Two Broke Girls

Sit coms shows commonly try to display our core values in overdramatized and comedic fashion. “Two Broke Girls” follows two girls, Caroline and Max who live in Brooklyn and are barely making enough money to live on. In Season 5 Episode 7, Caroline learns that her Grandma Astrid has come out of a coma and wants Caroline to throw her a coming out party. Her grandma was in the coma when Caroline and her family lost all of their money and Caroline is informed that it is her that must inform her grandmother of the unfortunate news. Caroline is worried about upsetting her grandmother so she pretends to still be part of the wealthy, upper class. During the coming out party, Astrid’s use of powerful language and paralanguage causes Caroline realize
Powerful language is language that is fluent and direct. It does not have any powerless aspects such as using hesitations, disclaimers or hedges. In the scene, Max pretends to be Astrid’s maid and goes by the name Maria. Astrid constantly commands her using short blunt phrases. She tells Maria “now go!” when she shatters a crystal vase and “Maria, look alive!” when she feels that Maria is not working at her fullest potential. It creates a separation between Astrid and the help. This language is creating a greater gap between their two economic and social classes. The commandment and expectations that are demonstrated through the powerful language shows that Astrid is part of the wealthy class and has a higher social position than Maria. Her use of powerful language shows that she her staff and her dehumanization of them. She does not allow for human error and does not care about her effect on the staff. When Maria breaks a crystal vase, Astrid says “Its not replicable, unlike you. Now go!”. She is dominating the situation and showing her control over Maria’s job. The powerful language further demonstrates her values, showing that she cares
Communication Accommodation theory is how language and identity effect communication in the various contexts that occur in the lunch. At the beginning of the lunch Caroline commands her friends through actions such as telling Maria to “do something” and summoning the chef upon her request. With these actions she is trying to move towards her Grandma’s expectations, become part of the upper class. To move towards a group is to gain their acceptance and establish a belonging within the group. In contrast, to move away is to distinguish from a group. Caroline continues further to accomplish moving towards the elite class through copying her grandmothers action of ringing the bell and expecting a response from the staff. She additionally criticizes the staff’s work ethics through telling her friend “Maria, forks, now” when Maria does not organize the forks properly. Caroline is desperate to please her grandmother and does her best to embody the wealthy class. She is moving away from her role as a server by disassociating her self from her co-workers and treating them as if they were her staff. She mimics Astrid’s actions, and uses harsh, commanding and aggressive language to convince her grandmother that she is still part of the elite class and nothing has changed during her coma. Eventually she realizes that she is not being her true self. This causes her to switch the