The Stage

In November 2016 I spent 20 minutes observing an older couple and a lone man at the Calgary airport. I am a 19 year old Caucasian male attending university. The airport was warm for the time of year, although outside the weather is rather dull. Constant streams of clouds pour in making the day noticeably dull and grey. The lighting inside the airport is slightly depressing as the only colors it has to bounce off of are white and grey, even the colorful seats that once provided the area with a small amount of life have become worn and bland. I feel slightly sick from having taken several flights that weekend, and had a mild headache. There was a constant smell of freshly baked bread from the sandwich shop across the terminal.

The Blocking

The Players

Entire Cast

Throughout the observation there were a ton of people walking down the terminal all different ranging ages, ethnicities, sexes, and dresses.

Main Cast

A

A is a man sitting across the terminal from me, he is alone. He is dressed fully in black, he has black boots the run past the bottom of his jeans, and they’re very shiny, with a military like look. His pants are boot cut and a faded black most likely from wear. He is wearing a heavy metal band shirt that is baggy on him, slightly wrinkled. Wearing a black trucker hat that has rips in the brim, and a fishnet material on the back. He has an average build in both height and weight, assuming around 55 years old. He has several piercings in his ears, and one in his nose. He has a large grey and black beard, and grey hair protruding from his hat. He has 3 bags, one is a laptop bag, one is a backpack, and one is a luggage bag on wheels.

B

B is a smaller, frailer woman sitting to my right; she is with her significant other. She is wearing black shoes with a small heel on the back. She is wearing blue jeans that cut off just above her heels. She is wearing a large red jacket that’s pretty puffy. Under her jacket she is wearing a jean jacket and under that is a white v-neck shirt. She had long brown hair that is curled just below her shoulders. She is wearing a large ring on her ring finger, most likely symbolizing marriage. She has two bags with her, one is a large leather purse, and the other is a large duffel bag.

C

C is a middle aged man, most likely age 55, with his significant other. He is wearing tanned desert boots that go past the bottom of his jeans. He is wearing slim fit blue jeans, shirt tucked in. he is wearing a dark blue v neck with chest hair poking out of his shirt. He is wearing a gold necklace and a ring on his ring finger. His has medium length grey hair cutting off just above his shoulders.  He has a large silver watch on is left wrist

The Plot

As I sit down I immediately notice A. he is hard to miss, dressed fully in black, struggling to look comfortable carrying his 3 bags. As he limps over to the seat across from me we exchange an awkward glance and we both smile and nod. He puts his suitcase in front of the seat beside him and places his laptop bag on the seat beside his, followed by his backpack. As he falls into his seat he lets out a sign of relief, he has clearly endured a pilgrimage from across the airport. He spreads his legs wide and fully extends them as he straightens his back, allowing him to slide down the seat. His arms begin to fully extend and he lets out a loud roaring yawn that symbolizes his airport struggle. After a long yawn his eyes open and his head looks around to see if anyone has noticed his actions. After the moment of relaxation he lifts himself back into his seat, and corrects his posture for a brief second only to slouch back down as he pulls out his phone and begins to check it. For the next few minutes A continues to check his phone, letting out the occasional yawn. It looks like after his is done reading a segment or gets bored of his phone, or if someone walks closely behind him on the walkway, A will look side to side a few times, scoping out the airport and looking at the people surrounding him. After a few minutes on his phone A cracks all of his knuckles, looking around while doing so. A puts his phone beside his backpack and grabs his laptop bag; he slowly unzips his bag while scanning the airport. After the zipper is down he slowly pulls out a silver Mac book. He opens his mac and begins fidgeting on the keyboard, after a few seconds his laptop begins to blare music through the relatively quiet airport and all surrounding parties shoot up and look at him. He panics and closes his laptop, putting it down and looking around to see who is still watching him. His face has lit up and is completely red. After a few seconds A slowly opens the laptop again and quickly turns it onto mute. He begins to type on his laptop, followed by him exclusively using his mouse pad for a few minutes. He continues to occasionally check his surroundings and cracks his knuckles often while his attention is drawn from his laptop. While checking his laptop he will occasionally check his phone for a few seconds but always puts it down within at most 20 seconds, sometimes he will do tricks with it and throw it into the air. Every time that he check his phone his will straighten his hat and pull his shirt down after it has ridden up from his posture, which he also fixes every few minutes, only to slouch back down after his laptop regains his attention.

It appears as though A is anxious of what people think about him. He is constantly scanning his surroundings as if to make sure that people aren’t staring at him or judging him, and anytime someone walks behind him he will sit up and fix his posture so he isn’t silently judged. It seems as though a tick for this is checking his phone and cracking his knuckles, these things give him adamant time to scan the airport and see if anyone is looking at him. He also fixes his short and adjusts his hat even when unnecessary; leading me to believe that he has slightly lower confidence and is embraced easily. When his laptop blared music I assume he felt incredibly embarrassed which is why he slammed it and then muted it instead of just turning it down.

B & C

B and C were both sitting to my right upon my arrival. All of their baggage was laid out in front of them on the ground, placed without worry or care. C sat slouched in his chair, with his legs spread wide and looked very comfortable. C laid against the arm rest to support B who laid in the arms of C. she was very closed off, having her legs crossed, and her head resting on Cs chest. B was clearly distraught about something. She constantly checked her flight ticket and passport as if something were wrong, every time she would C would assure her that everything was okay, and push her ticket back down onto her lap. After a few minutes C became very stressed and called for an attendant who told her that her flight was still an hour away and that she wasn’t going to miss it. After she talked to the flight attendant, tears began to stream down her face and her eye liner began to run, she profusely apologized and repeatedly said “im such a mess, I just don’t want to miss another flight”. After this C assured her they wouldn’t miss this flight, and got the flight attendant to come get them when they were able to board the flight so that they wouldn’t miss it. After this B fell asleep in Cs arms and they were holding hands.

In this scene, B plays the very stereotypical female. B is very closed off and emotional, and not afraid to show emotion. C on the other hand plays the typical stereotype for a male role in the situation, constantly calming down his female counterpart and taking measures to ensure that she is happy.

The Finale

In this observation I observed a couple, and a lone man in an airport. I am 19 year old Caucasian male who felt rather comfortable giving the circumstances; after the observation started I didn’t notice the headache or the nausea I had developed from flying as much. The main points that I noticed in my observations were that people are generally very overcautious of what people are thinking about them, constantly thinking about how they look or how they are perceived. I also noticed that if you pay attention to it, the classical roll of feminism is more common than I would have anticipated. It also appears that if feminist stereotypes are apparent in a woman, her partner will often counter those with very “manly” qualities.

The Credits

Brym, Robert, Lance W. Roberts, Lisa Strohschein, and John Lie. Sociology Your Compass for a New World. 5th ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.