Harvard in Pink

Metatheory is defined as theory about theory. Theory is making a hypothesis, it explains how and why things happen. Theories help you form ideas, integrate concepts and make connections between ideas. Within theory, there are seven traditions and I am going to be discussing three of them:  socio-psychological, rhetoric, and phenomenological.

As you may already know about my love for comedy movies I decided to use Legally Blonde as my reference for examples to help explain and connect these traditions. Legally Blonde is about Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a blonde sorority girl who is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school to get him back but once she gets there she realizes she could make a great lawyer. 

The following scene involves two of the traditions, socio-psychological and Rhetoric. Socio-psychological is defined as cause and effect. It predicts future behavior by analyzing how one variable affects another. Rhetoric is defined as the art of using all available means of persuasion, focusing upon lines of argument, organization of ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking. David Kidney (Oz Perkins) is another law student in her class. He is interested in this girl and when he asked her out she said no because he is “a loser”. Elle decided to change their minds. 

The rhetoric tradition is used in this scene by Elle. She sees how mean these girls are being and she knows what a nice guy David is. She uses an interesting method to persuade these two girls that David is desirable. Having the ability to persuade is an extremely important quality in communication. Everyone we meet has different thoughts and opinions based on their own personal experiences and upbringings. We, as humans are constantly attempting to sway others to believe and follow our understandings and beliefs. With the ability to persuade, much can be accomplished.

The socio-psychological tradition predicts future behavior. She is predicting that the scene she is about to make will cause the girls to think twice. She knows how a girls mind works. The two girls see that Elle, a beautiful blonde, went out with David and had an amazing time which causes them to suddenly re-asses him. Effective communication requires audience adaptation. This is a perfect example of using language and delivery in terms of a specific audience as means of persuasion.  

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The next tradition I wanted to discuss is the phenomenological tradition which is defined as an authentic understanding of others’ perspectives and experiences. In this next clip, Brooke (Ali Larter) is on trial for murder and Elle is one of the law students working on her case. Firstly, they share a bond of sisterhood as they are both members of Delta Nu Sorority. Secondly, Elle took Brooke’s fitness class when she was in college. Professor Callahan needs Brooke’s alibi to win the case but she doesn’t trust him, so Elle went to get it. 

Because Elle understands Brooke and her personality she is able to gain her trust. Understanding is very important in communication as it brings forth that trust and ability to better communicate. Had Brooke told any of the other students or Callahan, her alibi, they most likely would not have understood the dilemma she was going through. This gave the relationship between Brooke and her lawyers a deeper connection and a better ability to communicate with one another.

All three of these traditions provide different insights into communication and they can intertwine with one another. All seven are equally important and possessing the ability to use them gives you higher communication ability in my opinion. Using multiple perspectives elevates one’s cognitive complexity and their overall skills in communication. This movie is a great study of the different traditions because it shows that someone’s ability to recognize how to use their skills within these traditions far outweighs pure intelligence. Throughout this movie, Elle is viewed as a dumb, blonde; sorority girl who’s only hope in life is becoming a Victoria Secret model. She may not have the years of intelligence that other students or professors have but she has the ability to communicate. She uses the socio-psychological, rhetoric, and phenomenological traditions in her communication with others. I believe this to be true and Elle proves it in this movie that using the traditions in the right way at the right time sets you up for success.