For my communications assignment, I needed to watch a show I had never seen before without the sound on. I watched a show called The United States of Tara. It was the perfect show to observe nonverbal communicative behaviors! Tara experiences multiple personalities when she is under stressful situations, and her family tries to support her as she stops taking the medication that was preventing this. The actions of her separate personalities were pronounced to help the audience identify them.
"T" was a teenage girl, obvious by her choice of dress and bouncy, giggly behavior. "Buck" was a man, displayed also by choice of dress and sauntering walk. He also clapped with his hands higher with elbows out when a performance ended. "Alice" was a 50's perfect housewife who wore an A line dress, apron, and pumps while doing household chores.
     I could determine the relationships of the immediate family members for most of the characters because of the context of the household. A woman who came in during dinner seemed to be flirting with the husband of the family through eye contact, coy smiles and the way she held her head when she talked. When I watched with the sound, she turned out to be Tara's sister, and her words reinforced the fact that she was flirting with Tara's husband.
     Many of the nonverbal cues were missed without the words to go with it. Although the assumptions I made about the characters were pretty close, the conversations that went with the actions enriched the show. Once I knew the characters and premise of the show, I watched another episode without the sound. It was easier to guess the story line being familiar with the characters.