Abstract

The animated film Mulan won a great success in the box office in 1998. This movie is based on Chinese elements and is also mixed with American value as its core. As these two features are put together, the movie attracts extensive attention. On the one hand, the animation Mulan makes Chinese culture come into the sight of American people, as well as the people from all over the world. On the other hand, Chinese audience start to know the Chinese elements, mixed with American culture, expressed in the American movies. However, the evaluation from Chinese people is quite controversial since the film was put on the Chinese theaters. There is no denying that the Chinese elements conveyed in the American movies are changing. This paper attempts to make a study on the mutual understanding between Chinese and American culture in the movie Mulan.

Keywords: culture differences; Mulan; movie; Chinese elements; the American culture

摘要

    美国迪士尼公司于 1998 年拍摄的以中国元素为贯穿，美国价值为内核的动画影片《花木兰》在全球范围内取得了骄人的票房成绩，引起了广泛关注。动画影片《花木兰》使得中国文化进入了美国观众的视野，进而为全球观众的所熟悉，与此同时又让中国观众得以了解美国文化及美国人眼中的中国元素。迪士尼动画影片《花木兰》自在中国公映之日起，就引起了中国观众褒贬不一的评价，掀起了轩然大波，然而不可否认的是美国人眼中的中国元素发生了变异。本文以美国迪士尼动画影片《花木兰》为研究对象，以文化对比研究为主要研究方法，希望以一种客观中立的态度对中美文化的相互认识进行研究，从而更加直观的认识东西方文化的交流与融合。

关键词：文化差异; 《花木兰》; 电影; 中国元素; 美国文化

1 The Story of Mulan and its Evolution
1.1 The Origin of Mulan
The story originates from the Mulan Ballad, and develops various kinds of version in Chinese long history. In the poem, Mulan replaces her aged father in the army. She fought for twelve years and gained high merit, but she refused any reward and returned to her hometown instead.