M3: “Failure to Communicate” Film Clips Table
Instructions: Complete this table for each film clip you choose to analyze. Remember to complete each section of the table for all three
clips you view.
Film Clip
Character(s) What Happened?
Title
“Dallas” Bobby, As J.R and Daddy were out to
Daddy (Jock), dinner and drinks, Bobby storms
J.R into the restaurant and confronts
Daddy (Jock) about pulling
money from the Ewing Oil
Company’s bank account
without collaborating with him
first. Daddy (Jock) responds to
his concern with hostility and
sense of authority, claiming it
was “his” money and he can do
whatever he wants. Bobby
reminds Daddy (Jock) that he is
a contracted business partner
and decisions should include
him, as he is an “owner” of the
money as well. Daddy (Jock)
responds with even greater
authority stating that Bobby
must take power, as it is not
handed to someone. J.R sits at
the table silently, allowing the
dispute to continue without
remediation efforts.
Communication
Problem(s)
As Bobby enters the room, he
starts off by seeking
information through
interrogative, direct
questioning about why he
made financial decisions
without collaborating with
him first. Bobby did not choose
the correct time or place to
have this conversation, as they
were out to dinner with other
people uninvolved with the
issue at hand. However, the
major communication
problem lies in the lack of
parity and in the power
struggle between Jock, the
father, and Bobby, his son.
Bobby is struggling to
establish himself as an equal
power in decision-making for
the oil company he made a
partner. When Bobby
confronts Jock about his lack
of collaboration with taking a
Suggestions or Solutions for
Resolving the
Communication Difficulties
To improve the
communication of both men
in this situation, both men
need to explain their
perspectives in a calm
manner and try to
understand the perception of
the other person. Bobby
needs to realize that Jock has
been the sole proprietor of
the company for a while and
that he has much knowledge
about the company. Jock
needs to understand that
Bobby is trying to show his
competence to be a leader in
the company he was given
responsibility for. Although
he is a new leader, he has
different perspectives that
might benefit the company in
ways Jock has never
considered. Bobby could
have also confronted Jock in
an appropriate environment,
 M3: “Failure to Communicate” Film Clips Table

Suggestions or Solutions for

Film Clip Communication
Character(s) What Happened? Resolving the
Title Problem(s)
Communication Difficulties

large sum of money out of the where Jock could have

account, Jock lacks responded without feeling
accountability by stating he the need to maintain his
was going to tell him about it reputation in front of others.
later tonight, after the fact. If this happened, he may not
Bobby continues to reinforce have responded so hosile,
the need to discuss these enabling him to see things
matters prior to action being from his son’s perspective.
taken. Jock refuses to negotiate
and immediately responds
with hostility, stating that he
has full control. When Bobby
reinforces that the money
belongs to the company, that
he was given a right to under
contract. Jock continues to
escalate the confrontation by
telling Bobby that If [he] did
give [him] power, [he] has
NOTHING” “real power is
something you take.” After
making this irreversible
statement, Bobby shuts down,
making them both ineffective
encoders and decoders when
attempting to resolve the issue
at hand.
 M3: “Failure to Communicate” Film Clips Table

Suggestions or Solutions for

Film Clip Communication
Character(s) What Happened? Resolving the
Title Problem(s)
Communication Difficulties

“12 12 white, A very angry juror went on a
Angry male jurors of racist rant about the Puerto
Men” a murder trial Rican defendant on trial. As the
(Puerto Rican angry juror is rambling on about
teenager in the defendant, the 11 other
discussion) jurors start to get up from the
table and turn their back on him,
showing their disapproval with
silence and nonverbal
communication. All were quiet
until the last juror sitting tells
him to not open his mouth again.
The angry juror’s perception of Most importantly, the angry
the defendant is highly juror needs to develop
problematic, as he relies heavily interpersonal competence by
on negative stereotyping and self-reflecting on his extremely
ignores external data about the biased perspective of the
case and evidence itself. His defendant. A key component
own biases from his lack of of understanding others is to
cultural competency disables his become aware of your own
ability to properly negotiate with background and upbringing
the other jurors to come up with and how you internalized
a unanimous verdict. preconceived notions about a
person or idea.
The angry juror and the other 11
men are not promoting dialogue Secondly, the angry juror
with each other, as the angry needs to decode the nonverbal
juror is yelling in the form of a communications of the other
rant and the others refuse to jurors in the room through his
acknowledge his message “listening” skills. If he
verbally. properly observed the body
language of his peers (i.e.,
The angry juror is also giving getting up and turning their
the other jurors an opportunity to backs, lack of eye contact,
provide feedback about the facial expressions) and
comments he is making, as he is recognized the growing special
asking rhetorical questions and relations between them, he
does not provide sufficient wait would have understood the
time for dialogue. The only way message being encoded.
the other jurors could encode Furthermore, the other 11
 M3: “Failure to Communicate” Film Clips Table
Film Clip
Character(s) What Happened?
Title
“Big Penny and Sheldon breaks into Penny’s
Bang Sheldon room in the middle of the night
Theory” to address his concerns
regarding Penny and Leonard’s
relationship status. He states that
their personal decision to be
together will affect his own
homeostasis and demands that
they stay together, regardless of
emotion. Penny tells Sheldon
that the decision does not
concern him and requests that
she withholds this information
Communication
Problem(s)
their message was to use
extreme nonverbal
communications by standing up,
turning their back, and
remaining silent. Only after
almost all the 11 jurors turned
their back did the angry juror
decrease his rant speed to allow
space for verbal feedback.
When the opportunity was
given, the remaining juror sitting
used the availability to respond
hostilely.
As a person with autism,
Sheldon struggles with many
areas of effective
communication, primarily in
decoding nonverbal messages,
social cues/ norms, and
comprehending the relational
dimensions of effective
interpersonal communication.
In the video, Sheldon invades
Penny’s personal environment
at an inappropriate time to
discuss her personal
Suggestions or Solutions for
Resolving the
Communication Difficulties
jurors should have paraphrased
the angry juror’s thoughts, so
he did not feel like he had to
continue restating the same
idea, communicating it more
aggressively each time. If that
occurred, there would have
been a moment of silence
where the other jurors could
state objective statements
about the case the angry juror
could not refute. That is more
effective than telling him to
shut up.
Sheldon should work on his
comprehension of nonverbal
cues to properly decode the
messages Penny is
attempting to encode.
Although this is very difficult
for a person with autism, he
can start by analyzing Penny
by paying attention to her
personal state and
background, while
suspending his judgment
about her. He would have
 M3: “Failure to Communicate” Film Clips Table
Film Clip
Character(s) What Happened?
Title
from Leonard for the time being.
Before leaving, he comments on
his disapproval of new haircare
product scents and asks Penny
not to hurt his friend.
Communication
Problem(s)
relationship with someone
else. Rather than communicate
his concerns for the parties
involved, he reflects the
attention to himself, stating
how detrimental it would be
for his own homeostasis. He
struggles to consider the
perspective of Penny and how
the relationship is affecting
her.
Suggestions or Solutions for
Resolving the
Communication Difficulties
then recognized that the
environment, physical space,
and topic of discussion made
Penny feel uncomfortable.
Although Sheldon has a low-
ambiguity tolerance and is
part of the low-context
culture of people with
autism, he needs to practice
open-mindedness about
Penny’s cultural perspective
of high- ambiguity tolerance.
Penny could have also
improved her
communication by
participating in the same
solutions. As she is friends
with Sheldon, she should
have focused on the message
he was trying to send, while
verbally communicating her
state of discomfort.