Rational Compromise For Cultural Conflicts

Kingdom of Heaven is an epic film directed by Ridley Scott in 2005.Set in the context of the Crusades,the film tells us the story that Balian grows from a blacksmith to a knight,and to a hero of defending the people of Jerusalem from Saladin.Since the film was first released,it has been criticized by many people with mixed reviews.In the current postmodern society,cultural diversity is one of the outstanding characteristics.Different cultures maintain the status of their own cultural subjectivity and there are lack of effective communication and exchange between cultures,which lead to continuous cultural conflicts.Through the artistic presentation of historical events,the film alludes to the cultural crisis and cultural conflicts of the current society,and attempts to explore solutions to cultural conflicts.From the perspective of Habermas’ theory of communicative action,this thesis argues that,in the film,rational compromise is the optimal solution to cultural conflicts.The thesis consists of three parts.The first part mainly includes a brief introduction to Kingdom of Heaven and reasons for choosing this topic,literature review,the theoretical foundation,the significance of the research,and the structure of the thesis.The second part is the body part,which is divided into three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the conflicts between Christians and Muslims in terms of power,wealth,and values to reveal their insistence on the uniqueness of the religion,which leads to the emergence of cultural crisis.The second chapter mainly analyzes the failure of confrontational solutions.Through the example of the antagonists Raynald robbing the Saracen caravans,Guy’s desire for power and war,and the protagonist Balian’s killing of the priest,confrontational solutions are doomed to fail.The third chapter discusses the possibility of rational compromise.Through the adjustment of the protagonist Balian’s way of thinking,Baldwin IV’s peaceful governance in Jerusalem,and Saladin’s concessions to the recovery of Jerusalem,finally Balian and Saladin communicate rationally through dialogue and reach a rational compromise,which shows the possibility of rational compromise in dealing with cultural conflicts.The third part is the concluding part,briefly summarizing the body part and concluding that violence is not the way to solve cultural conflicts.It’s proper to find a harmonious way that is to communicate rationally between subjects,communicating and negotiating with each other on a certain matter.In the end,mutual understanding is reached,so that the conflict may be eased.