Friendships Within the Pilot Episode of Freaks and Geeks Interpersonal communication is crucial to the development, advancement, and maintenance of friendships. With well- developed communication skills, one can turn a casual acquaintance into a lifelong friend, or an acquaintance into a significant other. This being said, communication is a double edged sword. If one lacks the ability or willingness to communicate openly and effectively, they may experience social isolation or a loss of previous friends. There are six different stages of social closeness that are commonly identified by those who study social interactions. I will be evaluating these different stages of closeness and then will be providing examples of each from the pilot episode …show more content…
At this stage of friendship, the persons involved will often meet in groups. The majority of friendships stay at this point and stay casual. Nick makes a move towards this stage of friendship when he convinces Lindsay to cut class and come to his house, where he shares with her his passion for drumming. If one successfully forms a friendship, they move into a social stage known as nascent friendship. In this stage of social interaction individuals will begin to share more personal information about themselves, including personal opinions. At this stage friends share some of their emotions with each other. This leads to more personal connections being formed. A good example of this stage cannot be found within the piolet episode of Freaks and Geeks. If two people continue to advance their level of social intimacy past that of a Nascent Friendship, they will enter into a stabilized relationship. At this point both parties will have a strong amount of trust for each other, which is based upon a mutual social and emotional dependency. At this stage of friendship those involved may choose to become romantic with each other. Sam is in a stable relationship with Neal and Bill. This is shown when Neal and Bill choose to fight Chauncey in response to his continued harassment of