In the novel Getting Inside your Head, Liza Zunshine introduces the concept of “embodied transparency” as the moment in which the character’s body language involuntarily reacts to an unexpected stimulus. Zunshine allows the audience to understand the character’s mentality by reveling their emotional restraint. Her theory of embodied transparency provides an alternative perspective to the television viewers by describing character’s facial expressions in unpredictable situations. Zunshine’s argument can be applied to the American sitcom “Freaks and Geeks”, because the concept of embodied transparency reveals the emotional complexity of Sam, Lindsay and Nick. Embodied transparency makes the audience interested and engaged in the show by showcasing…show more content… Nick’s facial expression shows euphoria and the intensity of the music makes the scene energetic. This scene is set up to make the audience believe that Nick can play the drums, but the film cuts show that the music comes from a cassette player. The episode is constructed this way to demonstrate Nick’s alternative reality. Nick wants to become a famous musician, but his ability to play the drums is poor. When Nick’s dad enters the room, the background music is turned down allowing the audience to appreciate Nick’s dreadful melodies. The scene transitions to a close up of Nick’s dad’s face, who seems to conceal disappointment. Colonel Andopolis shakes his head on his way out of the room, displaying discontent. Zunshine’s theory suggests that a character’s emotional transparency is a result of a conflict. Her perspective allows the audience to see that Col Andopolis’ emotional restraint will result in emotional conflict between him and Nick. Colonel Andopolis reappears in the show while Nick is rehearsing with his friends. Nick’s dad’s poker face indicates that he disapproves his son’s career path. He requests to talk to Nick in private and exits the scene smiling at Nick’s friends. Colonel Andopolis’ poker face demonstrates emotional restraint, because he is composing himself while Nick’s friends are in the room. According to Zunshine, “The…show more content… In the episode Lindsay realizes that the band is terrible. As a result, she encourages Nick to practice more in order to become a better drummer. Her advice becomes an inconvenience to the group and the band separates. Lindsay seems confused, but does not express her confusion to the rest of the group. Instead, she decides to restrain her frustration and proceeds to resolve the problem. After breaking up the group, Lindsay inspires Nick to audition to be part of “Dimension.”, a famous amateur rock band in Detroit. When Nick gets to the audition, he observed the body language of another drummer auditioning and tries to mock his mellow personality. As he enters the room he seems overwhelmed and stutters while speaking to the band. He tries to maintain his composure, but he is not doing a good job. Nick is so nervous that he drops the drum sticks while auditioning. His body language suggests that he is anxious but is trying to showcase confidence. His audition ends disastrously, because he is rejected by “Dimension.” Nick experiences full embodied transparency when his “body language involuntarily betrays… [his] feelings, particularly is the want to conceal it” (23). In this case, Nick loses control over his emotional restrain and has an emotional breakdown. He starts rambling euphorically about the repercussions of not becoming a famous drummer, and he becomes paranoid about joining the army and is afraid
