I recorded an episode of Duck Dynasty this week and watched it with the sound turned off so I could observe the characters' relationships based on the ways in which they are communicating.
The episode started off with Psi dribbling a basketball while Martin, Godwin and Jase were standing there watching him. Psi shot the ball in the basketball hoop and I could tell he was pleased when he made the shot, then smiled as he made a shooting form with his hand and seemed to mouth "YES!" As the men stood around, they started to smile and laugh. Jep walked towards the group of men, and you see Psi point down at Jep's feet and then all the other's men glance towards the same direction. They seems to be grimacing and then we are shown Jep's ridiculous looking shoes that have some type of spring on the bottom of them (which I assume were for helping him improve his basketball skills?) Jep was smiling and hopping on his shoes, so whatever they were saying to him, did not seem to phase his happy attitude. Jase, Jep's older brother tends to be very sarcastic and funny on the show. Jase tends to tease and make fun of his brothers and friends on the show. So as Jep is hopping around on his shoes, we see Jase standing, leaning on one foot with his hand in one pocket and a basketball in the other while he grimaces, I can only imagine what he is thinking as his non-verbal cues show that he is amused and surprised by his brother, Jep.
Then you see Jase point to Jep's shoes and then held the ball like he was going to shoot it as Jep bent his knees slightly and looked at the hoop, like he was prepared to catch the ball after it was shot. But to my suprise, Jase tossed the ball so Jep could jump up and try to "dunk" the ball into the basketball hoop. Jep failed and ended up running into the basketball hoop's pole. It was pretty amusing, even without the sound.
Then Jep turns around to look at the other men after his failed attempt and they just stared at him blankly, and his facial cues showed some embarrassment. Then Jase pointed and said something to Jep, and then we see Jep walk away in his goofy basketball shoes with his head down "in shame".
I watched the facial expressions, eye behavior, and their gestures and body movement which gave me a lot to draw some conclucions of what was happening in the show.
After watching the show with the sound turned on, I was able to have a better understanding by hearing the verbal communication between the men.
Turns out I was correct in the men making fun of Jep and his new basketball shoes. They were teasing him because he is short and can't jump even with the shoes. But Jep is determined to prove the men wrong. They all bet that he couldn't dunk the ball, but if he did, they would all go and buy the same goofy basketball shoes and wear them if he could dunk it.
When Jep failed to dunk the ball, we didn't see Psi, but he said "Don't quit your day job 'Short stuff'!" (which I would haven't known at all because I didn't see any nonverbal cues b/c the camera wasn't showing Psi at the time.
So my assumptions would have been more correct if I had been listening to the show as well as watching it so I could listen to the verbal cues and non-verbal cues.
I have gained some insight in that when we use both nonverbal and verbal cues to communicate, it helps us understand the other person (or people) we are trying to communicate with better. I can't imagine what it is like for someone who is deaf or blind and not have both senses to communicate with.
I found this to be an interesting assignment and look forward to hearing everyone else's experience in the course! Thanks for reading!
Jessica
What a great show to pick! Very funny with the sound on, I can't imagine with the sound off. I think this is a show that listening to makes it better. I think it would be very hard to understand with no sound. You would have to understand the family dynamic because sometimes their serious facial expressions are accompanied with funny jokes.
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