Chinese and American National Identity as Reflected in. Their TV Programs and Movies

Transcription

1 Title Chinese and American National Identity as Reflected in Their TV Programs and Movies Author name Wei Wen ( 文苇 ) School Guangzhou University Cell phone number address @qq.com

2 Chinese and American National Identity as Reflected in their television programs and movies Abstract The thesis intends to analyze Chinese and American national identities by means of exploring the preferred subject materials among the Chinese and Americans, the dressing style shown on screen, as well as the different attitudes towards the same social issue which is divorce. Meanwhile, rating system between the two countries would be compared in order to provide a more comprehensive outlook in this field. By analyzing the three aspects of discrepancies shown on the screen, major conclusions would be reached that the difference of Chinese and American national identity lies in historical backgrounds, and people s preference to individualism and group consciousness. Keywords national identity; rating system; group consciousness; individualism National identity, according to many scholars, is not only an awareness of difference, but also a feeling that one shares with a group of people regardless of one s citizenship status. Normally, national identity is a criterion that people recognize we and they, therefore, the differences of people s national identity leads to diversified attitudes even towards the same issue. Throughout history, Chinese nation always attaches great importance on group consciousness whereas the Americans value individualism above all principal. Thus, the priority people paid to community or individual shares a sharp difference. What is

3 more, rating systems and censorship vary a lot from China to America. As known, censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information that are harmful, sensitive or political incorrect. However, due to different cultural backgrounds or social system, there is not a universal criterion for harmful, sensitive or political incorrect information. Due to the above reasons, the author would like to make an analysis about the specific differences and their causes. There are three purposes of the thesis: to compare the subject material towards past history and distant future, to discuss dressing towards a conservative style and in an open manner and to explore the diverse attitudes towards the same social issue which is divorce. The author intends to compare the subject material towards past history and the distant future between China and America and draw the conclusion that the preference about subject materials between American and Chinese television programs and movies are caused by historical reasons. By discussing dressing towards a conservative style and in an open manner, not only characters of the two nations, but also the rating systems between two countries will be covered. The author will also try to explore the diverse attitudes towards the same social issue, divorce, to see how attitudes differ in America and China about divorce as shown in television programs. The thesis can, to some extent, prompt understanding between Chinese and Americans and also encourage communication among them. It provides a platform for people to know more about different national identities of Chinese and Americans so that disputes and discrepancies can be reduced. Eventually cultural exchange would

4 be fostered and US-China relations could be enhanced. Firstly, the thesis would make an assumption that the subject materials of Chinese television programs and movies are mostly about past history whereas the American counterparts are mainly about the future. After observation, the author concludes Chinese television programs and movies concerning past history into two categories. The shows are either stories set in the past, telling the audience life of an emperor or an outstanding historical event as shown in The Epic of Xiaozhuang and Yongzheng, the Emperor of Qing Dynasty, or stories about how people from modern society accidentally passed through time into an ancient Chinese dynasty and live a unique life. The dynasties that are most welcomed are Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and Republic of China. However, for the American, there are few programs about history, but mainly about how people join hands to conquer obstacles in the future and survive as heroes, such as movie Interstella. The root of this phenomenon lies in two aspects. First, China is an ancient country with fruitful history and culture. The Chinese Dynastic History Chart shows that China enjoys splendid history from Hsia Dynasty to People s Republic of China, altogether a history of over 5000 years. Each dynasty attracts people by its unique culture, customs and tradition. Therefore, Chinese people shares the obligation to unearth wonderful traditional Chinese culture and history, and spread them to the outside world, which mirrors the Chinese national identity of valuing history. As for the second aspects, the United States is a new-born country with her foundation in 1776, which means the historical resources is not ample enough compared to China.

5 In addition, unlike Chinese people who lived in a harmonious relationship with the nature under peasant economy, America was founded in undeveloped land, where people have to conquer nature to survive and to thrive(chang Hui, 2008: 36). Therefore, they value the ability to create and to make a change by conquering obstacles and defeat obstacles, which shapes their unique national identity. In addition, since the second Industrial Revolution, innovations have been achieved by the America. This nation has always been stressing the power of imagination and creativity, therefore the television programs and movies in America are mostly about how people in the future use their imagination and conquer difficulties and make achievements. These two aspects prove the feasibility that subject materials of Chinese programs are about past history while the American counterparts are about lives in the future. Secondly, the thesis is going to analyze dressing towards a conservative style and in an open manner between Chinese and American people in the second section. For a long time, figures shown on Chinese television programs and movies always wear modest clothes, thus it gives an impression that Chinese people are much more modest than the American. Apart from this, rating systems between China and America should also be taken into account. In this part, the author will select a heated Chinese historical drama the Empress of China to analyze diversified attitudes towards this phenomenon. This historical drama was pulled off from screen after showing too much cleavage, and when it return to the screen, the ample chests that once filled television screens were suddenly nowhere to be seen instead of the

