从《喜宴》看中美婚姻观差异.docx

ContentsChinese Abstract2English Abstract31. Introduction41.1An Introduction to Ang Lee and Xi Yan41.2 Literature Review52. Differences of View of Marriage Between China and America in Xi Yan82.1 Differences of Standard of Choosing a Spouse82.2 Differences of Marriage Purpose92.3 Differences of Wedding Ritual113.Reasons of Different View of Marriage Between China and America123.1 Different Religious Faith123.2 Different Social Environment134. Conclusion15References17从喜宴看中美婚姻观差异摘 要随着跨文化交际的迅速发展，中美双方的文化交流日益密切。在这种背景下，中美双方对婚姻的看法自然也存在着差异，这些差异可能给跨文化交流带来障碍，甚至冲突，在这背景下了解中美婚姻观具有重大意义。本文以李安电影喜宴为例来分析以伟同父母为代表的中国典型式婚姻观和赛门所代表的美国婚姻观。本文从择偶标准，结婚目的以及婚礼仪式这三个方面进行比较分析，并阐述导致这些差异的原因，以便在现流行的跨国婚姻中，做好充分准备，避免中美双方误解和冲突，便于开展更加成功的跨国婚姻，帮助人们形成正确婚姻观。关键字：喜宴； 婚姻观； 文化差异The Differences of View of Marriage Between China and America Reflected in Xi YanAbstractWith the rapid development of cross-cultural communication, cultural exchanges between China and the United States have become increasingly close. Under such circumstance, there are also some different views on marriage between China and the United States. These differences may bring obstacles or even conflicts to cross-cultural exchanges. In this context, it is of great significance to understand the Chinese and American views on marriage. This paper takes Ang Lees film Xi Yan as an example to analyze the typical Chinese marriage concept represented by Gao Weitongs parents and the American marriage concept represented by Simon. This paper makes a comparative analysis from three aspects of spouse selection criteria, marriage purpose and wedding ceremony, and explain the reasons for these differences, so as to make full preparation in the current popular transnational marriage, avoid misunderstanding and conflict between China and American, facilitate more successful transnational marriage, and help people form a correct marriage concept.Key words: Xi Yan；view of marriage; cultural differences1.Introduction1.1 An Introduction to Ang Lee and Xi YanAng Lee was born in Taiwan in 1954 and grew up in a family which had typical traditional ethics. As a result, he was well-acquainted with traditional Chinese culture, which can provide original materials in his films. After graduating from the art school of National Taiwan University in 1975, Ang Lee went to study in the United States alone for further study. At first, he studied at Illinois University and received a bachelors degree in drama. Later, he went to New York University to study film production and got a masters degree in film. Whats more, he also had made many famous films during this period. From the beginning of his university to the creation of films, he combined Chinese culture with western culture to create new works, which laid an crucial position in Hollywood film industry. His films can combine Chinese traditional Confucian humanism and religious aesthetic wisdom, and also combine Chinese plot with western humanistic background, therefore, the works with unique style of Ang Lee are formed. In Ang Lees early work - Xi Yan, it can have a distinctive oriental beauty to frighten western films, consequently, it enables people to feel the charm of Chinas culture and aesthetics, and feel the different cultures and aesthetic characteristics from the western world.There is no doubt that Ang Lee has set up a bridge between eastern and western cultures. As a person growing up in a traditional Chinese family, he not only made Chinese films, such as Pushing Hands, Xi Yan, Eat Drink Man Woman, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dagon, but also made English films such as Sense and Sensibility. At the same time, he also made some commercial films such as Ice Storm, Rriding with the Devil. Among them, his film Xi Yan is enjoyed great reputation by audiences around the world, and has won “best foreign language film”, “Golden Bear Award” and so on. This film is one of the films that director Ang Lee received international attention in his early years. Its a Chinese film made entirely in the Hollywood format, which won unanimous praise after releasing. The film won the Golden Bear Award, The Best Director award, and was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscar. The movie, Xi Yan is about Gao Weitong, a homosexual living in the United States, who lives in Manhattan with his lover Simon, an American man. In order to get rid of his parents who come from Taibei to force him to marry, he decides to marry Gu Weiwei, an illegal immigrant female painter who is worries about not getting a green card. At last, Weiwei is pregnant, which leads to the estrangement and quarrel between Simon and Weitong. One misunderstanding after another arise. Weitongs father realizes the truth because he understands their quarrel. Weitong is hospitalized. Therefore, Weitong tells his mother about his relationship with Simon. The four people decide to hide the truth, but they