Tra la La la la …. La. And that’s how this essay begins. Strange? Fershure! In fact, you may say I just pulled a garfinkel. We communicate using expected frames. When the expectations are broken, people react strangely. Since the frames are so integral in our everyday life, it’s difficult to study them. For this reason, Howard Garfinkel invented a special method for studying frames. Brake them! When we brake expectations, we brake the frame. By testing which activities receive eyebrow raising responses, we can find out which behaviors fall in and out of the frames. By better understanding the frames, we can better understand communication. In this essay I will provide three examples of garfinkeling that I did, and interpret what I believe they shows about communication.
The first example occurred at the grocery store. I was at the checkout booth when the cashier asked my how I was doing. I really wasn’t feeling well, and so with the sincerity of an expression laden with the week’s misery, I told her I was doing terribly. She was taken aback, appearing sorry to have gone there, as if she had unintentionally picked on a sore nerve. In response she pulled out a round sticker with a smiley face and gave it to me. I put it on my jacket. The cashier’s response shows that when a frame is broken, one of the communicating parties may try to superficially fix it. In my case, although the cashier didn’t receive the response she expected, she in effect provided me with the face that she expected me to show her when she asked me how I was doing.
The third example of garfinkeling occurred while I was out photographing in downtown. I was at the bus stop when I noticed a homeless guy that I’ve seen before. Usually he talks to himself and mutters angry things. I brought the camera very up close to his face, as close as I could get and still focus. It took him by surprise. His defense mechanisms for keeping people away failed to work on me. The anger I saw in him before, turned into a smile and inquisitive eyes. The frame was broken. I snapped a couple of shots. This experience shows that sometimes one needs to brake a frame in order to create a frame that is more conducive for communication: Once I broke the homeless guy’s shell, he opened up to me in rarely accessible ways.
The final example of garfinkeling occurred at the convenience store. On a nice and balmy Texas morning, I decided to go to the Diamond Shamrock located across the street from where I live. Since it’s so close, and the day being so nice, I decided not bother putting on my pants, and went out in my underwear and t-shirt. At the store, I got what I needed, paid, and left. Nothing unusual occurred. I was surprised. The next time I visited the store, the cashier told me that after I left, one of the customers asked about me being in my underwear. The manager at the time told the customer that I must have just woken up from bed and forgot to put on my pants. The manager’s explanation to the customer reveals that when frames are broken, we try to create explanations for how the person committing the frame breakage did so unintentionally, even going so far as to create an explanation to absolve the person. Upon hearing the story, I told the cashier that I meant to do it. She was surprised, laughed, and has made sure to point out my underwear flaunting every time I visit the convenience store.
I have provided three examples of garfinkeling that I did, and interpreted what I believe they shows about communication. When I broke the frames, peoples response was to scramble and fix the frame, either superficially or by creating an explanation in which the person who broke the frame is let off the hook. In addition, I learned that people use frames to distance themselves from others, and that when you brake those frames, you can become close to the individual. In such ways I’ve shown how Harold Garfinkel’s method of braking expected frame is a useful method for studying communication.