Outsourced movie
Max Zulfer
960059259
Communications
A Billion to One 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. 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
960059259
Communications
A Billion to One 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. 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
Cited: 1. Hillman, J., Vrij, A. and Mann, S. (2012), Um … they were wearing …: The effect of deception on specific hand gestures. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17: 336–345. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8333.2011.02014.x 2. Bernard, D. (1980). The phenomenon of silence. (Vol. 43, pp. 337-353). Indian University Press. 3. Hugill, N. (2010, febuary 18). The role of body movements in mate selection. Retrieved from http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/EP086689.pdf