Movie Review (Crash, 2004)
Interpersonal Conflict in Film
Interpersonal conflict is a part of an everyday interpersonal relationships. In the principles of communication, one has to establish contact with another individual. On the other hand, another person should respond to the contact being initiated to create communication. It is a two way process that involves an exchange of responses to create an idea, one has to encode a message while the other will act as the receiver (Sole, 2011, c. 7.2). The exchange of responses makes up a continuous communication. However, when one of the two neglected or did not respond to the message, or in other words both of the person acts as a messenger and none of a receiver. Therefore, a conflict occurs within the communication process.
This kind of conflict can be observed in our everyday life and most of the time depicted in the media particularly in films. One Example is the movie "Crash (2004)," there are scenes in the movie where interpersonal conflict was not handled effectively. The film demonstrates a real example of a communication failure wherein a conflict between the characters in the film occurred because of miscommunication. When conflicts arise during a communication process, the next step is to clarify and respond accordingly to the message. However, a particular scenes in the movie failed to achieve resolution to the conflict and has escalated to the point of beyond reconciliation. Since communication is crucial in maintaining social relationship to one another, every individual have to know how to maintain that relationship including the knowledge to manage conflicts in an interpersonal settings (Sole, 2011, c. 8.2).
Going back to the film example, there is no need to go any further into the story because at the onset of the movie there is a scene where two women are arguing whether whos to blamed for the car collision. It appears that one of ladies is confronting the other for the accident. However, the other lady is doing the same finger pointing at the other one. The argument escalated as one of the ladies started to insult the other by taunting and initimidation. The situation has gone from a simple argument into a verbal fight. Therefore, the situation can be classified as an interpersonal conflict.
The situation was not handled effectively because the two characters refuse to back-down, and both of them neglects the message that the other one is channeling towards to other. As a result, the message was not received by either participants. Another reason why it was not managed effectively by the mediator (which is the cop) is because he wasn't assertive enough to cut the foul conversation between the two ladies. Most of the time, blaming one another acts as a spark to a raging fire and participants going beyond their usual behavior in a conflict fuels the firing rage between the conflicting parties. The win-lose mentality also contributes to an interpersonal conflict because none of the parties would like to lose in the conflict and both of have aims to win in the situation.
There are effective ways that could have done differently in the film to handle interpersonal conflicts. Aside from discussing differences, another approach is to compromise. Compromising is the center of the Five Conflict Style Chart. Therefore, it is the most effective among all management styles. The characters in the movie could have agreed to compromise with one another, which means meeting the middle-of-the-road orientation (Pickering, 1999, p. 33). In the compromising style, both of the ladies in the film should have made an agreement with one another to take and give something in return. It is a win-win approach, which is better than the win-lose approach demonstrated during the conflict. Compromising is effective particularly in complex situations where both sides has a perception that they are right side of the issue. Compromising means exchanging concessions or splitting differences from one another.
References
Pickering, P. (1999). Chapter 4 Conflict Management Style. In How To Manage Conflict. (p. 33). New York, USA: Career Press.
Sole, K. (2011). Chapter 7.1 Connecting With Other. In Making Connections Understanding Interpersonal Communication. California, USA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Sole, K. (2011). Chapter 8.1 Building and Maintaining Relations. In Making Connections Understanding Interpersonal Communication. California, USA: Bridgepoint Education Inc..
