TV With No Sound

Let me begin this post to say that I rarely watch what I want on television anymore. The television is normally set to Disney Junior or Frozen if my daughter is watching, or basketball if my husband is home. I used to be able to binge watch with the best of them but having two children under two, a full-time job, and grad school, I am lucky to watch one show of my choice a week. 

            I chose to watch the pilot episode of “The Office” and am so glad that I did. Without the sound on, there were so many nonverbal behaviors that I was able to observe. There were a few characters that seemed to spend more time on screen and I was able to pick out a relationship between two characters (Jim and Pam) that seemed to actually like each other and were flirting. The boss (Michael) and one of his employees (Dwight) had a different relationship than that of all the other employees and boss as Dwight actually seemed to like the boss. All other employees seemed highly annoyed with their boss and generally uncomfortable when he was around.

            After I watched the same episode with the sound on, I realized that my observations of nonverbal behaviors were pretty accurate. There were more emotions that were evident with sound, such as anger which showed to me previously as annoyance. The language piece to the show helped to understand why the employees were so bothered by their boss as he thought he was hilarious but in many cases either rude or inappropriate.

            If I had watched a show that I am familiar with, my assumptions may have been more correct but I do feel that the language piece and tone of voice play a huge part in communication. I feel as though I spent a lot of time figuring out who each person was and perhaps it would have been easier if I already knew the characters.

            My husband sat and watched the show with and without sound and we were absolutely wondering what the characters were saying without the sound. When the sound was on we were laughing at some parts! I think this may be a show that we watch more of in the future.