Abstract

    The American-context Chinese movies, I mean, are those which are produced in America and reflect the lives of Chinese families in American society who are encountering cultural barriers there. Among this category of movies, I choose three movies－ Scrapping, Pushing Hands and Wedding Banquet for detailed interpretation. In this thesis, by analyzing their respective attitudes towards family, love and responsibility, children’s education and social contact, I intend to disclose the cultural differences between China and America represented in the three American-context Chinese movies.

Key words:  American-context Chinese movies, Scrapping, Pushing Hands, Wedding Banquet，cultural differences

摘 要

我称之为的美国语境下的华人电影是指在美国拍摄、反映美国华人家庭所遭遇的文化隔阂的一类电影。本篇论文选择了《刮痧》、《推手》、《喜宴》作为这类电影的代表。通过分析电影中人物各自对待家庭、爱与责任、孩子教育以及社会交往的不同态度，本篇论文旨在揭示美国语境下的华人电影所表现出的中美文化差异。

关键词： 美国语境下的华人电影；《刮痧》；《推手》；《喜宴》；文化差异


1.    Introduction
With the ever deepening of China’s opening drive, Chinese come to understand the American society. Under the circumstances, cross-national and cross-cultural communication in economy and society increases every day. However, what Chinese are faced with are unfamiliar culture and country and there’re obvious differences reflected in thinking, living and acting. So there’ll be inevitable phenomena of cultural conflicts in communication. Edward Hall, the founder of the Cross-cultural Communication, ever remarked that, culture exists in two levels. One is open culture, the other is hidden culture. The former is visible and can be described, and the latter is invisible and can’t be known by the observer who has no specialized training. The objective existence of cultural conflict is due to the existence of hidden culture. (Stella 64) However, under the context of openness, conversation, and globalization, it’s unavoidable that both integration and collision of culture coexist around the world.
Furthermore, these phenomena not only happen in people’s daily life, but also often occur in films and TV programs. Films and TV programs are regarded as a mass style of cultural transmission and have vital effect on the process of Chinese understanding of American culture. Classical films and TV programs are presentations of the essences of representative events and people in the life that are artistically condensed and refined. Besides, they’re a miniature of real society and life. Consequently, the movies that are related to the cultural differences between China and America reflect the differences of all levels like customs, values, and ethics and so on. It’s a visual, general and convenient way to know the cultural differences between China and America by seeing this kind of movies. We can also study American culture and know its charm and essence of American culture when appreciating these movies.