從《推手》看中美家庭觀念的差異

1、contenti. introduction21.1 research background21.2 aims & objectives21.3 the scope of this paper2ii. the intercultural adaptation theory32.1 the process of adaptation32.2 intercultural personhood4iii. conflicts between chinese and western culture reflected in pushing hands63.1 plot of pushing handst

2、he independent space in chinese and western family63.2 attitudes towards children73.3 chinese and western familys attitude toward their elders83.4 the emotional expression of chinese and western countries9iv. conclusion10v. references11i. introduction1.1 research backgroundnowadays, the development

3、of mass media provides a lot of opportunities for people to experience different cultures. among mass media, movie industry makes themost powerful impact on human beings. film-makers use film as a kind of art form toexpress their interpretations of life. therefore, movies not only entertain us, but

4、also influence our views on ourselves, others and the whole world. movies, as an essentialform of mass media, have played an important role in intercultural communication.1.2 aims & objectives research on intercultural communication helps us to know how cultures permeate through our daily life, lead

5、 our behaviors, form our think patterns and influence our communications with people who have diverse culture backgrounds. movies are the effective carriers to bring different cultures to audiences. a lot of chinese directors stand out conspicuously in the world with their unique angle of views and

6、techniques of expression to show chinese traditional cultures to foreign audiences. among them, ang lee is the most successful intercultural films director. with the background of growing up in tai wan and being educated in america, ang lee has his own cognitions of culture differences and integrati

7、on. many years of living experience in america offers him chances to go through the process of intercultural adaptation and to form the intercultural personhood.from his films, the audience could see not only the conflicts and integrations of eastern and western cultures but also ang lees understand

8、ings of the humanity. in his early films, eastern and western cultural conflicts are the main topics to discuss. and in his later films, he integrates eastern and western cultures and even is beyond eastern and western culture boundaries to explore and discuss humanity. with long time intercultural

9、life experience, ang lee has formed intercultural personhood.1.3 the scope of this paperthe first part introduces ang lees biography.ang lees intercultural background affords the possibility for him to form intercultural personhood.the second part is the theoretical background. it presents managing

10、conflict and negotiating face theory, the intercultural adaptation theory and theory of intercultural personhood.the third part is a very important one. crouching tiger and hidden dragon has gained a big success. eastern and western culture are integrated perfectly in this film, which shows that ang

11、 lee is in duality process because he can switch between eastern and western culture. the intercultural adaptation theory is adopted here to explain his minds flexibility. ii. the intercultural adaptation theory the intercultural adaptation process occurs when individuals travel from one culture to

12、another, both in long and short term encounters. along with this movement,there seems to be a process of adjustment and familiarization with the new situation.the sojourners seek out specific cultural knowledge, adopt a different style of communication, reserve judgment on unfamiliar cultural practi

13、ces or withdraw from intercultural interactions (witter, 1993). intercultural adaptation is a complex and dynamic process which is an inevitable part of intercultural interactions.2.1 the process of adaptation if a sojourner wants to stay in the new culture environment and lead a happy life,he/she h

14、as to go through the intercultural adaptation. mansell pointed out that sojourners experience to one degree or another four emotional and affective states in the process of intercultural adaptation: alienation, marginality, acculturation, and duality. alienation causes a strong desire in sojourners

15、to retain identification with the own culture. the rejection of the host culture leads us to limit our social circle to acquaintances or work contacts and to seek out our own nationals for social enjoyment. unable to employ the necessary skills for adjustment, we feel out of sync with the host cultu

16、re and want desperately to return home. the feeling of marginality is like a sandwich, surrounding by two different cultures.sojourners do not know which side they belong to. they would feel confused about their culture identities. during this period, sojourners can only build up superficial connect

17、ions with host nationals and can enjoy neither his native culture nor the new host culture. acculturation occurs when sojourners establish a strong need to adopt the way ofliving of the host culture. our identification with the host culture means that the primary culture loses its importance. in thi

18、s situation we are able to make intimate friends with the host nationals and are able gradually to replace some elements our original culture with elements of the host culture. yet, moving too quickly to adopt the new culture may pose frustrations and obstacles to our intercultural adaptation. duali

19、ty symbolizes that even though sojourners are living in the foreign countries, they have cultivated the ability of simultaneously switching between native culture and host culture. during this period, sojourners are able to gain the achievement of being independent and subjective above primary cultu

20、re and host culture. open-mindedness and flexibility are necessary for maintaining this ability and establishing the continuity.2.2 intercultural personhood when sojourners go into duality period, their flexibility can help them engage inbuilding a remarkable new personhood-intercultural personhood.

