In the film Erin Brockovich, the title heroine is a mother-against-the-world character who works her way into a law firm. Once there, through largely her own efforts and sheer determination, she wins for 600 plaintiffs from Hinkley, California, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in U.S. history - $333 million. One of the most successful aspects of the film is the in-depth characterization of Erin and her lawyer-boss, Ed Masry. Their relationship with each other, their relationship with their co-workers, and their relationship with the plaintiffs and defendants (Pacific Gas & Electric – PG&E), demonstrate many of the concepts of small group communication explored by Deborah Tannen in Talking From 9 To 5, as well as some of the important concepts from Roger Shuy’s Bureaucratic Language.
From gender differences to power relations, many of Tannen’s examples significantly apply to the situations illustrated through the character of Erin Brockovich, but many of them the former beauty queen, who knows how to use sex to influence those around her turns, against her adversaries. This analysis will compare concepts from each text with different scenes and dialogue from Erin Brockovich.
Tannen discusses many concepts and theories responsible for impeding or enhancing the effectiveness of small group communication. One of these concepts is that of the “apology”. The author reveals that men are more seldom willing to apologize to women, and that many women apologize excessively even when there is no real need to do so. Tannen (48) concludes at one point in reference to apologizing “Whether or not people apologize seems to be as much (or more) a function of their individual styles as the apportionment of blame in particular events”.
In Erin Brockovich, we see that neither the gruff exterior/soft interior character of Ed Masry, nor the outspoken, tenacious character of Erin is very willing ...