外语专业从电影《喜宴》看中西婚姻 观的差异大学本科毕业论文.docx

1、外语专业从电影喜宴看中西婚姻 观的差异大学本科毕业论文太原科技大学毕 业 设 计（论 文）设计(论文)题目：从电影喜宴看中西婚姻观的差异Different Marital Views Between China and the West Reflected in Film XiYan姓 名_ _张帆_学院（系）_外国语学院_专 业_英语_年 级_大学四年级_指导教师_李丽丽老师_2015年 5 月 1 日Different Marital Views Between China and the West Reflected in Film XiYanZhangFanA thesis submi

2、tted to school of Foreign Language in partial fulfillment of the requirementfor the degree of Bachelor of ArtsUnder the supervision ofLecturer LiLiliTaiyuan University of Science and TechnologyJune 2015AcknowledgementsForemost among those to whom I remain deeply indebted is my supervisor, Lilili, wi

3、thout whose inspiring instructions, kind support and constant encouragement this paper would have been impossible. I thank her for her respectable strict attitude towards study, which deeply impressed me during the supervision of this paper and will go on influencing me in my future study, work and

4、life. I especially appreciate her assistance in my selection of the topic of the thesis, sorting of thoughts, searching for references and revising my thesis.I thank the teachers in the Foreign Languages Department for their instruction and devotion, which made my staying here fruitful and rewarding

5、. My thanks also goes to all the authors, editors and contributors of the reference articles, books and websites cited in my thesis, without whose efforts this thesis wouldnt be complete.And at this moment, I want to thank my parents who always provide me encouragement all these years. I am deeply i

6、ndebted to them for their whole-hearted support during my writing this paper.ContentsAbstract摘要1. Introduction2 . Different Marital Views Between China and the West Reflected in XiYan2.1 Different Purpose of Getting Married2.2 Different Relationship between Husband and Wife in Marriage2.3 Different

7、Wedding Ceremony 3. The Factors Contributing to Those Differences 3.1 Values 3.2 Cultural patterns3.3 Individualism versus Collectivism3.4 Religion3.5 Economic Way and Living Environment4 . Inspirations for Cross-cultural Communication 4.1 Understanding Cultural Differences 4.2 Respecting the Differ

8、ence in Custom 4.3 Integrating with Cultural Advantage 5 Conclusion6 References Abstract: The film XiYan was shot by Li An in 1993, describing the Chinese deal with the marital problems with their own view of marriage. Based on the subtitles in the film, this paper compares the different material vi

9、ews between Chinese and the Western people from the perspective of purpose of getting married, the relationship between husband and wife and wedding ceremony and analyzes the factors contributing to the differences, in the hope of offering some suggestions for the effective cross-cultural communicat

10、ion.Key words: XiYan; Marriage; Differences; Reasons; Inspirations摘 要：喜宴是由李安在1993年导演的影片，讲述了中国人用特有的婚姻观念来处理婚姻问题的故事。文章以电影喜宴的字幕及旁白为文本，从结婚目的，夫妻间关系及婚礼仪式几个方面来论述中国与西方在对待婚姻的问题上的不同。并阐述了导致这些差异的原因。希望能够为实现不同文化背景下的有效交流提供借鉴。关键词：喜宴；婚姻观；差异；原因；启示1 IntroductionThe film XiYan is directed by Li An in 1993. Its popular i

11、n that year. In this film, Chinese people view the issue of gay with their unique perspective. Different attitudes to marriage between China and the West are reflected vividly and incisively in this film. There are several characters in this film. They have different opinions about marriage and leav

12、e a deep impression on us. In the film, the heros father is a traditional Chinese man. In his view, his son must choose a girl to get married for the whole family. The leading role is GaoWeitong, he is not only a successful man but also a gay. His boyfriend is Simon, therefore, he always look for ex

13、cuses to push blind date. To traditional Chinese culture, gay is not accepted by people including his parents. That puzzles him. On the one hand, he should shoulder the sons responsibility; On the other hand, he is afraid that his parents couldnt accept the fact. (Liu,1998). In this film, Weitongs l

14、egitimate wife is WeiWei. She has an opposite view to marriage, because she began to learn drawing in America when she was a young girl and influenced by Western culture. She thinks homosexual is normal. Firstly, she can accept homosexual. Whats more, she would like to marry with GaoWeitong for gett

