Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Disconfirming Messages- The Concrete Angel

The Concrete Angel by Martina McBride
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

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