从老友记看中美文化差异.docx

从老友记看中美文化差异.docx

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从老友记看中美文化差异

本科生毕业论文

AnAnalysisofSino-AmericanCulturalDifferencesinFriends

从《老友记》解读中美文化差异

姓　　名

刘博

学　　号

200701020127

专　　业

外国语言文学系

指导教师

李育教授

2011年5月30日

AnAnalysisofSino-AmericanCulturalDifferencesinFriends

AThesisSubmittedto

ForeignLanguagesDepartmentof

HenanUniversityofEconomicsandLawin

PartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsforthe

DegreeofBachelorofArts

By

LiuBo

Supervisor:

LiYu

May30,2011

Abstract

FriendsisanAmericansitcomcreatedbyDavidCraneandMartaKauffman,whichairedonNBCfromSeptember22,1994toMay6,2004.Itconsistsof236episodesof10seasons.Itwaswatchedby52.5millionAmericanviewersandplayedindecadescountrieslater.Itwonplentyofmajortheaterawardsforthesixleadingactorsandthewholeplaystaff.

TheseriesrevolvesaroundagroupoffriendsintheboroughofManhattan,NewYorkCity.Itdescribesfullyoftheirlife,friendship,trouble,laugh,contradiction,loveandwork.Theytreasurefriendshipandkinship,theytrust,tolerantandsupporteachother.Theirpositiveandoptimisticlifeattitudeencouragesmillionsofpeople.Thereasonthatthissitcomappealstoussomuchisnotonlythesincerefeelingsamongthem,butalsothefreshsightwhichisdifferentfromChina.WesterncivilizationhasalwaysledtheworldculturaldevelopmentsincetheIndustrialRevolution.Thespecialnoticecanhelpustounderstandthissitcombetteranddeeperaswellasimproveourself-cultivationdemeanor.

ThisthesisfirstlyintroducesFriends.Secondly,itlistsandanalyzestheculturaldifferencesinFriends.Thirdly,itanalyzesthefactorscausingculturaldifferences.Fourthly,itmakessuggestionsforstudentslearningwesternculture.

Keywords:

Friends;culture;difference;factors

摘要

《老友记》是一部由大卫·马克兰和玛尔塔·考夫曼创作的美国情景喜剧，从自1994年9月22日至2004年5月6日在美国NBC电视台播出，全剧共10季236集，本土观众数量达到五千万，后来在数十个国家播出。

这部喜剧为六个主角和整个剧组赢得了大量戏剧奖项。

《老友记》主要描写六个居住在纽约市曼哈顿区的六个年轻人的故事——他们的生活、友谊、烦恼、欢乐、矛盾、爱情和事业。

他们对友情和亲情的珍惜，他们对彼此的互相信任、宽容和支持，他们积极向上的生活态度激励了上百万的观众。

这部喜剧之所以这么吸引我们不仅是因为他们彼此间真挚的感情，而且是因为那些与中国传统不同的新鲜视角。

自工业革命开始，西方文明就引领着世界文明的发展。

对西方文明的特殊关注可以帮助我们更好更深的理解这部喜剧。

这篇论文分四个部分来对《老友记》进行分析：

首先，对《老友记》进行了简介。

其次，列出了《老友记》中体现的中美文化差异。

再次，分析引起这些差异的文化原因。

最后，提出了学习西方文化的建议。

关键词：

老友记；文化；差异；原因

Acknowledgements

Thisthesisistheproductoftheauthorandthesupervisor’sthreemonthsofefforts.IthasbeenrepeatedlyrevisedundertheguidanceofProfessorLiYu.ItwasthejointeffortsofboththeauthorandteachersinForeignLanguagesDepartment.IwouldliketoexpressmyheartfeltthankstoProfessorLiYuandteacherswhohavehelpedtheauthorintheprocessofthethesiswriting.Iwillalsogivemythankstomyclassmatesandfriendswhohavehelpedmerevisethethesis.Lastbutnotleast,Iwillgivemyheartfeltthankstomyparentswhohavebeenalwayssupportingandencouragingme.

Contents

Introduction

FriendsisanAmericansitcomcreatedbyDavidCraneandMartaKauffman,whichairedonNBCfromSeptember22,1994toMay6,2004.TheTVseriesrevolvesaroundagroupoffriendsintheboroughofManhattan,NewYorkCity.ItwasproducedbyBright/Kauffman/CraneProductions,inassociationwithWarnerBros.Television.TheoriginalexecutiveproducerswereCrane,KauffmanandKevinS.Bright,withnumerousothersbeingpromotedinlaterseasons.

KauffmanandCranebegandevelopingFriendsunderthetitleInsomniaCafeinNovember1993.TheypresentedtheideatoBright,withwhomtheyhadpreviouslyworked,andtogethertheypitchedaseven-pagetreatmentoftheseriestoNBC.Afterseveralscriptrewritesandchanges,includingasecondtitlechangetoFriendsLikeUs,theserieswasfinallynamedFriendsandpremieredonNBC’scovetedThursday8:

30pmtimeslot.FilmingfortheseriestookplaceatWarnerBros.StudiosinBurbank,Californiainfrontofalivestudioaudience.Aftertenseasonsonthenetwork,theseriesfinalewaspromotedbyNBC,andviewingpartieswereorganizedaroundtheU.S.Theseriesfinale（the236thepisode）,airingonMay6,2004,waswatchedby52.5millionAmericanviewers,makingitthefourthmost-watchedseriesfinaleintelevisionhistoryandthemostwatchedepisodeofthedecade.

