Independent Research Project

    This research project consists of a thorough analysis of a social interaction between Ellen DeGeneres and Miranda Kerr on the Ellen DeGeneres show. The Ellen DeGeneres show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/ actress Ellen DeGeneres. The program combines comedy, celebrity and musical guests and human-interest stories, drawing millions of viewers each episode. The first five minutes of the interview have been selected for a close reading. The aim of the project is to discover why the social actors (Ellen DeGeneres and Miranda Kerr) ‘come to know, and know in common, what they are doing and the circumstances in which they are doing it’ (Heritage, 1984:76). The analysis will also look at how Ellen deploys humour on the show, since she is a comedian. A range of sociological approaches can be drawn on from the exchange, including: codes of conduct, recipe knowledge, documentary method of interpretation, performance, facework and deference and demeanor.

    The project analysis will first look at how the social actors in the episode came to know what they were doing. This means analysing the details that suggested they were having a social interaction. The study of ‘the details of social interactions in everyday life (micro- sociology) is treated of major importance to many sociologists, as it is at this level of human interaction and interpersonal relationships that the fabrication of the self arises’ (Elliot, 2008:22-23). The way an individual acts and responds to another person in an interaction constitutes the self, demonstrating the self is socially constructed.

    Sociologist, Harold Garfinkel, discovered that interactions were not defined by external/internal constraining moral rules, but by undefined/unwritten rules that had been established through previous interactions at a micro level. This idea derived from Alfred Shutz’s proposal, which was that people know how to interact in social situations because of partially formulated ‘recipe knowledge’ and past experiences (Heritage, 1984). There also exists’ codes of conduct (set of social norms), which prescribe/ describe how participants in the social interaction ought to behave.

    Miranda Kerr enters from backstage in the data, greets the audience and walks over to meet the host, Ellen DeGeneres. She hugs Ellen and proceeds to kiss her on both cheeks before turning and sitting down on the chair. It can be assumed that Miranda used her ‘recipe knowledge’ to correctly greet the female host of the talk show. If it had been two males, the interviewee would have shaken the interviewer’s hand. She followed a simple interaction code of conduct, which is ‘upon being greeted, return greeting’ (Whelan, 2012).

    According to Goffman, 'deference' and 'demeanor' play an active role in how individuals know they are having a social interaction and how they respond to that interaction. Deference is the use of rituals and codes by a subordinate to show respect to their superordinate (Goffman, 1967). Deference can take the form of compliments, apologies, and even criticisms. Demeanor refers to the appearance of the self, which is displayed through actions and language use. A person can convey a different demeanor depending on their context and what role they take on in these contexts. In the interview, deference and demeanor work together to support Miranda and Ellen’s image of self.  Both Miranda and Ellen establish the interaction is an interview through acts of deference when they first meet each other. For example,

Ellen- You’re beautiful.

Miranda- Thankyou.

Ellen- I love that (pointing to what Miranda is wearing). Is that a dress or a skirt?

Miranda- (points up and down indicating it is separate)

Ellen- It’s beautiful. Great. It is good to see you.
Miranda- It is good to see you.

Ellen begins the interaction with compliments, the acts of deference not only convey that the interaction will take the format of an interview, but that Ellen will be the interviewer since she facilitated the conversation. Both, Miranda and Ellen’s demeanor also highlights that they are participating in an interview. Miranda sits upright facing Ellen, with her hands resting on her knees, indicating she is the interviewee. While, Ellen’s demeanor conveys the opposite. She sits in a more slouched position and uses her hands to put forward her thoughts and questions to Miranda, emphasising she is the interviewer.

    Interview etiquette refers to codes of conduct an individual must follow while appearing for interviews. Goffman (1967) uses the term ‘codes of conduct’ to describe the guides to an individual’s actions. Social order arises when an individual follows the conduct approved by the group condition. For interviews, interviewees must be very particular about their appearance and follow an interview dress code. Miranda dressed casual formal for the interview, wearing an outfit that promotes she is an accomplished woman. Ellen complimented Miranda’s outfit, which conveys Miranda has dressed appropriately for the interview and kept to the dress code.

Ellen- I love that (pointing to what Miranda is wearing). Is that a dress or a skirt?

Miranda- (points up and down indicating it is separate)

Ellen- It’s beautiful. Great. It is good to see you.

Ellen has also dressed smart for the interview, wearing casual suit attire. Presentation of self plays an important part in interview interactions.

