Communication
When I first began to watch PK, I was not looking f or any inter cultural learning
components. However, as the movie progressed I foun d multiple connections to expand on and
learn from. First, we will look at the intercultura l connection found in the movie PK and how it
can be examined in everyday society. The movie itse lf can be a great medium by witch to view
intercultural communication not only in Indian soci ety, but throughout the world which is what
we will be trying to learn from. In the film, Tipsy comes to learn and value the world through
trial and error while simply fully immersing himsel f into something totally new. His experiences
can be seen all throughout intercultural learning. Not only from the view point of others, but
through my eyes as well. The movie got me to thinki ng, what would I do if I was exposed to the
same situation as Tipsy? The movie allowed me to ex amine these personal experiences more in
depth and re-examine how I view the world and those within it. I began to realize that all my life
I have been the “normal” one. The one who always ha d friends, was not discriminated upon, has
always been supported, and always had a loving fami ly. When looking at myself from the
outside I was able to see just how hard it would be if all that was stripped away from me. I put
myself in the shoes of a foreign student on campus and examined just how hard cultural learning
would be. Through this class I have seen how many d ifferences there are between western
civilization and other civilizations all over the w orld. One example I have noticed in my own
personal life is my interaction with an Indian R.A. When I show him my ID upon entering my
dorm building he never smiles like all the other pe ople working the desk do. I have come to
realize that it is not customary in his culture to smile in a brief interaction like this. I always us ed
to be naïve and think that he was unfriendly, but a fter speaking to him found that this was the
exact opposite. I now empathize more with the forei gn students on campus because I honestly
don’t know how I would adjust. The best example I h ave personally is the time I spent abroad in
Italy. For the only time in my life, I wad the outs ider and was the one who was not normal. This
was intimidating to me and I cannot imagine feeling that every day. Examining myself through
this perspective proved to be very refreshing and e nlightening while allowing me to learn much
more about intercultural communication. Without usi ng the movie as a basis, I do not believe I
would have arrived at these realizations. The movie allowed me to begin to look at myself and
those around me from a different perspective. Next, we will look at the social commentary in the film and how it is presented. The
primary way this is presented is through the main c haracter of Tipsy. Tipsy showed just enough
innocence while still being comedic at times to gra b the viewers’ attention. Viewers such as
myself were able to connect with the movie and the social issues it brought to light, through him.
The most prominent social issue that could be exami ned was the overall sense of being
submerged into a new environment and culture. I fee l that this is one reason the movie became
popular all over the world because people from many different walks of life and many different
cultures were able to relate to the experiences and take comfort in the fact that they are not the
only one who has felt this way. There are people al l over the world who feel the same way they
do. In the film, Tipsy is left all to his individu al self in a society that is very family and cultur e
based, this proves to be a constant struggle. Anoth er social issue that is showed through tipsy is
multiple religions and their practices. This piece of the film showed how multiple religions can
coexist and interact within one culture. This prove d to be difficult and confusing for Tipsy to
comprehend and he struggled with conflicting religi ous identity throughout the whole movie. By
the end though, he rises up and goes against instit utionalized religion and faces it with legitimate
questions. A final social issue that could be highl ighted was racial prejudice when it comes to
marriage. Two main characters ended up not getting married because it was not supported by the
families. This example highlights the difference be tween individualism and a society based
strongly around beliefs and the family. In the Unit ed States this would not be seen as an issue by
many families, but in other cultures it is seen as disgraceful to the family. An example such as
this really highlights the differences between soci eties. I think a key phrase that the prompt uses
is taken-for-granted. I am continuing to learn and realize that so much of social interaction and
intercultural communication is just that, taken-for -granted. It has always been safe and normal
for me because I have very rarely had to step outsi de of my comfort zone and be confronted with
such intercultural issues. Lastly, I will lay out a scenario for a sequel to P K in which Tipsy comes in contact with
me in an environment that is very familiar and comf ortable to me, but once again proves to be
completely new and challenging to him. In my sequel , Tipsy would come to the small, rural,
farming town of Springfield, Kentucky where I am fr om. This is a very close knit town with a
strong religious presence as well as many southern traditions and ways of life. These values are
not new and have been this way for generations of f amilies. The biggest social issue Tipsy would
encounter is once again understanding religion prac tices as well as the general social practices of
those around. In my town, there are maybe a handful of people who have the same skill color and
resemble the same ethnicity as him. I feel if he wa s to come there he would be drawn to them
and want to cling to them to learn while in all act uality, they are seen as just as much of an
outsider as he would be. There are predominantly tw o major religions which most people
practice here, these being Catholicism and Baptism. In this aspect there would not be as many
different religions like what was presented in the movie, but understanding their customs and
beliefs would prove to be just as challenging. Tips y would try to learn and form a connection to
both religions, but would continue to be felt as an outsider. Tipsy would find one contradiction in
the fact that while people are tremendously friendl y, it would be hard to work your way into
being considered anything other than an outsider as the culture is based on relationships that
extend back many years and multiple generations. He would be welcomed, but not considered a
normal local for many years. Many things could be t aken for granted by Tipsy. Manners and
politeness are very important in a small town and h e could unknowingly be seen as rude or
offensive without even knowing it. He could take fo r granted that communication ends at just the
base verbal layer and not realize what the common p ractice of a small southern town is. His
“wrong number” theory would affirm the fact that re ligion is very important to people here while
questioning why people simply go to church without living by what they learn in church. It
would question the fact as to why so much trust and faith is put in the priest and not to God
himself as the priest is simply a messenger. This w ould be met with some backlash as citizens of
a small town do not like to question what has been in place for years. Tipsy’s journey and his
struggles would show how difficult it would be to b e accepted in a small town. By looking at it
through the eyes of an outsider, it would cast a to tally new light on each social issue and allow
viewers to see the issues from a viewpoint they had never thought about before. This would be
highly beneficial to the citizens as they would hav e never looked at any issues from this point of
view. Too often prejudice and years of thinking the same cloud new interpretation and
intercultural communication growth. Through these ways I have been able to learn a trem endous amount about myself and
how I can grow from looking at common social issues . I have come to realize that looking at
issues from the eyes of someone who is foreign to a society can be the most beneficial learning
tool. From this movie I feel I have become much mor e aware of what it takes to be an effective
intercultural communicator.