Interpersonal Conflict in Film

Interpersonal Conflict in Film

Interpersonal Conflict

An expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals. (Wilmot and Hocker, 2001)

Interpersonal conflict arises when there is a difference of perception between the interdependent parties. For a conflict to arise the two sides must communicate to each other about the existence of the problem and make an effort towards resolving the issue. Hence, communication plays not only an important but the very basic role during interpersonal conflicts, as without communication there can be no solution.

There are a few problems that are observed to arise in interpersonal conflict situations (Satir, 1998). The first problem that is encountered during such situation is that both parties will ignore the issue. This is very harmful in the way that avoiding confronting the issues at hand can lead up to greater problems in the future for both parties. Secondly, the parties or individuals involved in the situation may start to blame the other individual or party. This particular problem can be avoided through the use of communicating on time and explaining the facts with proof. Another problem that includes such situations is that the individuals start focusing on their own needs, solely, instead of the whole situation.

INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT IN FILM

After carefully analyzing the film, the last kiss, directed by Goldwyn, T (2006), the interpersonal conflict I will focus on is the part where, Michael is confronted by Jenna for the first time, when Jenna asks Michael whether or not he cheated on her.

This interpersonal conflict was not handled appropriately. First of all the conflict situation was created because Michael opted to ignore and to some point avoided talking about the problem that he faced, which was Jenna's pregnancy. When Jenna finally confronted him for the first time, Michael, instead of effectively communicating the issue with Jenna and letting her know how he felt about the whole issue, refuses to answer her questions and avoids communicating with her and clearing out her doubts about him. This is the point that, I feel, was not handled effectively.