Communication Model, Over

The clip above is an example of the communication model in progress. The context of this clip is originally aired on TV, from the show Family Guy. They are in a rundown house and are trying to fix it up. Brian and Stewie switch off being the sender and the receiver. When Stewie is the sender, he generates the message of his choice, such as asking Brian if he can see the wire. Brian hears the message and interprets it as a receiver. Their channel or medium is through walkie-talkies, which transmit the sender's to the receiver. Stewie encodes his messages by mentally selecting what he is going to say, while Brian decodes it by selecting a meaning of that message from within himself. So, the interpretation of the receiver is entirely up to them. Brian keeps forgetting to say "over", and Stewie sends out messages that he is unsure what he is saying, since part of the message gets cut off. Brian's frustration can be shown by his feedback. He yells and becomes angry.

The medium is particularly significant in this situation because the walkie-talkies create an ineffectiveness in the communication process. They can not see each other's faces, or the signs and symbols such as facial expressions or hand gestures that they are transmitting. This hinders their true meanings of the messages, and makes it easier to be misinterpreted. To be honest, I'm not sure if Stewie is actually having trouble understanding Brian, or if he is joking with him and giving him a hard time. This is because, like Brian, I can't see Stewie's facial expressions. If we saw him smiling, we could tell that he is actually kidding. Since Brian is not following protocol by saying "over" after his message, it is hard for Stewie as a receiver to grasp what he is trying to say. This is a problem in today's society as well. When communicating through electronic mediums, such as emails or texts, we have to rely on what is written in the message. We can not see the sender in person, so many misunderstandings happen. People tend to read too much into the message and get the wrong message.