Communication Concepts Reflected in Pacific Rim - Movie Review Example

Full Communication Concepts Reflected in Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim is a futuristic science-fiction movie that portrays the vulnerable lives of people from the attack kaijus or giant beasts which came from the deep. Since the people realized that the monster is now a regular threat not only to economic and political stability but more so to the very lives of people, jaegers or hunters have been trained to trail down the monsters. They created machines which are to be operated by two compatible jaegers who can “drift” together or synchronize their memories and thoughts in order to manage the machine well as if they were all one body. Raleigh Becket was hunted by his supervisor, Stacker Pentecost after hiding away for a long time since he lost his brother during their last mission as jaegers. Pentecost worked hard on his machines and chose his best fighters such as Becket who was soon to be paired with a woman jaeger named Mako Mori. Although the woman was not allowed by his foster father to become a jaeger because of her vulnerability in the drift, she soon proved her worth and Becket chose her to become his partner. Through the drift, Becket learned about Mori’s history and understood why Pentecost has always been protective of her. As need demanded it, the two had to continue pairing up even against the will of Pentecost if only to save the world from the destructive kaiju. Eventually, the two fighters succeeded in bombing the breeding place of the kaijus, thanks to the help of two scientists who experimented on the drift with a dead kaiju. The success however was not simply achieved through the guts and skills of the heroes but even so with their interpersonal communications. Therefore, in this paper, communication concepts such as stages, strategies, relational dialectics and self-disclosure will be examined more closely as they are applied and reflected in the aforementioned movie. The concept of stages is obviously illustrated in the characters of Becket and Mori. From the time they were introduced, the woman was already attracted to the man. Becket on the other hand, is fascinated with the woman’s record being the best fighter so that when he saw how she combatted, she became his partner but not after a lot of consideration on the part of her foster father. Eventually, when Becket learns about Mori’s history, he sympathizes and feels for her. Soon, they formed a bond where they did not only share respect but love. As a result, they were able to combine their skills and abilities to win against the monsters, destroying the bridge which secured the kaijus. The stages in the relationship of Becket and Mori are effective because they developed into a bond that made the jaegers work together as a team. From attraction, they developed respect for each other. In the relationship of Becket and Mori, different strategies were observed. The two have been observing each other after their first encounter as they were introduced by Pentecost. Mori has been looking at Becket, perhaps wanting him to show some interest in her. On the other hand, Becket observed Mori as well especially when he was fighting to choose his partner while the woman scored his fights. Finally, Becket requested to fight with her. After winning, Mori was asked to become the partner of the jaeger but Pentecost did not agree so that the woman exited sad and dismayed. The man then approaches her and encourages her to fight the kaijus with him. It is clearly seen in the said scene that both passive and active strategies are exemplified. The result of the relationship could be considered effective because the characters did not stop in simply observing each other. Becket made the first move to speak with the woman and they were able to connect with each other. Had Becket maintained his distance, their relationship might have remained distant and unproductive. After the initial introductions, Mori seemed to have wanted to converse even more with Becket. However, as a fighter, she knew her attraction toward Becket has to stop. Therefore, even though she wanted to speak more with the man, she had to move away and maintain separateness between them. This portrays relational dialectic. Moreover, when Becket asked for Mori to be his partner and Pentecost did not agree, Mori’s uncertainty about her role in the mission has become evident. Her confidence has been all the more shaken when she failed to connect with Becket during their first drift. However, when Becket encouraged her, appreciating her abilities and mentioning their compatibility as jaegers, Mori became more convinced and certain about her fighting role. The separateness and uncertainties definitely negatively affected Mori and her relationships with other people. Nevertheless, with the help of Becket who confirmed and strengthened her certainties about herself, she was able to move beyond what she knew she can handle. Perhaps in every relationship, one must have to experience separateness to be closer and uncertainties to be certain just like what happened to Mori. When she separated herself, she knew then that she had to get closer to the man he was avoiding. When her uncertainties arose, she saw her certainties. As Becket was preparing for his next mission, Mori approaches him, dressed for the operation. When Mori encouraged Becket to say something, he said that there is no use because in just a few minutes, she’ll be in his head, meaning, they will both know each other when they will be able to “see” the memories of each other during the drift. Pretty soon, both of the characters had a deeper knowledge of each other, not only about their past experience but about their feelings as well regarding those experiences. However, during the drift, Mori surrendered to her memory, expressing her anger that has been built-in her heart since she lost her parents to a kaiju. This incident made Mori and Becket fail in synchronizing their thoughts and it also endangered all the employees in the area. As a result, Pentecost has to pull her out from the mission. Eventually, Becket approaches the woman and says he should have warned her about the initial experience during the drift. The self- disclosure happened after a dangerous event which could have been avoided if both the jaegers spent some time disclosing themselves to each other. If the self-disclosure happened before the drift, the two characters might have experienced a smooth transition in their sharing of memories and they could have avoided the chaos caused by Mori’s uncontrollable emotions about her memories. Movies do not just show action and the unfolding of stories. They also teach about many essential things about human beings such as concepts of communication. As social beings, communication and its concepts are extremely important and they are often seen in movies. In the movie entitled Pacific Rim, there is a variety of communication concepts that are reflected especially by the main characters, Becket and Mori. The two developed their relationship by going through the passive and active stages of a relationship. In addition, strategies such as observing and conversing have also been evident. In expressing relational dialectics, Mori had to maintain a distance from the man to whom he was attracted to because of their circumstances. She also had her uncertainties but from those, she found her confidence in herself about what she really wanted. Self-disclosure between the two came quite late. Regardless of the importance of this concept in the mission, the two characters overlooked the necessity of disclosing themselves and they had to suffer the consequences afterward. Read More