21、 cultural identity inits pure form has become more a nostalgic concept than a reality. intercultural personhood is a way of life in which an individual develops an identity and a definition of self that integrates, rather than separates, humanity. intercultural personhood projects a kind of human de

22、velopment that is open to growth-a growth beyond the perimeters of ones own cultural upbringing (kim, y.1996:434). intercultural personhood is an integration of eastern and western perspectives. with the intercultural personhood,the sojourners are able to conciliate contradictory elements and transf

23、orm them into complementary, interacting parts of a single whole. the emerging intercultural personhood, then, is a special kind of mindset that promises greater fitness in our increasingly intercultural world (kim, 2001). the current discussion of intercultural personhood owes much to the writings

24、ofseveral prominent thinkers of the 20th century who have explored ideologies with national and cultural interests and that embrace all humanity. one such work is northrops the meeting of east and west (1996), in which an “international culture ideal” was presented as a way to provide intellectual a

25、nd emotional foundations for what he envisioned as “partial world sovereignty.” inspiration has also been drawn from the work of tompson (1973), which explored the idea of “planetary culture,” or how eastern mysticism was integrated with western science and rationalism. the primary sources for the c

26、urrent analysis of eastern and western cultural traditions also include nakamuras way of thought of eastern people (1964), campbells the power pf myth(1988), gulicks the eastern and the west (1963), olivers communication and culture in ancient india and china (1971), capras the tao of physics (1975)

27、, and halls beyond culture (1976) and the dance of life (1983). the emergence of intercultural personhood is a direct function of dramatically increasing intercultural communication activities.communicating across cultural identity boundaries is often challenging because it provokes questions about

28、peoples presumed cultural premises and habits, as well as peoples inevitable intergroup posturing and the us-and-them psychological orientation (kim, 1995). yet it is precisely such challenges that offer us openings for new cultural learning, self-awareness, and personal growth (kim, 1988, 1995). th

29、e greater the severity of intercultural challenges, the greater the potential for reinvention of an inner self that goes beyond the boundaries of our original cultural conditioning. in this process, our identity is transformed gradually and imperceptibly from an ascribed or assigned identity to an a

30、chieved or adopted identityan emergent intercultural personhood at a higher level of integration. such an identity transformation takes place in a progression of stages. in each stage,new concepts, attitudes, and behaviors are incorporated into an individuals psychological makeup. as previously unkn

31、own life patterns are etched into our nervous systems, they become part of our new psyches. the evolution of our identity from cultural to intercultural is far from smooth or easy. moments of intense stress can reverse the process at any time because individuals may indeed regress toward reidentifyi

32、ng with their origins, having found the alienation and malaise involved in maintaining a new identity too much of a strain. such strain may take various forms of an identity crisis and cultural marginality. yet the stress experience also challenges individuals to accommodate new cultural elements an

33、d become more capable of making deliberate and appropriate choices about action as situations demand.iii. conflicts between chinese and western culture reflected in pushing hands in the muti-language background, ang lee always tries to meet the requirement of eastern and western audiences. crouching

34、 tiger and hidden dragon, using westernnarrative mode to tell a chinese story, shows the audience the chinese spirit and westerns thinking patterns (xu, 2001). the film is a roaring success, no matter in the perspective of commercial value or the cultural value. this film is the first chinese film w

35、hich is played in the main american theater. through this film, chinese wuxia culture is firstly delivered to western audiences and firstly accepted by western mainstream culture. from his films success, we know ang lee clearly knows his cultural identity and the humanity. his films attract not only

36、 chinese audiences but also western audiences. from this time forth, ang lee has formed intercultural personhood which helps him to touch those sensitive topics.3.1 plot of pushing handsthe independent space in chinese and western family li mubai is an accomplished wudangs martial artists. long ago,

37、 his master was murdered by jade fox. mu bai and yu shulien who have developed feelings for each other, but have never acknowledged or acted on them. mu bai, intending to lead a new path in life, asks shu lien who is on her way to bei jing to transport his sword, also referred to as the green destin

38、y, as a gift for their friend sir te. at sir tes estate, shu lien meets jen, the daughter of governor yu. jen, destined for an arranged marriage and yearning for adventure, seems envious of shu liens warrior lifestyle. one evening, a masked thief sneaks into sir tes estate and steals the sword. muba

39、i and shu lien, with the assistance of sir tes servant master bo, trace the theft togovernor yus compound and learn that jade fox has been posing as jens governess for many years. a guilt-ridden jen returns the green destiny to sir tes estate but isintercepted by mu bai. mu bai easily defeats her an

40、d offers her to become his pupil. jen angrily rebukes his offer and flees. that night, a desert bandit named lo breaks into jens bedroom and asks her toleave with him. a flashback reveals that in the past, when governor yu and his familywere traveling in the western deserts, lo and his bandits had r

