The film industry is a great platform for tracing the elements of communication and different types of interaction between people. It is impossible to say which elements of communication matters the most as all of them contribute to the relationships. One of the movies that help to address this theme is Hitch (2005). The main character of the movie, a professional “Hitch,” is a person who contributes to the interactions between two completely different people. Using specially-designed tactics in addition to verbal communication, Alex connects people who suit one another but still would never have met without his help. Therefore, in the film Hitch, one may see how a number of variables of interpersonal communication help to build the system of connection between different people.
Nonverbal
One of the essential types of communication displayed through the movie is the use of nonverbal cues between individuals. As it was mentioned in the film, more than half of all interactions between people are based on the signs of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is not only the thing that contributes to understanding between people but also assists in giving a deeper meaning for communicative acts with the help of body language. In the college environment, this aspect of communication is used between teachers and students. Therefore, with the help of nonverbal cues teachers may identify when students cheat or come not prepared for classes. Also, students use this type of communication to predict a teacher’s behavior. Generally, any message that is transferred to another person without any linguistic method belongs to nonverbal communication. While verbal communication is useful in transferring a particular message as precise as possible, nonverbal communication is especially useful for sharing one’s true feelings and interpreting the inner feelings of others. In the film Hitch, nonverbal communication is presented as an uncontrollable activity that is likely to occur at any time. During conversations, nonverbal communication even starts before the response is expressed with the help of linguistic signs. In fact, it is also important to mention that nonverbal communicative acts may be expressed in a number of forms, starting from how a person moves one’s body and up to how the size of one’s eyes changes during a conversation. One of the primary goals of the film Hitch is to demonstrate the way in which nonverbal communication is a driving factor of everyday lives. For instance, the main character Hitch is the one who helps to understand how with the help of body language and other nonverbal signs it becomes possible to understand what females exactly meanwhile saying something different.
Perception
Another essential aspect of communication depicted in the movie is how one’s perception affects how people relate to others and interpret one’s appearance and nonverbal cues. As an aspect of communication, perception is mainly about how people perceive the actions and behaviors of others and give them a kind of subjective meaning. In the movie, Hitch tries to assist his friend in finding the ways to connect with Allegra, a beautiful woman who attracts the hero. Therefore, Hitch believes that Albert should, first of all, change not only his behavior but also try to influence the way Allegra perceives him. To do so, Hitch emphasized the importance of self-esteem that should help the woman to perceive Albert as a strong and successful man, full of ambitions. Also, as far as perception is concerned, it is crucial to mention that it differs according to gender roles that affect how people perceive the world around them. The main reason for that is that males are more likely to see their interpersonal relationships rather like the opportunities to enjoy the victory, while females want to be nurturing.
Relational development
One more side of communication that drives the plot of the movie is the relational development that is shown to demonstrate the way how relationships in the film develop into something more serious. In the center of the movie, there are the relationships between Hitch and Sara. The strong connection between them appears from the very first time when they communicate with one another in a local bar. Then, when the plot develops, one may trace how there occur different stages of relationship development between Hitch and Sara, starting from the initiating process and up to the bonding process. For instance, the initiating stage between Hitch and Sara starts when the man initiates a conversation with the woman in a bar. In fact, he shows that he is interested in her personality and sets the background for further stages.
Culture
The last type of communication represented is the culture that affects the ways people make a choice of their partners. Culture is an important aspect of any community that connects people. Undoubtedly, it affects one’s relationship with people around. There are many moments throughout the movie when Sara demonstrates that she belongs to a bigger collectivistic cultural environment as she shows particular care for her close friends and family members. It is impossible to say that Hitch and Sara have identical cultural values and the same relationship to the values of life. Even more, one more couple, Allegra and Albert, are two people with great differences in their cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless, they still could be together as their cultural differences were minor in comparison to what the external world saw.
