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Communication Accommodation Theory

in Lilo and Stitch

Clarissa Kayga

Department of Communications, Adrian College

Comm 218: Introduction to Communication Theory

Dr. Christy Mesaros-Winckles

April 28, 2023

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Communication Accommodation Theory

in Lilo and Stitch

Lilo & Stitch is a wonderful family film that illustrates how there are different levels of

social relationships and how others around us can help us have better communication skills. The

film has two main characters; Lilo and Stitch. Lilo being a young girl from Hawaii, and Stitch

being a little blue alien who crash lands in Hawaii. Over the course of the movie, these two

characters grow closer and Lilo teaches Stitch a few lessons on caring about people and that

destroying things is not the answer to everything (Chris Sanders, 2002). In this paper I will be

analyzing the relationship between Lilo and Stitch and their communication patterns using

Communication Accommodation Theory.

The film takes place in Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands, in the fictional town of

Kokaua. Lilo lives with her older sister, Nani, in their childhood home. Lilo and Nani’s parents

had died in a tragic car accident some time before this movie took place. This resulted in Nani

becoming Lilo’s legal guardian. Although it is tough, throughout the movie Nani tries her best to

take care of Lilo the best that she can. Meanwhile, in a galaxy far far away. There is a scientist

who has created an experiment that is not considered lawful to others. The intergalactic council

has captured Jumba and his newest creation, Experiment 626, this being Stitch. Stitch was

created by Jumba to create chaos and cause destruction to anything that was in his path. So the

intergalactic council saw this as a threat to many and wanted to get rid of Stitch. During that

process Stitch escapes and crash lands on Earth, to one of the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Shortly

after his rough landing he gets hit by a truck and ends up in a dog pound.

Nani notices that Lilo is starting to get lonely and having a hard time making friends, so

she takes Lilo to pick out a new friend at the pound. When arriving at the pound, Lilo takes a
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look at all of her options and of course picks Stitch. This startles the lady at the front desk as well

as Nani, and they try to talk her out of picking Stitch. But Lilo insists that he is the perfect pet for

her. This is when they start their adventure as friends.

Theory Review

Communication Accommodation Theory focuses on how people make changes to their

behavior based on the type of social interactions that they are having. This can be both verbal

and non-verbal communication. Communication Accommodation Theory was first adopted in

1971, by Howard Giles. Giles believed that there were new ways to communicate being made all

of the time. What is more interesting though was the fact that communicators were willing to

accommodate those who they were talking to in a way that was most efficient for both parties.

The theory focuses on convergent and divergent communication patterns. Divergent

Communication is when the communicator continues to communicate how they normally do and

the other communicator must alter their form of communication to fit the conversation.

Convergent communication is when the communicator is more accommodating to the other party

that they are communicating with, thus allowing both parties to be able to find the most efficient

way to communicate. There is even such a thing as over accommodation. Hordila-Vatamanescu

(2010) says, there are three types of over accommodation. “The first is sensory where people

tend to over adapt to others who are perceived as limited in their abilities. The second is

dependency, where the person who is talking, speaks to others as if they’re in a lower status than

them. Lastly, intergroup occurs when the speakers place listeners in cultural groups without

acknowledging individual uniqueness.” (Hordila-Vatamanescu, 2010, 281) Convergent

communicators may even go as far as to cater their characteristics to the needs and histories of

the group. By having a group of communicators bringing different attributes to the group, it
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maintains a certain balance. Mutual influence in interpersonal communication: Theory and

research in cognition, affect, and behavior says “CAT is premised on the assumption that

communication mediates and maintains interpersonal and intergroup relationships,” (Gallois, C.,

& Giles, H., 1998). This means that communication accommodation can help maintain

relationships.

One important thing to note in Communication Accommodation Theory is the context of

the conversation. This is very important because it can show the level of power in a relationship.

For example, in some cases of over accommodation it can come off as more so condescending

rather than considerate. That being said, if both parties can accommodate each other when

communicating, that creates a positive environment for everyone. That way everyone feels

recognized and respected.

