Cast Away

Cast Away In the film Cast Away, I was interested in Chuck’s transition between his communication process from before he was stranded on the island and his communication skills when he got back. Being stranded on an island for four years, having no one but a volleyball to talk to would of course have some effects on how anyone would present themselves when they returned. I noticed that in the beginning of the film, Chuck had sufficient communication competence and was able to connect well with people from his own culture and with those of other cultures because his job had him traveling often. However, when he returned, he was unsure and withdrawn while he was around his family and friends, not really sure what to do around so many people at once. Before someone has communication competence, they have to be able to practice communicating by sending messages and using the five step listening process; though he sent out many messages, he couldn’t receive anything back. From the reflect and relate textbook, (page 164) it explains that these are needed to form and maintain competent listening skills so your able to adapt you’re listening purpose for different situations and encounters. He was already a competent communicator before, however, he was limited to the knowledge that he had once he was on the island and he wasn’t able to progress in his communication skills. Without being able to know how to respond, it made it more difficult when his friends were interacting with him; he wasn’t so sure how to respond. Another part of listening is receiving feedback and learning what’s appropriate in your culture. When you communicate with others, you get negative or positive feedback that you need so you can learn how to use the feedback constructively to adapt your own listening skills to your culture; For Chuck in Cast Away, he was limited to whatever he imagined Wilson’s response to be and he couldn’t receive any feedback to help him build his listening skills.