Outsourced movie free essay sample

Todd Anderson, the main character in Outsourced, was a normal guy working for an online company that sells tacky souvenirs in Seattle. Although he wasn’t thrilled with his job, he was comfortable. Without warning Todd’s boss tells him that all of their jobs have been outsourced. Even though Todd was loosing his job, his boss wanted him to travel to India to train his replacement. Todd, although emotionally disturbed, accepts the offer and travels to India. Todd was about to enter a country with more than a billion people without any knowledge of their culture. From the first minute Todd arrived in India he was experiencing culture shock. Communicating, eating, catching a train, catching a taxi, even going to the bathroom became a challenge. Todd was still living an American life style in India. It wasn’t until about half way through the movie that Todd stopped resisting India and started enjoying it. We will write a custom essay sample on Outsourced movie or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I felt like this movie did very well at portraying the life style of the Indian culture and how they communicate. It shows that cross culture understanding is very important. Without it, even a simple phone call between someone in America and someone in India can go south if one doesn’t understand the other. Not only was Todd struggling with understanding their language but he was also finding it hard to adapt to their body language. Although American life style and Indian life style are totally different, Todd was able to adapt to it via non-verbal communication. You may not realize it but body language differs in every culture. Eye contact, head shaking, hand gestures and other simple actions are totally different and if used incorrectly may be considered the total opposite of what you intended. In India intense eye contact is a considered rude and disrespectful. When Todd arrived in India he didn’t have any knowledge of Indian culture, which made it very hard for him to understand. When someone doesn’t understand something they usually don’t enjoy it. And that’s why Todd was resisting Indian in the beginning. A great example of this was when Todd took a train for the first time. It was very crowded and he barely made it. Every seat was taken but a young boy gestured that he take his seat. As Todd thankfully took the seat, the young boy proceeded to Sit on his lap. Todd was alarmed by his action but the boy had done it as a normal favor to show respect. If this were to a happen in America, Todd would have been looked at very strangely by other occupants and probably would have been considered a pedophile. Its funny how such a small act of kindness can mean something completely opposite in a different culture. Todd’s arrival in India was a rude awakening from the start. The man that was supposed to pick him up at the airport misspelled Todd’s name on the sign he was holding so Todd walked right past him. This non-verbal miscommunication is a great example of cultural diversity. The man that was holding the sign spelled Todd’s name, â€Å"Mr. Toad†. Because of the Indian accent, Todd was pronounced as Toad. Which explains the misspelling on the sign. Throughout the movie, people continued to call him Mr. Toad although he repeatedly insisted that he be called just â€Å"Todd†. He later realized that there was no use in correcting everyone so he eventually accepted the small mispronunciation. Todd had a hard time adjusting to Indian food, and since he wasn’t used to it, it made him sick. To avoid this he would give his food to the people that lived on the other side of the wall from him. This became a daily routine for him and it was deeply appreciated by the people on the other side since they weren’t as fortunate as him. In fact they were so grateful that they invited him over for an afternoon meal that they cooked on their own. Since they didn’t know a lick of English they showed their appreciation through their actions. He sat down with the family, as the meal was prepared in front of him. He also noticed that they were using some of his merchandise that he sells at Western Novelty. That moment was a big eye opener for him because although he finds his products cheap and useless, there’s always someone that will appreciate it. In the book, The Phenomenon of Silence, The author explains how non-verbal communication is transformed into verbal communication. And I thought this was a great example of this because although the family couldn’t communicate with Todd, they transformed their actions into verbal appreciation. Writing this paper has helped me mentally define the role of non-verbal communication and its importance in cultural understanding. Verbal communication is also very important but its only half. For example, say you were placed in a room with five other people for ten minutes that spoke a language that you didn’t know. During this time your objective is to try and find out the nature of their conversation. Since you can watch them talk, your able to see who crosses their arms, who makes eye contact, who is shy, who talks a lot, who uses hand gestures, who’s mad, who’s sad or even see who lies and who’s truthful. In the article, â€Å"The Effect of Deception on Specific Hand Gestures,† explains that someone that lies a lot tends to use more exaggerated hand gestures. If you were to listen to these five people on the phone you wouldn’t be able to catch these small but big pieces of information. That is why Non-verbal communication is so important. The article, â€Å"The Role of Human Body Movements in Mate Selection,† brings up a good point about human body language. It says, â€Å"This non-verbal mode is possibly rooted firmly in our human evolutionary heritage, and as such, some scientists argue that it serves as a fundamental assessment and expression tool for our inner qualities†. What it’s saying is that body language can express ones personality without actually having a conversation with the individual. The book, Understanding Human Communication, says, â€Å"Nonverbal behavior offers many cues about the way people feel-often more than we get from words alone†. Both of theses quotes are saying that non-verbal communication plays an important role in the process of human understanding and that’s why it was a key concept in helping Todd understand India. Whether it was catching a taxi, finding a seat on a train, or even learning the correct way to eat, each one of theses awkward scenarios aided in Todd’s adaptation to India.