Film Analysis

Lilo Tries to Make Friends

In the beginning of the film, the opening scene is of Lilo leaving the beach and racing to

dance practice because she is going to be late. She arrives late and when she does, she is soaking

wet. While the group dances she creates water puddles all around her resulting in the dancers

eventually slipping and falling. She of course realizes what happened and is embarrassed. The

dance teacher approaches her and starts a conversation.

Teacher: “Lilo, why are you all wet?”

Lilo: “It's sandwich day.”

The teacher gives her a confused look. Lilo heavily sighs and the teacher takes a seat on

the steps.

Lilo: “Every Thursday I take Pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich-”
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Teacher: “Pudge is a fish…???”

Lilo: “And today we were out of peanut butter! So I asked my sister what to give him,

and she said a tuna sandwich! I can’t give pudge TUNA!...Do you know what tuna

is…???”

Teacher: “Fish…???”

Lilo: “IT’S FISH!!! IF I GAVE PUDGE TUNA I WOULD BE AN ABOMINATION!

I’m late because I had to go to the store, get peanut butter, cause all we have is-is

STINKING TUNA!!!”

Teacher: “Lilo,Lilo, why is this so important?”

Lilo: “Pudge controls the weather.”

Little Girl: “You’re crazy.” (Sanders, 2002, 11:30)

This is when Lilo launches herself at one of the other girls and they start to fight. The teacher

pulls Lilo off of the girl and gets everyone to calm down. The teacher makes Lilo sit out the rest

of dance practice. After practice is over and all of the girls run out, the teacher talks to Lilo and

tells her that he called her sister and that she is going to come pick her up, and to just wait on the

porch. While Lilo is sitting on the porch steps waiting for her sister she sees the other girls

talking about how they were all going to play dolls together. Lilo naturally wants to be a part of

the group and walks over and talks to them.

Lilo: “Are you gonna play dolls?”

Little Girl: “You don’t have a doll.”

Lilo: “This is Scrump.”

The girls gasp as Lilo shows them her unique doll.

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Lilo: “I made her, but her head is too big. So I pretend a bug laid eggs in her ear. And

she’s upset because she only has a few more days too…” (Sanders, 2002, 13:21)

At this moment Lilo looks up and notices that all of the girls have left. She throws scrump on the

ground angrily and walks away. But then she comes back and picks Scrump up before walking

away again.

This part of the movie shows communication accommodation. Obviously, when Lilo

came into class late and talked about Pudge and the peanut butter sandwiches, everyone kind of

looked at her funny and didn’t really understand her. One girl even made fun of her and that

caused a fight. After the fight though, Lilo recognizes that that wasn’t the appropriate way to act.

Then later when all of the girls were done at dance practice Lilo tries a different and more kind

and general approach. She tries to discuss something that she feels they might all have in

common. Like playing with dolls. That being said, although this was a good approach the other

girls weren’t exactly the friendliest and did not respond in the nicest way. But still this definitely

showed growth on Lilo’s part. This showed that she is learning how to better communicate with

different people.

Stitch Tries to Become a Model Citizen

After Lilo adopted Stitch at the pound, she brings him home and shows him her room.

Because of this being shortly after Stitch is introduced, he is still a creature of chaos and

destruction. So when Lilo shows him his new home he is not exactly the most well mannered.

Lilo: “Look how curious the puppy is. This is my room! And this is your bed. This is

your dolly and bottle. See! It doesn’t spill. I filled it with coffee. Good puppy. Now get

into bed.”
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Lilo gestures to a small bed that she has made for Stitch on the floor next to her bed. Stitch then

shoves her out of the way and onto the floor as he jumps into Lilo’s bed.

Stitch: “Agh!”

Lilo: “Hey! That’s mine! Down!”

Stitch looks at her for a second and then hits her with the pillow. When he discovers a photo

under where the pillow was. He grabs the photo to look at it, but before he can do anything with

it, Lilo grabs it from him with protest.

Lilo: Be careful of that! You don’t touch this! Don’t ever touch it!”

Stitch growls and runs to the end of her bed and onto the floor. He starts to tear apart her doll

Scrump when Lilo takes it away from him.

Lilo: “Don’t pull on her head. She’s recovering from surgery.”

Stitch then growls and rolls his way to her painting easel and starts to tear up her paintings.

Lilo: “No! That’s from my blue period.”

