Intercultural Approach To Ang Lee's Films The Family Trilogy

Nowadays, the globalization has become the trend of the world and the relevant studies are drawing more and more attention. As an aspect of it, the study of intercultural communication focuses on conflicts between people of different backgrounds and the proper solutions for these conflicts. With further opening-up policy, the connections between China and other countries are becoming closer. The increasing conflicts of people from different cultural backgrounds call for appropriate communications and naturally more emphasis has been placed on study of intercultural communication. And it is quite beneficial to make exploration and analysis of the differences and conflicts between two cultures in terms of more efficient and harmonious communication.Family is the small unit of society and also where cultures are demonstrated intensively. In my thesis, I am going to analyze the conflicts and problems that are shown in Ang Lee's films The Family Trilogy from an intercultural communication approach. The problems between family members are just the conflicts between cultures. And by the contrastively analysis, I try to explore the tough situation of the characters when they are facing huge cultural and generational differences and how the old generation and their Americanized offspring try to find proper solutions. The Family Trilogy reveals that there may be not a perfect equality between cultures; however, there is great possibility that the two cultures develop from conflicts to fusion with self-adjustment and more mutual understanding between cultures.This thesis consists of four main parts. Chapter One briefly reviews the current research of intercultural communication in China and points out that the minority groups' ways of dealing with cultural conflicts should be given more attention so as to enhance the understanding of our own culture and develop the ability to deal with cultural difference in a more acceptable and natural way. Besides that, serving as the bridge of communication, the importance of films in cultural development is explored. Then, it makes a concisely review of the films The Family Trilogy.Chapter Two analyzes Hall's theory of high-context and low-context and He Minzhi' research result of the structure of culture, which laid the framework of intercultural comparison for my thesis. Basing on his findings, I analyze the differences between two main cultures—Chinese and American cultures which are the representatives of the East and the West. From the outset material level to the deepest ideological level, the two cultures have experienced strong conflicts. The following chapter focuses on seeking the possibility of cultural reconciliation or fusion. The emphasis is placed on the analysis of images of fathers. As the key characters in the films, these images are not only the most powerful one in the family; moreover they are figures representing the traditional cultures. From what fathers get through, we find the great inclusiveness of Chinese traditional cultures and the possible ways of handling cultural conflicts successfully.Accordingly, in Chapter Four, it makes further exploration of cultural fusion from huge conflicts. Each ending of the trilogy demonstrates that conflicts, especially between people with different cultural backgrounds and across the deep generation gap, are inevitable and bound to make more unsolvable problems. However, to some extent, reconciliations or fusions are possible to be realized by eventually creating a bridge between the old and the young, between China and America. The linkage of the blood and mutual understandings will surely transcend all the conflicts and lead people to a harmonious world.After contrastively analyzing the conflicts between the two cultures, we may have the access to several aspects of American culture and also get a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. This process fosters our intercultural communication, and makes us more qualified when confronted with cultural differences.