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.