dont think that the senior father already knows everything and agrees with their relationship. Finally, Weiwei decides to give birth to a child, Simon agreed to be their Godfather. The last scene of the movie is at the airport in the United States. It ends with a picture of Weitongs father holding up their hands, a sign of compromise. The film reflects the collision of traditional wedding etiquette between China and the western world, and the differences between Chinese and western marriage concepts were vividly reflected in Xi Yan.1.2 Literature ReviewDomestic research on the marriage view can be retrospected to the Book of Rites - Marriage Righteousness. The definition of marriage in this book is “the wedding will be the name of good, in a temple, next to the later also” it can be seen that the ancients thought the main purpose of marriage is to serve his parents, and carry on the family lineage. After the reform and opening up, due to the influence of western culture, the marriage concept of China has become quite respectful for women and human rights. Quiet a few scholars began to further explore marriage, in The Change of Marriage View of Contemporary Chinese under the Transition of Western Culture , Han Qinghua (2008) studied the influence of western culture on Chinese marriage concept. He explored the reasons for the change of Chinese marriage concept and pointed out the impact of western thoughts on Chinese traditional marriage concept and values. This helped Chinese women to obtain independent personality, equal right to education, and the right to choose their own marriage, so as to get rid of the old idea that men are superior to women in ancient times. In The Differences between Eastern and Western Contemporary Views on Love and Marriage, Zhang Xiaxia (2014) explained the reasons from the aspects of the virgin complex, the role of children in the family and the attitude towards homosexuality, and concluded that the reasons for the differences were decided by various factors, including cultural differences, economic strength of both sides and educational system. In 1987, Liu Ying and Xue Suzhen (1987) defined marriage in their study as a social relationship characterized by the union of the sexes, as well as a prerequisite for the establishment of the family, embodied in different stages of human history, and based on different foundations. In addition, there are also many researchers doing some research on the contemporary Chinese marriage family status, and contemporary Chinese young peoples views on marriage. The researchers, Wu Jing and Wei Liang (2008) pointed out that young people in China have a view of marriage as follows: they were enthusiastic about the objective of marriage, but in the family marriage life, they only asked for more than they give. Although material conditions were the basis of marriage, they should not be the defining attribute of marriage. In todays society, on the one hand, the majority of the population advocate the concept of love first, but in the face of love, people choose to put the material foundation in the first place. It has become a universal phenomenon in modern world that we can abandon love because of bread.Abroad study of marriage can be traced back to the earliest relevant chapters in the Bible, that god set up marriage in order to have a partner, and then married, finally to breed, the idea is similar with the ancient Chinese Confucian marriage , but, in contrast, it is more democratic and free in the west. From the 18th to the 19th century, it was a male centered society, in which women had low status and no inherited property rights. The center of their life was the family. Therefore, the only shortcut for women to survive was to get married and obtain the safeguard of life. In Pride and Prejudice, famous British novelist Jane Austen pointed out that the social money instead of love was a decisive factor in the marriage. She thought that the marriage view which only values material things was wrong and stupid. A perfect marriage should have both material and love. Such a marriage is happy. This kind of idea of modern marriage still has great realistic significance. Then Harris (1912) studied the factors that influence marriage in the United States and concluded that physical characteristics such as health, longevity and age can influence marriage. In addition, Hollingshead (1950) studied the cultural factors on the marriage partner selection, in which these factors such as religious beliefs and subculture, and social status would determine the role of a person in the marriage at that time. In their translation of Changing Family - Cross-Cultural Perspective, Song Jian and Li Ru (1998) put forward that Hertel do some research about marriage changes in the process of social change and it also has certain reference significance to our country. However, foreign studies on marriage will be rather