Television
here in South Africa is not like television in the United States. Although the shows here are westernized, they
are at least a year behind the United States. So for this assignment, I decided
to view a show that originated in South Africa.
While
viewing the show without sound, I assumed the characters did not know each
other by them standing so far away from each other. I also assumed the older
adult on the show was abusive to the younger girl sitting on the sofa. His arms
were waving about aggressively and toward her.
It appeared he was about to hit her. The girl did not have any eye contact
with the older man. She sat quietly without looking up. A boy who appeared to be her age, sat on the
opposite end of the sofa looking downward.
During the entire show there were no smiles or signs of happiness. It
appeared to be a tense situation.
When
I watched with the sound and subtitles, the show was actually about the 2
younger people meeting for the first time for an arranged marriage. The older adult was the girl’s father. He was
telling both young people how to have a good marriage and what was expected of
each of them.
I
assumed because there was no laughter or smiles that the situation was not a
happy one. I have always associated weddings
and marriage to happy times. The older man was expressing himself by waving his
arms toward the girl. The girl and boy
looked downward with no eye contact out of respect for her father.
I
believe the cultural differences displayed on the show and watching a show I
had no familiarity with had an impact on my perspective.
I believe it is extremely important to be aware of our biases and how they affect how we see things.
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about being careful with our observations and now allowing our biases to affect our perception of what we are observing. This was an interesting class discussion/assignment. I found that I am very interested in further learning about reading body language. I thing that it is fun to watch and observe what people are doing.
The show that you viewed sounds very interesting and I can see why you had a different impression of the show without sound and then with it. I too also assume that marriages are of happy times but I would assume that with arranged weddings then the girls choice and opinions are not much of a concern which would make anyone feel a little unhappy. I understand that tradition is tradition but it's hard for me to understand why each parties feelings were not taken into consideration.
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