Interpersonal Communication

Mrs. Doubtfire is a film that focuses on a marriage going through a divorce. As a result of the divorce Daniel, the father, is only allowed to see his children once a week. In an attempt to spend more time with his children, Daniel disguises as the perfect old English nanny that his wife, Miranda, is looking to hire. As the new nanny, Daniel becomes the perfect father and spouse. In this film not only do you see the many different types of relationships, you also see concepts of interpersonal communication entwined. The first two concepts of interpersonal communication running through the film are those of relationship deterioration and repair. The third concept that is weaved throughout the entire film is that of using humor to reduce tension in communication. In this paper I will explore these three concepts, and how they are applied in the film as well as throughout the characters relationships with one another.
The most obvious concept observed in the film Mrs. Doubtfire is that of relationship deterioration. This can be described as the stage in a relationship that sees the weakening of bonds between the parties and that represents the downside of the relationship progression. This interpersonal communication concept is observed in the first scenes of the movie. Right after the father Daniel, played by Robin Williams, decides to throw his son a birthday party without the consent of the mother, played by Sally Field, we find out that Sally Field’s character Miranda is unhappy in her marriage. Miranda says to Daniel, “We have grown apart, we are different, and we have nothing in common.” In this scene we are shown the deterioration of a marriage or in more general terms the deterioration of a relationship. The concept of relationship deterioration was well applied in the film. We see the relationship deterioration very well portrayed in the scene mentioned above and it follows throughout the entire movie. Not only does it show the fact that this marriage