6 actresses heads. As a result, public attention has been aroused from home and abroad. The plunging necklines and tightly squeezed bosoms (Quoted from New York Times) are commonly accepted by the western world, yet it is pulled off because China has very strict standards on public display of nudity. It even aroused Hollywood Reporters greater concern about the display in China of the Game of Thrones by HBO, because the latter one is much more risque than the Empress of China, making its display in China seemingly impossible. Related news from The Independent noted that 7 th century cleavage is too controversial for Chinese TV, demonstrating a touch of irony. The news even quoted a comment from Weibo, a Chinese version of Facebook, written that I really had no idea that 21st-century people could be this conservative. They're not even as open-minded as people from the Tang dynasty one millennium ago. An American website Quartz also quoted words from Weibo that in the future, China's TV and films will completely degenerate to the same level as North Korea's. From the news abroad, we can learn that Americans and the other westerners are much more open-minded in terms of dressing. However, although Chinese people are, to some extent, more modest than the Americans, the quotes from Weibo also illustrate that most Chinese people are modest, but they are not so conservative that cannot accept cleavage. Apart from being more modest, the difference in rating system should not be overlooked. In America, there are seven levels of rating in terms of television programs as well as the VDSL labels. For the seven levels of rating, they are rated for all children, older children, general audience, and they have parental guidance suggested, parents

7 strongly cautioned and mature audience only, from which we can see that age level are categorized cautiously. As for the labels for television contents, they strictly followed the VDSL labels. V for violence; D for suggestive dialogue (usually means talk about sex); S for sexual situations and L for coarse or crude indecent language. However, as for the Chinese rating systems, In China, there is not an explicit, standardized and unified rating system, and the rating standards are almost the same among every program. Therefore, every program is rated under the same criterion. Television programs must not violate laws, restrictions, moral standards and national cultural traditions. The programs must not contain contents that disturb social order and social stability, and protagonists should uphold politically correct stance to the Party. Superstition, heretical beliefs, puppy love pornography and violence are forbidden in the shows. What is more, censors in China are mostly retired leaders of the government or university professors, which in the author s opinion, makes rating systems more subjective instead of objective. From what has been mentioned in the second section, we can draw the conclusion that Chinese people tend to be relatively conservative and tend to wear modest clothes, while in America, people are more open-minded and less strictured by custom and modest. As for the rating systems in the two countries, the rating system in China is not sound enough, therefore, programs either suits all people or it need to be removed from screen because of the violation of one of the regulations. Whereas in America, rating system is relatively sound and, and there are different ratings for people from different age levels.

8 The last analysis is about diverse attitudes towards the same social issue--divorce, and the difference is caused by group consciousness and individualism. The author summarizes two basic rules of family ethic TV shows in China. Principle One is that when there is a couple who wants to divorce, their parents and relatives will drive a long way to come to the couple s house, and they will try to reason to the young couple about how hard it is to raise a child in a single-parent family, especially for women. Principle two is that at the end of all the TV shows, there will always be happy endings. The couple who would like to divorce at first finally understand the importance of unity and harmony of a family, and then follow the advice of their relatives and live happily ever after with his or her spouse. However, in American family ethic dramas, parents and relatives seldom interfere with children s private matters. Single parent raising up children is common, and parents would not reason with children to win back marriage. Group consciousness and individualism are the causes of these differences. For a long time, Chinese people value Confucius Doctrine which stresses group harmony and stability.dong Zhongshu even came up with the idea Grand Unification, where countries are united and stable with its people living together harmoniously. For over 5000 years, group consciousness has deeply rooted in our culture, our history and our mind. As a result, group consciousness is often seen in Chinese family ethic dramas in which couples value family unity and think twice before they divorce, because divorce is an act of disturbing the harmony and unity of a family. Besides that, ancient China had been developing under peasant economy.

9 Under peasant economy, the growth of economy is slow, therefore the gap between the rich and the poor was not as large as that under commodity economy. There was not differentiation among people and the connection between people was stable, which made individuals rely on the community to work and to live. But America under commodity economy is quite the opposite. America value individualism, freedom and democracy. They uphold the principle that every man for himself and God for us all, and everyone is the architect of his own fortune. And this is why in American television programs we seldom see parents interfering in children s personal stuff. The historical reasons can date back to the medieval times, where privatization prevailed. Under privatization, father and son, husband and wife have separate assets which lay the foundation of the independence among people. In modern times, America has been developing under commodity economy, where large gaps between the rich and the poor exists. And So is the population mobility. Therefore, people s dependence on each other became weaker and weaker, shaping a pluralistic country where voices of everybody should not be overlooked. From the third analysis, Chinese people value family unity and completeness and they put emphasis on the community power while the American people attach great importance to their free will, independence and individuality. But there is drawbacks behind stressing group consciousness or individualism too much. For Chinese people, stressing group consciousness too much will suppress the forming of an independent personality, while for the Americans, emphasizing individualism too much will weaken family bonds, or even lead to an impersonal society. Therefore, the key is to

10 keep a balance between the two, and Chinese and Americans can learn from each other and promote cultural communication. To conclude, the thesis mainly analyze three aspects in order to reveal the different national identity as reflected in Chinese and American television programs and movies. By summing up the main points, conclusion can be reached that Chinese nation value traditional culture and history. We are more conservative and modest, and we cherish family unity and harmony. However the United States value creativity and imagination and are less strictured by customs and modest. They are a country where people think highly of freedom and individualism. TV programs and movies, as a kind of cultural carrier, reflects distinct values and ideology towards people from different countries under different cultural backgrounds. And the understanding of the different national identities can help to enhance cross-cultural communication. Reference 1.Anonymous.2014.The Rating System of Chinese TV dramas. 2.Chang Hui.2008.Understanding of Differences of Sino-America National Characters as Seen from Culture Origins[J].Journal of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences(06).p Channychae.2015.Are All Rating Systems the Same in Different Countries?.

11 4.Gou,H.L.2002.Analysis of US-China Characteristic Difference from Cultural Perspective[J].Foreign Language Journal(03).p Wu,F.Z.2003.Analysis of US-China Characteristic Difference from the Perspective of Different Value[J].The Northern Forum(04).p 43-45

12

13