mixed. First of all, they did not analyze the contemporary view of marriage through the traditional view of marriage. Secondly, without the western spiritual pillar Bible as the source of theory, it would seem empty. Therefore, especially for the Americans who are deeply influenced by the Bible, it needs to combine the knowledge of the Bible to understand the concept of American marriage. The film Xi Yan was shot by director Ang Lee in 1993, this movie describes the story of Chinese people dealing with marital problems with a unique view of marriage. At present, the study of Xi Yan is becoming more and more popular. Both domestic and foreign scholars viewpoints and ideas have certain significance for the study of contemporary Chinese and American Marriage Views. In translation of Understanding Ang Lee, Huang Xingwen (2012) describes Ang Lees experience, background and main films, and analyzes Ang Lees views on traditional Chinese culture, including globalization, homosexuality and marriage. To some extent, the domestic research on Xi Yan also is abundant . The scholars mostly study Xi Yan from the following two perspectives. The first aspect is the study of homosexuality in marriage view, which is also the hottest topic among scholars. In The Cultural Differences of Love and Marriage between China and the West from the Movie Xi Yan, Bai Jing (2017) analyzes the differences between Chinese and western love and marriage culture in sexual culture and attitudes towards homosexuality. She points out that homosexuality is not recognized in Chinese marriage view, for open American society, the different sexual orientation of homosexuality is more acceptable. In The Collision and Integration of Chinese and Western Cultures from the Movie Xi Yan, Xin Yan (2013) explores that Chinese people deal with homosexuality with unique ethical concepts from the three aspects of culture, culture collision and cultural blending. The second aspect of studying Xi Yan is to interpret Ang Lees films from the perspective of cultural differences between China and the West. These scholars believe that the director Ang Lee can grasp the essence of the cultural differences between China and the west and find solutions, On the Differences Between Chinese and Western Cultures in Xi Yan, Hou Wenjing (2014) points out the differences between Chinese and western cultures in filial piety, family values, face problems and marriage. Through comparative analysis of the differences between them, we can explore suitable ways of cultural exchange, so as to achieve the goal of cultural exchanges between China and western countries.1.3 An Overview of This Thesis This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is to introduce the relevant information of Ang Lee, the film Xi Yan and its status. The second part discusses different views on marriage reflected in the film between China and the United States. The first section elaborates on the differences between Chinese and American views on marriage in terms of standard of choosing a spouse, the second section discusses the differences of marriage purposes, and the third section discusses the differences of wedding ritual. The third part summarizes the reasons for the differences between Chinese and American views on marriage, which is mainly influenced by social environment and religious faith. The fourth part is the summary part, which mainly summarizes the research results and meanings.2. Differences of View of Marriage Between China and America in Xi Yan2.1 Differences of Standard of Choosing a SpouseAt the first place, the differences between Chinese and American views of marriage are reflected in the choice of spouses. More than two thousand years of feudal history makes the feudal traditional marriage concept deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the methods of choosing their mates are well reflected, and “the order of parents and the words of matchmakers ” is a way to choose a spouse that has been inherited for a long time. This way emphasizes that both parties in a marriage should match their families. Marriage is no longer a matter of one person, but of one family or even one clan. In Xi Yan, Weitongs father saw the future daughter-in-law- Gu Weiwei, and he asked in detail about Weiweis parents profession and family members. It is obvious that Chinese people will involuntarily regard the identity and status of the other party as a prerequisite in choosing a spouse, which means that they regard marriage as business. However, after the reform and opening up, with the continuous development of society and the deepening of foreign exchange, there are also some changes in the way young people choose their spouse. Many people choose their spouse through free love. However, if the sons are of marriageable age and have not found a partner, parents would introduce each other on a blind date to choose the ideal partner. At the beginn