电影《印式英语》中的文化冲突及适应_英语论文

Cultural Conflicts and Adaptation in English Vinglish

摘要

电影《印式英语》主要讲了一位传统的印度妇女来到美国之后所遇到的文化冲击的经历并逐渐适应美国文化，学习了英语并获得了家人的尊重的故事。本论文以约翰贝利的文化适应理论为基础，介绍了美印的不同宗教背景，并阐述了美印两国在不同方面的文化差异。论文还研究了非主流文化在主流文化中的适应模式，并分析了影片中的文化适应现象，研究了印度女性的家庭地位和身份认同问题。

关键词：文化冲击；文化适应；印式英语；文化认同

Abstract

The movie English Vinglish tells a story about a conservative Indian woman who came to New York to help her sister with her niece’s wedding. She had many awful experiences because of her inability of English and lack of the international communication skills, then she attended English lessons and gained self-confidence at last. This thesis is based on John W. Berry’s intercultural adaptation theory. It introduces the main plot of the movie English Vinglish and then the religion backgrounds of India and America. It demonstrates the cultural conflicts between India and America from many aspects. This thesis also researches the reflection of cultural adaption in this movie and Indian women’s family status and cultural identity.

Keywords: cultural conflicts; cultural adaptation; English Vinglish; cultural identity 

Contents

1. Introduction.1

2. Cultural backgrounds of India and America 1

2.1 Cultural background of India .1

2.2 Cultural background of America2

3. Cultural Conflicts and Adaptation3

3.1 The definition of cultural conflicts.3

3.2 Conflicts between Indian culture and American culture.3

3.3 Reasons for cultural conflicts.5

3.4 Cultural adaptation7

3.5 Cultural identity8

4. Cultural Adaptation in the Movie English Vinglish9

4.1 The symbols of cultural adaptation in English Vinglish10

4.2 Women’s family status in India.10

4.3 Seeking for identity.11

4.4 Balance in the two worlds.11

5. Conclusion.12

Work Cited13