41、aided jens caravan andafter a protracted desert chase, kidnapped her. however, lo and jen soon fell passionately in love. jen refuses to leave with him and goes through the arranged wedding. lo interrupts jens wedding procession, begging her to come away with him.3.2 attitudes towards children the s

42、tory of this film happens in 18th century. at that time, younger generations marriages are arranged by their parents. there is old saying in china to describe this situation ,“arrange a match by parents order and on the matchmakers word.” marriage is not simply meaning love. parents, especially fath

43、er, have the final word to choose future husband or wife for their children, which is always the case in collectivist society like china. one crucial factor of choosing the marriage is that the two families have the equal social status. so there is a scene that shulien visits jen:yu: “thank you for

44、seeing me. i hear your wedding day is near. you must be overwhelmed by the preparations.”jen: “im hardly doing a thing. the less i think of it the better. my parents are arranging everything. the gous are a very powerful family. my marrying will be good for my fathers career.”yu: “you are fortunate

45、to marry into such a noble family.”jen: “am i? i wish i were like the heroes in the books i read. like you and limubai. i guess im happy to be marrying. but to be free to live my own life, to choose whom i love. that is true happiness.”yu: “do you think so? let me tell you a story.”jen: “about you a

46、nd li mubai?”yu: “yes. did you know i was once engaged to be married?”jen: “no, really?”yu: “his name was meng sizhao. he was a brother to li mubai by oath. one day, while in battle, he was killed by the sword of li mubais enemy. after, li mubai and i went through a lot together. our feelings for ea

47、ch other grew stronger. but how could we dishonor mengs memory? so the freedoms you talk about, i too desire it. but i have never tasted it.”jen: “too bad for meng, but its not your fault, or li mubais.”yu: “i am not an aristocrat, as you are. but i must still respect a womans duties.” from these co

48、nversations, we know that although shulien and li mubai deeply fall in love with each other they could not or dare not get together for li mubais brotherhood and shuliens woman duty for the engagement. in their mind, meng was killed for saving li mubai. as his brother, it would be a loss of face for

49、 both himself and meng to marry shulien. now, jen is forced to marriage a guy who she has never seen before. all these heroes are not free, but they are all eager to get freedom and have the “l(fā)ove” right. chinese withholding love arouse because of the collectivistic culture. traditional chinese peop

50、le care so much about others feelings and foresight. therefore,they would take responsibility for others and live for others but not for themselves.parents consent, social stratification and obligation become burdens to prevent people pursuing their freedom and the basic human right-love.3.3 chinese

51、 and western familys attitude toward their elders the integration of eastern and western culture is shown not only in the film story but in the technique of expression. ang lee uses western narrative model, especially hollywoods narrative skill to tell the audience a chinese wuxia story. most of ang

52、 lees film is using the typical three-act narrative mode, which includes three scenes. the first scene: the main heroes come into the big screen and finish the premise part of the story; the second scene: the heroes encounter crisis and struggle with it; the third scene: crisis has been solved. this

53、 three-act narrative mode dominates the mainstream hollywood films structure (ding, 2001). each scene could show its imposing dramatic power. using this narrative model could establish tight structure so that it could attract audiences attention. in crouching tiger and hidden dragon, three-act narra

54、tive model has been used proficiently. the first scene is introducing the following contents: li mubai and yu shulien have strong feelings for each other; li sends his sword green destiny to sir te so as to give up the life in jiang hu; lis master is poisoned by fox; jens parents arrange a marriage

55、for her but she desires for jiang hu free life. the second scene is showing that because of the torrid love between jen and lo, jen flees away from her wedding and steels the green destiny to adventure jiang hu; li mubai and yu shulientry to help and redirect jen. the third scene is that li kills fo

56、x but is poisoned by fox and died for saving jens life; jen ends up jumping to the river because of deeply remorseful. the three-act narrative model can be easily accepted by western audiences and chinese wuxia is always a mysterious topic for western audiences. therefore, the three-act narrative mo

57、del plus chinese wuxia make crouching tiger and hidden dragon a big success in the whole world.3.4 the emotional expression of chinese and western countries crouching tiger and hidden dragon is a big winner in academy award. this film has produced favorable comments from western audiences. although

58、ang lee uses western narrative mode to tell this story, his aim is to let the western audiences to accept and appreciate traditional chinese culture. therefore, lees cultural orientation is his native culture-chinese culture. ang lee integrates eastern and western culture to let western people can understand and follow this chinese wuxia story. from this film, western audiences are able to go into eastern circumstance.chinese natural landscape, huge desert area, view of life of taoism and typical chinese reserved love style are described in this f