The Fundamentals of Small Group Communication

In the Heart of Peril (The Hurt Locker)
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Title: In the Heart of Peril
Introduction
"The Hurt Locker," is a very emotional and touching script written by Mark Boal which is directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Covering the events, consequences and outcomes in the Iraq war, this film is perhaps the best known documentary, semi-action feature film from the American film industry. It has been commonly observed that the movies about war do not exactly end while firing up the emotions of the audience and take their threshold level to such an extreme that they burst out in tears but "The Hurt Locker" has such a quality. It leaves a cold pain through your spine and makes you realize the miseries and praises, fear and acceptance and denial and recognition of commercial death sentences at the same time (Mark, 2009).
This review is prepared by following the key concepts and ideas which have been taught to us through book Fundamentals of Small Group Communication. It basically provides the student with fundamental concepts, skills, and practices to turn out to be an effective group associate. Keeping this in focus the movie Hurt Locker has been selected which revolves around team work and effective coordination leading to successful results. After reading this review it can be comprehended that how an individual contribution to any small group endeavour can be enhanced. This whole process leads me to learn the following three main aspects. First element is a small group communication procedure which transforms into group communiqué, group socialization and group development. Secondly it will highlight the unique qualities of each group member and its composite effect on completing the final product. Third this review will evaluate how the qualities of each group member can augment or detract from a range of aspects of the small group procedure in terms of group task assigned.
The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American combat movie about a three-man Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad during the Iraq War. The film has been directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the script has been composed by written by Mark Boal. Mark was a freelance writer, who was then included as a journalist in 2004 with a U.S. Army EOD team in Iraq.
Thesis Statement
The outcome of this research will be of academic importance exclusively and will produce background for advance studies on team work and proper communication in various environments. The foremost focus of this effort is to discover out the major obstacles in the improvement of the group activities and their expedition through the formation, normalization and conflict resolving stages. Based on the hypotheses we are preparing to test and inspect how the team communication develops with time and along with the team conversion from new to the recognized group with common objectives.
Concepts Analyzed in the Film
The Hurt Locker is regarding the lengthy, hurting endgame in Iraq, the asymmetric nightmare in which the armed forces cannot fight with the enemy in any meaningful way. Their function is an extensive, long series of patrols in which there are heavily armoured moving targets, in continuous threat from roadside bombs which is also termed as IEDs: Improvised Explosive These devices or bombs are veiled in the wreckage, and detonated as booby traps or remotely, by cell phone. This part of the research suggests that the perception of interdependence is most directly linked with systems theory, which signifies that all parts of a system or a team must work together for getting used to their environment (Myers, 2008). As the Hurt Locker team was assigned the responsibility to work along in totally fierce situations thus adapting themselves with the environment. Working with interdependence is the primary feature of small group communication as discussed in the course book.
The Hurt Locker starts off with a citation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, which a greatest-selling 2002 book is written by Chris Hedges. The writer of this book is a New York Times war reporter and journalist. Here are those memorable and inspiring lines, "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug" (Hedges, 2003). This movie is an epic of open and clear dramas that lumbered across the entire picture portraying the noncommittal and hysteric buoyancy at once. However, the total outcome of the picture is a bunch of thorns scattered over a story of deadly emotions and broken expectations registering a high-minded contradiction that is in between entertainment and emotional trauma. Moreover, the Iraq war, its sufferings and outcomes have been so nerve racking that the audience probably would have felt lethargic and confused to see such events recreated on the entertainment screen. After evaluating this part it can be deduced that secondary features of small group communication are extremely essential for making any team effective. Secondary features as presented in book relates to norms, identity and talk (Cragan, 2008).
Hurt Locker has attempted to portray the lives of the US Army Explosives Disposal squad who are assigned a life-threatening job which includes dealing with nerve-wrecking situations. The movie starts off with a quotation that summarizes its central idea ‘The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug". This statement is used because war is not for everyone the drug cures the person affected from a particular disease. Many of the soldiers always wanted to end it up at any cost. But for the people who are actually familiar to the fight behind that war actually realizes the importance of such war as compared it to a patient who requires a drug at any cost for saving life.
Jeremy Renner is portraying Staff Sergeant William James who is primarily a leader of a team having three members of bomb-tech division or disposal squad. His direct subordinate is Sgt J.T Sanborn, starred by Anthony Mackie, an African-American and the third man is expert Owen Eldridge, played by Brian Geraghty, a youthful soldier who likes to remain separated. Sergeant William James (Jeremy), a battle-tested expert, reaches as a new team leader of a U.S. Army EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit for the period of Iraq War, who is actually been replaced by Sergeant Matthew Thompson Guy Pearce, who was executed by a radio-controlled electronic explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. Referring to book another important element of Small Group Communication is the assignment of a task. Without a task, a group cannot exist. Small groups are assigned to face additive or conjunctive task which is a primary feature of small group communication. An additive task requires group members to work independently on a task. Once all group members have finished their individual tasks, they then merge their efforts to make a final product. A conjunctive task necessitates group members to synchronize their efforts rather than working individually (Fujishin, 2007). Hence our task is to analyze a team of three individuals in Hurt Locker who were assigned with a task of finding IED`s and disposing them off.
According to the research conducted it has been found that James' eccentric methods and approach directed Sanborn and Eldridge to believe him careless, and tensions accumulator. When they are assigned with a task to devastate some explosives in a remote desert area, James returns to the detonation place to bring his gloves. Sanborn explicitly considers killing James by "unintentionally" activatating the explosion, making Eldridge very painful, but he does nothing. This scene can be categorized as additive task procedure whereas it has to be conjunctive task.
One of the greatest damage of "The Hurt Locker" is the intuition that soldiers in Iraq were professionals of their vocation. If they trimmed the right wire, finished the right shot, vacant the right room, they would remain alive. In fact, the converse was true. Undoubtedly there were fire fights, but the vast numbers of U.S. deaths were reported from I.E.D.`s. This movie revolves around the similar situations that are forming inside the person`s mind the dilemmas and fear handling of such person who is always surrounded by the dangerous weapons and he is serving for the war at the cost of his life. The threat of life always remains on his mind but with a strong belief to conquer and to finish the target and achieving the goals (Renz, 2000). This action of the character clearly relates to the concept presented in approaches to small group leadership of the course book.
These are the reasons that made the character of the James as a reason of his existence. First one is that the bomb diffusion is required in the war, secondly he is professional in this field and no one else understands this job better than him, he has self- confidence about what he is doing and he is determinate enough to handle all aspects and situations that are faced by him or could be faced by him in any way. He deals with even the extremely dangerous situations without any fear and any other important or disturbing thing in his mind. The important person in his life is Sgt. J.T. Sanborn who was the head of the team and assists James in difficult situations. His constant feedback helps James in several situations where he requires any assistance or suggestions of the second person because he can rely on him. The Sanborn have eyes on the external affairs whenever James is inside diffusing any bomb and keeps him aware of any other particular situation. This part of the movie can be related to the development of small group roles with a focus on enhancing perso...