    Interview etiquette also emphasises the power relationship between the two social actors. Ellen’s position of power is first evident when she introduces Miranda to the audience and television camera. The only person who introduces the guests to a show is the host. As the host, Ellen asks most of the questions and controls the conversation and situation. Miranda is left to respond to the questions. It conveys the authority that Ellen has in the studio, and also demonstrates that Miranda is willing to follow the interviews code of conduct and respect the role that Ellen plays as host. ‘Goffman recognised that when two or more people come together to interact, they are making a symbolic commitment to one another to respect the role that each chooses to play’ (Wiemann, J., & Knapp, K. 1975:76).

    However, there are some instances in the interaction when Ellen makes open-ended statements, giving Miranda the opportunity to expand on her comments and ask questions. This suggests that the interview is informal, as Ellen is handing over the power to Miranda, and allowing her to direct some of the interview.

Miranda- I know. My mum actually hasn’t forgotten about giving birth to my brother and he was only 8 3. And she said to me, I don't know how you did it!

Ellen- I think I was 9 pounds something aswell. I was a large large baby.
Miranda- Wow. (Joking) Imagine if you and Orlando (Miranda’s husband) did have babies?

Ellen- Yeah. We would have gigantic babies.

    While, the turn taking procedure conveys that Ellen and Miranda know they are interacting, the fact that whenever Ellen speaks she asks a question and whenever Miranda speaks she responds with an answer, also conveys that they know the interaction is an interview. For example,

Ellen- Will you have another baby do you think? Is it the kind of thing you forget about the pain and maybe you will have another?

Miranda- The pain is very much still in my mind…umm however, you know in a couple of years that might dissipate.

    Since, Ellen is a comedian and the interaction has taken place on a stage, the social interaction can be classified as a performance. A performance is ‘when an individual plays a part that implicitly requests his or her observers to take seriously the impression’ (Goffman, 1971:28). Ellen deploys humour on the show to keep the audience entertained. The audience is only made aware that Ellen is a comedian through her use of humour. It could be seen as an ‘act,’ where her ‘self’ on stage may be different to her ‘self’ in other settings. According to Dennis Brisett and Charles Edgley (2009), the self is perceived as social and dramatic because a person’s sense of individuality is situationally specific. Different situations occasion the creation of different selves. It links to dramaturgy and Goffman’s idea about social life as a drama, where a person’s different selves are akin to characters in a play. This means that there is a front stage and back stage. The front stage is where performances are conducted- where you are trying to please people. And the backstage is where people prepare for the performance, where they are themselves. An example of Ellen employing humour in the interaction is when she states,

We should clear something up before we get started.

Miranda- Okay.

Ellen- So, ahh your husband was on the show last time, Orlando Bloom.
Miranda- He loved you.

Ellen- I loved him aswell. We obviously love each other. The last time he was here he said he wanted to have a baby with me.

Miranda- Ohh I heard.

Ellen- Let’s just show it and see how you feel about it.

(Flashback to another episode.)

Ellen- How do you feel about being rebound from me?
Miranda- Well, I don’t mind. You are a wonderful person and I ‘m a happy second.

    The humour is embedded in the words, ‘I loved him aswell. We obviously love each other’. The audience knew from recipe knowledge that Ellen is gay and is happily married to Portia De Rossi, allowing them to make sense of the joke and laugh at her humour.

    The sociological approach, facework, can also be drawn on to convey the humour employed in the interview. Facework is all of the little things that people do in life to develop and maintain their 'selves'. It conveys how cautious individuals are about keeping their dignity intact when interacting with people (e.g. to keep 'good face' or 'save face'). In the interaction, Ellen is calm and collected when she states that her and Orlando obviously love each other, but it is Miranda’s reddened face, giggle and quick glance to the ground that gives away it was a joke. She looked to the ground to ‘save face’, and once she had composed her self again, focuses back on Ellen. Another instance where Miranda’s face gives away that Ellen had applied humour to a statement is when Ellen states,

I think I was 9 pounds something aswell. I was a large, large baby.

Miranda- Wow. Imagine if you and Orlando did have babies?
Ellen- Yeah. We would have gigantic babies.

Miranda- A 12 pounder!

Ellen- Yeah. Most likely.. it won’t happen.

The moment Ellen says, ‘yeah. Most likely..it won’t happen,’ causes Miranda to lose her professionalism, she looks down immediately to hide she is laughing at Ellen’s joke.