As Stitch shreds the canvas apart and starts making shouting growling noises, Lilo places a lei on

him. He immediately stops and calms down and lays on the floor.

Lilo: “There. You know you wreck everything you touch. Why not try and make

something for a change?”

Stitch lets out a little growl and starts to build a replica of San Francisco.

Lilo: “Wow. San Francisco.”

Stitch then starts to act like Godzilla and stomps around and knocks over all of the books and

stuff that he used to build the replica.

Lilo: “No caffeine for you.” (Sanders, 2002, 35:25)

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This is a good example of a starting point for Stitch’s character. At first he is very chaotic

and destructive, but eventually throughout the movie that starts to change. Lilo starts to teach

Stitch how to properly communicate with people. One night while getting ready for bed, Stitch

looks at the photo that Lilo has of her parents. Lilo notices that he is looking at it, and tells him

what happened. Then she starts to talk to Stitch about his family.

Lilo: “What happened to yours?”

Stitch looks at her shocked.

Lilo: “I hear you cry at night. Do you dream about them?”

Sitch then looks away with a sad expression.

Lilo: “I know that’s why you wreck things, and push me.”

Stitch then climbs off of Lilo’s bed and gets into his own bed. While Lilo climbs into her bed.

Lilo: “Our family is little now, and we don’t have a lot of toys. But if you want, you can

be a part of it. You could be our baby, and we could raise you to be good.”

Stitch looks at Lilo sadly and walk away toward the window.

Lilo: “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.”

When Lilo says this Stitch hesitates and looks at Lilo sadly. Then continues to walk away.

Lilo: “But if you want to leave you can.”

Stitch then hops out of the window and leaves.

Lilo: “I’ll remember you though. I remember everyone that leaves.”

Then Stitch is shown sitting outside of the window listening to Lilo. He peaks back in the room

to take one last look at Lilo before he really leaves. (Sanders, 2002, 52:43)
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This is a turning point for Stitch. He learns what it means to be a part of a family. He

learns what Ohana means and realizes that what he really wants is to have a family that loves

him.

After a few scenes it is now the end of the movie. The alien council has landed on Earth,

and have plans to complete their capture of Stitch and be on their way. But in the process they

realize that Stitch is not the same as before, and has evolved into a better version of himself. As

the head of the council asks him to board the ship a particularly interesting conversation takes

place.

Head of Council: “You??? You’re the cause of all of this. If it wasn’t for your experiment

626 none of this-”

Stitch: “Stitch.”

Head of Council: “What?”

Stitch: “My name Stitch.”

Head of Council: “Stitch then- if it wasn’t for Stitch…”

Stitch: “Does Stitch have to go in the ship?”

Head of Council: “Yes…”

Stitch: “Can Stitch say goodbye?”

Head of Council: “Yes…”

Stitch: “Thank you.”

The Head of Council is shocked at the level of calmness and the level of communication that

Stitch has developed. He is so polite now and even cares about people. Stitch walks off of the

ship and over to Lilo so she can give him a hug.

Head of Council: “Who are you?”

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Stitch: “This is my family. I found it all on my own. It is little and broken, but still good.

Yeah, still good.” (Sanders, 2002, 1:13:10)

This is when Stitch becomes a model citizen. He finally learns the ways to properly

communicate with others. Lilo has taught Stitch how to have good communication.

In conclusion, the movie Lilo and Stitch demonstrates many examples of Communication

Accommodation Theory. Both characters learn different ways to communicate with different

audiences in the proper way. Communication Accommodation helped Lilo and Stitch learn how

to communicate in the most effective way possible.

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References:

Walt Disney Feature Animation. (2002). Lilo and Stitch . United States.

Running head: Parameters of NON-ACCOMMODATION 1 - UNSW sites. (n.d.). Retrieved April

23, 2023, from http://www.sydneysymposium.unsw.edu.au/2012/chapters/GilesEASP2012.pdf

Libretexts. (2021, May 1). 4.3: Communication accommodation theory. Social Sci LibreTexts.

Retrieved April 22, 2023, from

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Communication/Introduction_to_Communication/Co

mmunicating_to_Connect_-_Interpersonal_Communication_for_Today_(Usera)/04%3A_Culture

/4.03%3A_Communication_Accommodation_Theory