The Interpersonal Conflict in Television
One of the most common challenges that most relationships face is conflict. This paper will explore the concept of conflict, provide a clear example of a conflict from the series “Modern Family”, and highlight various strategies that could be applied to solve such a conflict.
Conflict Definition
Conflict can be described as a struggle or disagreement between two or more entities (Ocaña & Buslig, 2018). According to Bevan 2020, three components make up a conflict. The first component is an expressed struggle. This means that the issue has to be expressed in one way or another of communication. If a person does not voice whatever issue is bothering them about someone else, there will be no conflict since the other person is unaware of it. The second component is that the entities involved are interdependent. This means that those involved in the conflict need each other or are important to each other in some way; otherwise, the issue would not need to be a conflict as it would not affect their relationship since there is none. Finally, the third component is the perception that the entities involved in the conflict have of each other (Ocaña & Buslig, 2018). For example, one perception could be incompatibility, where one party feels they are headed in different directions. The second perception is limited resources resulting in competition, and the third is interference, meaning that one party thinks of the other as a hindrance to a certain goal.
Example of a Conflict
A perfect example of interpersonal conflict is from the fifth episode in season one of Modern Family show, titled “Coal Digger”. In this episode, a few conflicts are displayed. One conflict that was not handled effectively in the episode is between Mitchell and his father, Jay. Accordingly, Jay has yet to accept his son, Mitchell, as gay, which leads to a difficult relationship between the two. Conflict is evident when Mitchell and his boyfriend Cam decide to join Jay so that they can watch football together; the dialogue is as follows;
(Cam and Mitchell walk into the living room, cheering happily)
Jay (sitting on the couch): Aah looks like I have to watch the game with Dick Butkiss
Mitchel (shocked): Dad! Dad, come…, that’s offensive.
Cam: Mitchell, he’s one of the greatest linebackers to ever play in Illinois and one of my personal heroes.
Mitchell: And his name is Butkiss?… and we’re just choosing to… (gestures move on with hands), Okay, all right.
Mitchell: Am sor… Dad, I thought you were being homophobic. I’m sorry.
Jay: We’ve got all night.
Mitchell: Yes, we do.
They rarely agree on anything and often offend each other, particularly Jay, towards his son. Despite Mitchell always expressing their struggle, neither of them finds a way to resolve them and instead moves on, which makes their relationship strained. The second component is that Mitchell and Jay are father and son, which makes them interdependent. The third component is the perception of each other, whereby they both are incompatible. Jay probably expected Mitchell to end up loving a woman, and Mitchell feels that his view of love is incompatible with his father’s. One could also see it as a hindrance because Mitchell feels his father is a hindrance to him being himself by being gay, while Jay feels Mitchell being gay hinders him from the family he thought he would have, which involved a daughter-in-law.
Ineffective Handling
The style of conflict that Mitchell and Jay engage in is described as avoidance conflict style. Essentially, this style involves ignoring the problem and assuming it will eventually go away. However, this is ineffective because both characters repeatedly find themselves in the same situation. Mitchell does not voice his concern effectively, and even if Jay is not homophobic, he often uses what Pizmony-Levy et al. (2019) and Kosciw et al. (2020) described as biased language that comes off as homophobic. Secondly, both characters manage their conflict by stonewalling, which Bevan (2020) describes as withdrawing from each other to avoid the conflict. Their ineffective strategies only strained their relationship for a long time. Notably, Bevan (2020) points out that when a conflict is managed as opposed to being resolved, it will likely reemerge later on till it gets resolved.
Effective Conflict Handling Strategy
As described above, the two strategies Jay and Mitchell used to address their conflict are stonewalling and avoidance. Both characters ignored their conflict and hoped that it would eventually resolve itself and everything would be okay. The second strategy is stonewalling, whereby they withdraw from each other and barely interact. On the other hand, two strategies that Bevan (2020) outlined that Jay and Mitchell could have used to resolve their conflict are using collaboration conflict style or conflict resolution. Collaboration conflict style involves active participation in creating a win-win situation for both of them. Mitchell could have expressed why he thought his father was being homophobic by using biased language. Similarly, Jay could have explained that he did not mean any offence by his words instead of keeping quiet as he did. Secondly, according to Folger et al. (2021), conflict resolution involves dealing with the conflict and finding a fair way to end it so that both parties feel satisfied with the result. This conflict is a recurring issue throughout the show, and therefore conflict resolution would be another effective strategy so that both characters can confront each other directly and solve their issues all at once.
Conclusion
In conclusion, conflicts arise due to contradicting perspectives, opinions, or actions between two or more entities. Three elements are required to make up a conflict: an expressed struggle, interdependence between the involved parties, and perception of each other. The best way to solve a conflict, as demonstrated above is resolving it instead of managing it. Secondly, it is important to choose an effective conflict style like the collaboration conflict style, rather than an ineffective one like the avoidance conflict style.
References
Bevan, J. L. (2020). Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication (3rd ed.). [Electronic version]
Folger, J. P., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2021). Working through conflict: Strategies for relationships, groups, and organizations. Routledge.
Kosciw, J. G., Clark, C. M., Truong, N. L., & Zongrone, A. D. (2020). The 2019 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation’s Schools. A Report from GLSEN. Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). 121 West 27th Street, Suite 804, New York, NY 10001.
Modern Family (2009). “Coal Digger”. Moviestojoy.com. Retrieved from: https://moviesjoy.plus/watch-tv/watch-modern-family-39507.4858237
Ocaña, A. M., & Buslig, A. L. (2018). Motivating Compliance after Conflict in a Group Setting. In Communication and Conflict in Multiple Settings (pp. 36-55). Brill.
Pizmony-Levy, O., Rogel, A., & Shilo, G. (2019). Pride and the true colors of the holy land: school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in Israel. International Journal of Educational Development, 70, 102082.
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Question 
Before beginning work on this assignment, read Chapters 8 and 9 of Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication (specifically Section 9.2), and complete the Week 4 Paper Training Links to an external site. For the Week 4 Paper Training quiz, review the Sample Week 4 Paper Download Sample Week 4 Paper, and watch an episode of a television program or film from the lists below.
The Interpersonal Conflict in Television
Resources
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Television options (each show has no charge and has closed captioning):
Black-ish Links to an external site.https://abc.com/shows/blackish?userab=abc_web_home_marketmodule-187612*variant_a_copy_focused-535304
Modern FamilyLinks to an external site.https://abc.com/shows/modern-family?userab=abc_web_home_marketmodule-187612*variant_a_copy_focused-535304
This Is UsLinks to an external site.https://www.nbc.com/this-is-us/episodes
Film options:
Frozen
Erin Brockovich
Contact your instructor immediately if you have problems accessing any of this content.
In this assignment, you will write a two- to three-page (500 to 750 word) paper in which you apply some of the communication-based conflict resolution strategies outlined in your textbook to a conflict in a fictional television program or film.
In your paper,
Define conflict, utilizing Bevan.
Describe one interpersonal conflict not handled effectively in the television episode or film.
Explain how this situation meets the criteria for interpersonal conflict, utilizing Bevan, Section 9.2.
Note: Focus on one exchange that illustrates one conflict, not the episode’s plot. Provide some dialogue so the reader can see how the characters handled the situation.
Explain why the conflict was not handled effectively, utilizing Bevan (Chapters 8 and 9).
Describe two strategies the characters outlined in Bevan used to address the conflict utilizing Bevan.
Describe two strategies outlined in Bevan that the characters could have used to resolve this conflict more effectively utilizing Bevan.