    The project will now analyse the circumstances in which the social actors are interacting. The physical interview setting is an important part of the talk-show interaction. The documentary method of interpretation has informed the actors that they are partaking in an interview. The method ‘consists of treating an actual appearance as “the document of”, as “pointing to”, “as standing on behalf of” a presupposed underlying pattern’ (Heritage, 1984:84). All of the furniture in the studio is laid out, so that its occupants are focused on the interviewer and interviewee. There are two armchairs on the stage and two coffee mugs on a table, which creates an interview setting vibe. Ellen’s name is featured around the stage on screens and all the lighting points towards the stage. If a person were placed in the talk-show studio, with no knowledge of where they were, those indicators would have helped determine that they were in a talk show studio based on their knowledge of talk show settings from previous experiences. The documentary method of interpretation can also help viewers to interpret Miranda Kerr is a celebrity on a talk show, from the way the audience screams and applauds when Miranda steps on stage.

 

   This project analysed an interaction between two well-known women in society, Miranda Kerr (supermodel) and Ellen DeGeneres (comedian). The project applied various sociological approaches to the interaction to discover how the women knew they were participating in an interview and the circumstances in which they were doing it.

References

Brisett, D and Edgley, C. 2009, Life as Theatre: A Dramaturgical Sourcebook, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Elliot, A. 2008, Concepts of the self (2^nd ed.), Polity Press: Cambridge.

Goffman, E. 1967, ‘The nature of deference & demeanour’, in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour, Doubleday, Garden City, NY, pp.47-95.

Goffman, E. 1971, ‘Performances’, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Penguin: Harmondsworth, pp.28-82.

Heritage, J. 1984, ‘The Morality of Cognition’, in Garfinkel and

Ethnomethodology, Polity Press: Cambridge, pp. 75-102.

Whelan, A. 2012, The social and moral order in talk, lecture, SOC250, Everyday Interaction, University of Wollongong, delivered 5 September.

Wiemann, J., & Knapp, K. 1975, ‘Turn-Taking in Conversations’,  Journal of Communication, vol.25, no.2, pp.75-92.

Youtube Video- http://www.youube.com/watch?v=y2MZWhCkzB8

Week 11- Profanity (comment)

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This is my third and final comment. :) :)

I commented on Ayla Black's blog post, which you can find here. But, I have also pasted my comment below.

I enjoyed reading different student's posts on this week's topic. It was interesting to see the different perspectives on the use of profanity and coarse language in everyday interactions. 'What do profanity and coarse language actually accomplish in interaction?' is a good question and one I have never really considered. I agree with Robinson and Zimmerman that profanity is used to intensify meaning in statements. I hardly ever swear, but on the occasion where I do, it is because I want to exaggerate my point. However, I personally think that profanity does not really accomplish much in an interaction. A person is more likely to lose face then anything else. The use of profanity has become so embedded in everyday interaction that people do not even realise that they are swearing most of the time. I think the only time profanity can actually 'accomplish' something for a person is when somebody is frustrated. The use of a swear word can help release frustrations and allow them to express emotion. The outcome is that they feel better afterwards.

I also agree that the word 'fuck' has lost its meaning due to its frequent usage in conversations. It does not faze me when I hear the word used in a sentence. I think people now use profanity to simply fill out sentences and to replace the 'umms' and 'ahhs'. One swear word I cannot stand hearing in conversations is cunt, and I think that it really degrades the person who uses it. It is interesting how some profanity and coarse words carry more weight and emphasise then others.

Week 10- The Cyberself (comment)

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Here is my second comment on Alison Bell's blog post titled, 'What are the implications of the online for sociological understandings of identity and interaction?' You can find her post here.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Alison's post. It was very informative! She found a relevant scholar article that made an interesting correlation between a personal blog and a bedroom. I agreed with this point, as a blog provides users with the freedom to 'decorate' their own multi-dimensional space. I actually enjoyed choosing the layout, font and colouring for my SOC250 everyday interaction blog. The reading states that a person's blog is constantly renegotiated because of the information that they put online, which also brings into being bodies, personas, and personalities framed according to the same categories that exists in the offline world.

Blogs allow people to connect with other blog users anonymously. The condition is that you show some level of respect for the person controlling the blog. Alison found two examples that showed anonymous individuals attempting to undermine the control of the blog owner. Cyberbullying! It was great to see the owner take back control of their personal space and gain face though humorous retorts. I think it is much harder for a person to control their identity on their Facebook page. Since 'friends' have the freedom to post whatever photographs or statements they like, and this in turn, interferes with the Facebook page owner's image. Hodkinson and Lincoln are correct in assuming that users wish to/and produce a certain online identity for themselves. 

References-

Robinson, L. 2007, 'The Cyberself: the self-ing project goes online, symbolic interaction in the digital age,' New Media and Society, vol.9, no.1, pp.93-110.