15、ing green card. Simon is a gymnasium coach and gay, who pursues the most simple and pure love in the world. The main content is GaoWeitong want to fend off long-distance nagging from his mother agreed to get married with WeiWei. His parents fly over from Taiwan so that they can attend the wedding. N

16、ot only do they stay in the lovers apartment, but also plan a full-blown wedding banquet to them. Marriage is also calledmatrimonyorwedlock. It is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between lovers. (Ou,2002)It establishes rights and obligations between lovers and their childre

17、n. It means that two lovers who have experienced wind and rain step into marriage hand in hand. Chinese and Western have different attitudes toward marriage. In China, home is regarded as the safe heaven. A warm family is ones pursuit. Most people follow parents suggestions for marriage. However, we

18、stern people think marriage is a personal affair. Marriage is not a moral issue. Whats more, one has the right to choose his/her favorite lover to live together. Once founding the existing marriage is wrong, he/she will choose to leave. In their view, forcing two peopleto live is cruel. In their eye

19、s, love is simple.2 . Differences2.1 Different Purposes of getting marriedIn the film, GaoWeitongs mother said, “ It has been long a time before I wrote to you, because my shoulder is aching. Your dad and I are old. You have grown up. When did you get married? ” From the sentence we can easily see t

20、hat Weitongs mother is looking forward to seeing her son get married and settle down. “ Your dad came to Taiwan alone. He has only one son. Its you. This is a traditional Chinese family. The parents expect to look for a perfect wife for Weitong. In China, marriage is part of family responsibility. I

21、n ancient time, marriage is the bond of two families based on mutual interests. When Gaos parents get off the plane, they asked WeiWei, what do you parents do? Weitong said：“Her father is working in hospital and mother is teaching art in the school”. From this dialogue, its easy to know that Chinese

22、 parents care about girls family status. Therefore, most lovers get married on the material basis, like house, car and deposit. Generally, to man and woman, marriage is just to meet the needs of survival. The purpose of getting married is to look for a reliance in life. With the development of Chine

23、se and Western cultural communication, the purpose of traditional marriage is heavily influenced by the west, people choose lovers for love. However, in the west, love is the root of marriage. In film, Weitong said:“I love Simon. Its not easy for gay to live together. Loving is my happiness. If you

24、dont come, I would live a happy life.” In their opinion, without love, marriage is immoral and it is a low-quality of love. An American woman once said, marriage is not significant and it is just a kind of form. If the love has disappeared, its a stress to them. Therefore, from the investigation, we

25、 can absolutely see that true love is the most important factor for getting married to most Americans. It makes no sense to continue marriage without love. The purpose of marriage reflects the differences between Chinese and western Culture. In the west, love is first. More and more people get marri

26、ed for love. In other words, they would abandon anything for love. To westerners, getting married is to find a long- term partner in the world. They want to look for an opposite sex life partner for a long time so that they can be satisfied in physiological , psychological and social aspect. The ind

27、ividualism is popular in western society. Marriage is just the combination of two individuals. The foundation of marriage is love. Therefore, there is golden and silver wedding. In theiropinion, if they dont love each other, the marriage is immoral and it is a low quality of love. Therefore, the pur

28、suit of true love has became a dream to Americans.2.2 Different Relationship between Husband and Wife in MarriageHusband-wife relationship is the most important in marriage. In China, the husband has the right in the decision while the wife is just in a subordinate position. This structure is decide

29、d by Chinese culture. Husband is the head of family and bears the main economic responsibility of family life. His wifes mission is to manage the housework and serves mother-in law. As is known to us, westerners have quite different opinion from us. They think husband and wife are equal and enjoy th

30、e same right at home. Both of them can work outside .In other words, they shoulder the responsibility together. (Li, 2004).2.2.1 Different RolesIn the film, When GaoWeitongs parents get off the plane, WeiWei carries the bag and said:“Nice to meet you, uncle Gao and aunt Gao. Ill help you.” In film,

31、Gaos mother said:“ Its a good fortune for you to marry WeiWei. She can cook”. From that we can easily find that Weitongs family is a typical Chinese family. Feudal ethics with Confucianism is core of the cultural roots husband-wife relationship in Chinese family. In the film, WeiWei is always cook a

32、nd her mother-in law helps her. We can see that women are in the subordinate status. Most wives still need to depend on their husbands. In home, people always look down on them. They just need woman to take care of children. In the film, WeiWei hope to find a perfect husband like Weitong, who can not only help her pay house rent but also take care of her. To her, she just need to do housework at home. Therefore, we can see that wife and husband play different roles in home.