Friendsreceivedpositivereviewsthroughoutmostofitsrun,becomingoneofthemostpopularsitcomsofalltime.Theserieswonmanyawardsandwasnominatedfor63PrimetimeEmmyAwards.Theseries,aninstanthitfromitsdebut,wasalsoverysuccessfulintheratings,consistentlyrankinginthetopteninthefinalprimetimeratings.Itisnowoftenregardedbycriticstobeoneofthefinestshowsintelevisionhistory.Theseriesmadealargeculturalimpact,whichcontinuestoday.TheCentralPerkcoffeehousethatwasfeaturedprominentlyintheserieshasinspiredvariousimitationsthroughouttheworld.Theseriescontinuesinsyndicationworldwide.All10seasonsareavailableonDVD.Thespin-offseriesJoeywascreatedtofollowupwiththeseriesafterthefinale.

TherearenotmanypapersanalyzingtheSino-AmericanculturesinFriends,theonlyfewstudythekinship,friendship,loveamongsixcharactersandsomeeverydaylifedetails.Theauthorofthispaperthinksthatitisnecessarytoresearchit,itcanononlymakeusunderstandingmoreaboutAmericanculture,butaswellrecognizetheculturaldifferences.Thereby,wecancopewiththeculturalproblemsmoreleisurely,communicatemoresmoothly,andremoveculturalbarriersmoreeasily.

1IntroductiontoFriends

1.1TheOutlineofFriends

1.1.1Characters

RachelGreen-apopularschoolgirlofthepast,isnowaspoiledbratlivingoffherfathersfinance.Inanattempttostartanewlifeafterrunningoutonherwedding,shesharesanapartmentwithanoldbestfriendMonicaGellar,andeventuallybefriendstheother4andMonica’solderbrother,Ross.

PhoebeBuffay-broughtupasafatherlesschild,Phoebeisaditzyyetloveablehippy,whohasbecomeapersonalmasseuse.Despitelikingherprofession,herdreamistobecomeastarinthemusicindustryandbaseshersongsonherlifeexperiences.Theother5friendssecretlybelievethatPhoebewillnevermakeit,butstillencouragehertowrite.Phoebeoftenperformsatthe‘CentralPerk’coffeehouse,andstronglybelievesinherself.

MonicaGellar-acompulsiveneatfreak,whohastroublewithherlovelife.Monicawasteasedwhenshewasinhighschoolforbeingoverweight.However,nowahead-chefatatoprestaurantinManhattan,shehaslostallherexcessiveweight,andjustwantstostartafamilywith‘therightguy’tocompleteahappylife.

RossGellar-olderBrotherofMonica,hehasalwayshadstronglovefeelingsforRachel.Asuccessfulprofessorofscienceleadshimtobeoftenteasedbytheother5friendsabouthisprofession.Rosshasexperiencedmanymisfortunesinlife,including3divorcesandbringingupachildwithhislesbianex-wife.Rossnowisdevotedtofindingagirltosettledownwith,withoutadivorce,andmakesithispersonalgoaltosharehappinesswithRachel.

ChandlerBing-afinancialsecuredataprocessor,whoreliesonhumorasadefensemechanism.Despitebeingrich,theother5havenoideawhathisprofessionis,andChandlerisawimpy,averagelookingcigaretteaddict,whohasneverhadaseriousrelationship.Willheevergetit,andisshejustroundthecornerfromhim?

JoeyTribiani-Despitebeingclosetoallthefriends,heisespeciallyopenwithChandler,whohisalsohisroommate.Joeyisasmalltimeactor,whodesperatelywantsfameandfortune,andChandlerhashighhopesofJoey,sohelpsJoeywithmoneyforactinglessonsandprofessionalphotographs.Despitebeingarelativelybadactor,Joeyisanadorable,sensitiveguy,whoisverysuccessfulwithwomen,butneedstobecomefamousandrichtocompletehissuccessfullife.

1.1.2StorylinesandFormat

Thefirstseasonintroducesthesixmaincharacters:

RachelGreen,MonicaGeller,PhoebeBuffay,JoeyTribbiani,ChandlerBingandRossGeller.Rachel,wholeftherfiancéatthealtaronherweddingday,hascometoNewYorkandendsuplivingwithMonica.Atfirstsheworksasawaitressinacafe,latershegetsajobinBloomingdatefinally.ItestablishesearlyonintheseasonthatRosshasbeeninfatuatedwithRachelsincethetwocharactersattendedhighschool.Severalepisodesrevolvearoundhisattemptstotellherhowhefeels.ThenRachelfindssheloveshim,too.ButbecauseRachel’sself-willedandRoss’sparsimonious,theyareonandoff,forovertenyears.Joey,astrugglingactor,getsapartinafictionalizedversionofthesoapoperaDaysofourLivesinthesecondseason,buthelosesthepartsoonafterwhenheangersthewritersbysayinginaninterviewthathewritesmanyofhisownlines.Richard,afriendofMonicaandRoss’parentswhoisrecentlydivorcedandwithgrownchildren,is21yearsolderthanMonicabutdespitethistheydateforthesecondhalfoftheseason.Intheseasonfinale,theyendtherelationshipwhentheyrealizethathedoesnotwantanymorechildrenandshedoes.

Phoebe,establishedashavingnofamilyexceptforanidenticaltwinsister,becomesacquaintedwithherhalf-brotherandinthefinalediscoversherbirthmothersheneverknewshehad.Shebecomesasurrogatemothertothechildrenofherbrotherandhiswife.RossbeginsdatinganEnglishwomancalledEmilyanddeterminestogetmarried.Rachelattendstheweddingatthelastminute,intendingtotellRossthatshestillloveshim,butdecidesnotto.ThingsarethrownintochaoswhenRossreplacesEmily’snamewithRachel’swhilesayinghisvows.Thentheygotdivorced.

PhoebestartsarelationshipwithGary,apoliceofficershemeetsafterfindinghisbadge.AlthoughleeryofmovinginwithGary,she