Interpersonal Conflict in the Movie Spanglish

           The movie "Spanglish" is a very good movie to watch for HCOM 214 because of the many interpersonal conflicts between all of the characters in the movie, and it teaches people how to resolve conflicts in the real world and what conflict styles and tactics are the best to use. The film starts with a young girl named Cristina who is applying to Princeton University. She tells the story of her childhood in her college essay. Flor Moreno is a poor, Mexican single mother who is hired as the housekeeper for John and Deborah Clasky, their kids Bernice and Georgie and Deborah's alcoholic mother Evelyn Wright, who are all classified as a rich family in Los Angeles. Flor has a daughter named Cristina, who helps helps her translate at the Clasky's house because Flor speaks very little English. While at the Clasky's house though however, there are many interpersonal conflicts that arise between both families.
            One of the conflicts that arise is between Flor and Deborah. Deborah takes Flor's daughter out shopping for the day without Flor's consent. Deborah leaves a note for Flor to read so that when she woke up in the morning, she would know where they were. She leaves the note saying that she is stealing her daughter for a while. When Flor wakes up and reads the note, she becomes both furious and worried. When Deborah and Cristina return later that day, Flor instructs her daughter to translate a written message to give to Deborah. The  message basically tells Deborah to not do anything with Cristina without her consent first. We can infer that Flor's conflict style is very aggressive. She chooses to engage herself in the conflict. She uses her aggressive tone to try and win the argument over Deborah by giving her own beliefs and values in the situation. However, Deborah's conflict style is very understanding and collaborative. She represents this by listening to the needs of the other person and agreeing to not do it again without her consent first.
            Another conflict that arose in the movie, was between Cristina and her mother Flor. At the end of the movie, Flor tells Cristina that she cannot go to the private school anymore and that is all Cristina was looking forward to do and wanting to accomplish in life. Cristina screams in the middle of the street at her mother saying that she cannot do this to her and that her life is ruined. She evens says that she will never be able to forgive her. She scorns her mother in the street where everyone can hear. Flor could have improved her conflict style and tactics by being more understanding of her daughter's concerns and listening to what she has to say. Flor needed to listen to the needs of the other person before coming to a conclusion. Cristina however uses a very aggressive tone toward her mother to explain her side in the conflict. She could have improved her conflict style and tactics by remaining calm and listening to what her mother has to say, before she started yelling and causing a scene.
        Another conflict that arose was Flor and John's money conflict. John had an agreement with Cristina without her mother knowing. John would give Cristina a monetary award in exchange for a number of seaglass. When Flor found out, she became outraged and angry toward John. Again, Flor's conflict style was very aggressive and chooses to engage in the conflict. John however, is trying to use the avoidant conflict style and tries to avoid the situation as much as he can. He tries to not engage in the conflict and is letting Flor have her way, but toward the end, Flor and John both start yelling at each other. He calls her a hypocrite for interfering with the exchange between him and her daughter. Even though there are many more conflicts that arose in the movie from beginning to end, those were the three most important ones. I believe that all three concepts in the movie were applied effectively by teaching the viewers how to resolve and handle conflict in their lives. It shows us that conflict does occur anywhere and between anyone, and we have to learn how to resolve it effectively in our lives.