Natalie Imbruglia Case

Grant Weese

COMM 2206

Brent Coeling

"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia was one of the top 100 songs back in the 90s when it debuted. Recently, a semi-famous comedian named David Armand aka Johann Lippowitz. The video can be found on YouTube, and has a lot of hits. You watch the video, and you can see the type of relationship that Natalie and David have; or the type of relationship you think they have? You can perceive a lot of information from watching the video, and the video can be a prime example for interpersonal communication. The video can help explain things like the attraction theory, how to manage conflict, and other concepts.

According to Floyd, the attraction theory covers the basis of physical attraction, social attraction and task attraction. Physical attraction is the attraction to someone's physical appearance (283). Physical attraction is key for us as humans, since humans are mainly visually oriented. Floyd talks about appearance as being, mainly, a cultural thing. We pay an enormous amount of attention to physical appearance when making social and personal relationships. Natalie and David, for the most part, are attractive people. Natalie is a triple threat, having done acting, modeling, and of course singing. David is an up-and-coming comedian and people can find him attractive too. You can tell in the video that they have a chemistry together, and you could argue that they work well together because they are both attractive. The attraction theory also talks about proximity, which is how closely together people live or work and how often they interact (285). You form relationship with people that you see often than with people we don't. Natalie and David seem to be comfortable with one another on stage, through their closeness during parts of the skit, and their general idea that they can share the stage together. But, because the basis for proximity attraction is hanging around with people that you see often, I think that this might hinder David and Natalie from forming a relationship.

A third aspect of attraction is similarity, which the definition is pretty self-explanatory. The video doesn't give us insight on whether Natalie and David have similar backgrounds, beliefs, and interests. Although, the video does let us view a different aspect of attraction, and that is complementarity. Complementarity is viewing qualities of others as beneficial because they provide a quality we lack (286). In Natalie and David's case, David provides a comedic aspect that Natalie naturally lacks because she is a singer of very deep, emotional songs. Natalie compliments David well because David conveys humor throughout the performance and can relate the song to things the audience might recognize, but without Natalie's words and meanings, David would just be miming without words. I think that David and Natalie can and will form a relationship. Although they lack in similarity, the way they act around one another and how they complement each other in the performance can lead them to form a relationship outside the video.

The video doesn't show that David and Natalie have a conflict, but with the situation at hand, you can assume there was one. What are the chances that two separate people, not knowing one another, show up to a charity event to perform the exact same piece? An expressed struggle