FEEL The Lack of Inspiration

Hello fellow Comms people! Deepest apologies for the lack of creativity/novelty/inspiration. I know how everyone uses Youtubes videos ALLLL the time and expects you to waste 3 - 6 minutes watching it before commenting :/ Forgive me but I'm afraid you're going to have to do the same here - my brain juices are almost depleted, if that even makes sense.

In this post I shall attempt to make full use of Marie Digby's music video, "Feel", which is one of my personal favorites as it conveys alot of emotion. Basically Marie is singing about a person who is devoid and stripped of feelings, and wondering if there is still any trace of empathy left. On the academic side, there are some forms of non-verbal communication that are evident here, and I will point these out below.

The first thing you will probably notice as you start the video is that Marie seems to be in a crowded place (allow me to enlighten you, this was shot in Japan :) and what's more, most of the time she was just simply walking or standing still. Although she is not communicating directly with the crowd, the lyrics of the song implies that she is looking for a way to feel if human emotions in people are still intact. This thus identifies the idea of proxemics, which is the study of space and distance. By blending into the crowd and letting the people around her enter her personal space, this allows her to find, or feel, the moods of those within her reach. 

As the song progresses, paralinguistics come into play as Marie continually accentuates her point especially in the chorus. One may find that the pitch, volume and tone of her voice changes; it becomes slightly angered, forceful and even pleading. Since paralinguistics is the study of non-verbal cues, communication through a song such as this can actually convey more meaning and helps drive the point home more effectively. Here in the chorus, Marie is repeatedly questioning her listeners if they are still human and able to feel. Although all this comes in the form of a song, the quality of her voice will still sound the same if the words are spoken without a tune, especially in an argument or a harsh manner.

Lastly, I would like to combine the use of kinesics - which is the study of body language as well as oculesics - which is the study of non-verbal meaning associated with the eyes as a whole, for I feel that these two go very well hand-in-hand. Through the video, you might find that Marie is sometimes standing in the middle of the crowd, arms akimbo with a thoughtful look in her eyes. This display of body language could mean that the issue of the lack of human empathy might have been bothering her so that is why perhaps her arms are folded, she wants to feel guarded against all these people who she thinks are almost devoid beings. In addition, her eyes are able to convey meaning as well; for especially during the chorus, though she seems angered and pleading, her eyes show that she is slightly lost and afraid of the situation that is going on around her. Both oculesics and kinesics here have thus been put together to bring across to viewers a stronger meaning and message.

Hokay that's all I have for you! I don't know if all that even made sense :/ If you have any other non-verbal communication concepts you would like to add on, please feel free to flood my comments' page! Have a great weekend :D