从迪士尼动画花木兰看中西文化差异

从迪士尼动画花木兰看中西文化差异内容摘要：

and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation” (Richards et al. 117). Lado referred to culture as “the way of a people‟s life” (Ding 2020。 cited in Lado 79). This view incorporates both “material” manifestations of culture that are easily seen and “nonmaterial” ones that are more difficult to observe. It could be argued that culture never remains static, but is constantly changing. In this light, Robison posits a symbolic one which sees culture as a dynamic system of symbols and meanings whereby “past experience influences meaning, which in turn affects future experience, which in turn affects subsequent meaning, and so on” (Ding 2020。 cited in Robinson 45). Culture is an extremely plex concept and an enormous subject. However plex it is, it can be roughly classified into three categories in scope (1) material culture which refers to all the products of manufacture, (2) institutional culture which refers to social system, religious system, ritual system, education system and kinship system, etc. (3) mental culture which refers to people‟s mentalities and behaviors, Chinese and American Cultural Differences Seen from the Disney Movie Mulan 第 8 页 共 13 页 their beliefs, perceptions, concept of value, thought patterns, etc. B. The relationship between culture and film “Film, radio, music recording, and television have all contributed to the breakdown of regional, religious, ethnic, racial, and class barriers. By providing the country with a shared popular culture—the content that fills leisure hours—they have blurred lines that were clearly drawn before the twentieth century” (Mei 2020。 cited in Kutler1996). The invention of motion pictures was the first important twentiethcentury advance in popular culture. Because of its own special features, movie has been attracting people‟s attention since the date of its birth. In the twentyfirst century, it has bee a main means of intercultural munication. The rapid development of photography, digitalization, sound recording and puteraided designs has helped make movies more enjoyable and magnificent. In the process of globalization and intercultural exchanges, movies play a very important role in helping a certain culture to perate deeply and practically into every part of our life and into every part of the world. Film has many advantages in spreading different culture values in intercultural munication. It is an ideal cultural vehicle with visual symbol. Audiences can enrich their knowledge of other countries‟ surface and deeprooted culture such as life style, beliefs, social values, ethical values and so on. IV. Comparative Analysis of Chinese and American Cultural Differences Reflected from the Disney Movie Mulan A. Tradition vs. freedom In Chinese history, Confucian culture has an important influence on people‟s thought and behavior. In feudal society, Confusion constrains the women to obey and be controlled by men. At the same time, the feudal and patriarchal system takes out women‟s positions in social politics and family. In such social context, society and women themselves form the traditional morality of female. The first sentence “Mulan is weaving cloth of topmost class” in The Mulan Ballad (Wang 273) just shows people a traditional image of woman. As women, from the traditional point of view, what they can do in daily life is only to run their houses and be good wives and mothers, staying at houses and caring for their husbands. In Chinese and American Cultural Differences Seen from the Disney Movie Mulan 第 9 页 共 13 页 feudal society, as a Chinese saying goes like this: women‟s virtue lies in their inpetence, so being lack of education, they are nothing to do with the country affair. “Sang Cong Si De” (the three obedience and the four virtues) which is the core of the traditional morality of women, is the basic moral demand for women. What are the three kinds of obedience? The answer is as follows: when the girl is younger, and still not marry, she should obey her father。 when she is married, she should obey her husband。 when her husband is died, she should obey her son. What are the four kinds of virtue? It is women‟s virtue, women‟s figures, women‟s speech and women‟s labor. “The content of three obedience is about the rule of women‟s positions in family and society. According to the rule of women‟s positions, any female from her born to die must obey male no matter any condition of that male. The four virtues regulate what women should do under the principle of the three obedience” (Zhao 35). According to this, the feudal society defines the female as gentle, weak and obedient。 it requires the woman be subordinate to the man。 it believes that a woman sacrifices herself to the advantage of a man。 and it asks the woman to depend on the man. Hua Mulan is a splendent woman character in China‟s history, but she cannot break the life bandage of traditional culture to woman. In The Mulan Ballad, the first thing Mulan did after returning home was to put on her colorful dress and makeup, resuming her girlhood, which shows that Chinese traditions for women are still deeply rooted in Mulan‟s mind, though truly she has successfully done man‟s job, challenging some traditions at that time. However, in the Disney movie, Mulan is presented as an outsider of the society. This is revealed first when her father was terribly worried about her future and prayed to the ancestors for luck. When Mulan first appeared, she was trying to recite the social morals, which was apparently difficult for her. In the first episode when she was arranged to meet a matchmaker, she was unpunctual and this was considered a serious demerit by all others. And the sharp contrast between。