all immigrants are criminals. This is a major exaggeration that
can cause stereotypes to develop or further develop.
Another place
that Scar uses deception is when he tells Simba to leave after Mufasa dies
because everyone will blame Simba and hate him. Scars uses acts of
dissimulation. According to Floyd (2011) acts of dissimulation are “forms of
deception that involve omitting certain details that would change the nature of
the story if they were known” (p. 390).Like acts of simulation, acts of dissimulation have two different forms,
omission and equivocation. Scar uses omission because he left out the part
where he pushed Mufasa off the cliff into the pack of wildebeest instead of
helping him when he was talking to Simba. Omission is when a person leaves out
important details of the story entirely (Floyd, 2011, p. 391).
One common real
life example of omission would be when two little kids are playing and one goes
running up to their mother screaming “Josie hit me!” When the mother goes and
asks Josie why she hit her sister, Mara, the mother finds out that Mara took a
doll out of Josie’s hand. This one action was left out of the original story
that Mara told her mother. If she would have told her mother that she took the
doll then her sister hit her, it would have changed the reaction the mother
gave.
References
Allers , R., & Minkoff, R. (Directors). (1994). The
Lion King [Motion Picture].
Flyod, K. (2011). Interpersonal Communication.
Boston: McGraw Hill.