Chinese and American Cultural Differences Seen from the Disney Movie Mulan

从迪士尼动画花木兰看中西文化差异Chinese and American Cultural Differences Seen from the Disney Movie MulanAbstract: Movie, as a form of art, embodying abundant cultural elements, goes beyond pure entertainment and profit. The culture of a nation can be portrayed vividly in its movie. In the year 1998, Chinese popular ballad The Mulan Ballad was shot by American Disney Company as a cartoon Mulan, which gained great success in the world. Although the movie was taken from Chinese ancient story, it was tinted with American culture. Taking American Disney Movie Mulan as an object of research, this paper intends to compare Chinese and American cultural differences from three aspects, tradition vs. freedom, family priority vs. individual priority and gender discrimination vs. feminism. Meanwhile, it is hoped that it may arouse peoples cultural sensitivity and enrich their knowledge of other cultures when they enjoy movies, which would ensure the effectiveness of intercultural communication.Key words: The Mulan Ballad; Disney Mulan; Chinese and American cultural differences摘要: 电影，作为一种艺术形式，并不是一种纯娱乐、纯商业的行为，其内包含了丰富的文化内容。一个国家、一个民族的文化都可以在它的电影中得到淋漓尽致的体现。1998年，美国迪士尼公司制作发行动画片木兰，用美国人的眼光审视了这个古老的东方故事，以美国人的文化取向对中国乐府诗木兰辞原有的精神内核进行了文化转移，并在全球赢得票房佳绩。本文以动画片木兰为研究对象，拟从三个角度，即传统与自由，家族至上与个人至上，“男尊女卑”等级思想与女权主义思想等，对比分析电影中体现出来的中美文化差异。同时，试图激发人们欣赏电影时的文化敏感度，增强人们对异文化的认识与了解，从而保障跨文化交际能够有效进行。关键词：木兰辞；迪士尼木兰；中美文化差异ContentsI. Introduction.1 II. Literature Review2A. Hua Mulan in Chinese folk tale .2B. Hua Mulan in The Women Warrior and Disney Movie Mulan.3III. Culture and Film .4A. Definition of culture.4B. The relationship between culture and film.5. Comparative Analysis of Chinese and American Cultural Differences Reflected from the Disney Movie Mulan5A. Tradition vs. freedom .5B. Family priority vs. individual priority7C. Gender discrimination vs. feminism.9. Conclusion.12Works Cited13I. IntroductionWith the development of globalization, intercultural contact is becoming increasingly axiomatic and pervasive; however, the values and behaviors of a particular culture may not be understandable or acceptable in another culture. Taken from the ancient Chinese story, Disney movie Mulan just vividly presents Chinese and American cultural differences through revealing the different cultural values of western and eastern countries.As a famous legendary woman in Chinese history, Hua Mulan was portrayed in a variety of genres such as folk songs, dramas and novels by Chinese scholars in different times. They rooted in Chinese Confucian culture and molded the figure with “Loyalty and Filial Piety” as basis. In addition, these scholars also showed the distinctive cultural appearances of their times. To this day, Maxine Hong Kingston, an American nationality person of Chinese descent writer created The Women Warrior in which she added a multitude of Chinese and western cultural components to the traditional verse of The Mulan Ballad and revealed us a figure of strong character and a woman who was brave to pursue individual freedom. In 1998, a Disney animated film Mulan attracted attention from all over the world, wining not only a list of awards and nominations, but also huge economic rewards. Disney fashioned the girl from the 2000-year-old Chinese folktale, full of typical Disney delightsbreathtaking visuals, catchy songs and an inspirational protagonist of courage and conviction. This movie examined the oriental story with the eye of American and carried out cultural shifts toward the original spiritual core of The Mulan Ballad with their American cultural orientation. Based upon different cultural values, the original story of Mulan in China emphasized her absolute filial piety and loyalty while Disney had changed the story of filial piety into a story of self-realization. This paper intends to take American Disney Movie Mulan as an object of research, revealing some different cultural values possessed by Chinese and American people that are reflected in the movie, which may help people better understand some adaptations of Chinese traditional culture in Mulan. Meanwhile, it is hoped that it may arouse peoples cultural sensitivity and enrich their knowledge of other cultures when they enjoy movies, which would ensure the effectiveness of intercultural communication. II. Literature ReviewA. Hua Mulan in Chinese folk taleThe story of Mulan is told in a ballad now called MuLan Shi or MuLan poem. It was first recorded in Gujin Yuelu(Music Record Old and New), written by Zhi Jiang of the Chen Dynasty in approximately 568A.D. The text of this poem The Mulan Ballad available to most readers today comes from the anthology Yuefu Shiji (Collection of MusicBureau Poems), compiled by Guo Maoqian during the twelfth century in the Song Dynasty. According to the ballad, having no elder brother, Hua Mulan enlisted the emperors army, taking her aged fathers place under male disguise, fighting bravely as a skilled soldier, and finally she became a general. When the war was over, she refused to accept the official rank and treasure offered to her and returned home. Putting on her colorful dress and make-up, she resumed her girlhood, and thereafter Mulan lived obediently with her parents and took good care of them.Although Hua Mulan does mens job, her image is still a favorable womans image. She is the elder child in her family, and knows to share her parents burden when she is young. Far from achieving self-realization, her joining in the army in mans disguise is an effort to take her responsibility in her family and to show her loyalty to the emperor. Wang (2006) thinks that Mulan is not ambitious, does not pursue fame and wealth, and after successfully accomplishing her task, she again becomes an obedient, young lady faithfully performing her domestic duty. She is an image of Confucian patriotic and filial daughter (34).The dramatic work Ci Mulan Tifu Congjun (Female Mulan Took Her Fathers Place in the Army) by a Ming writer Xu Wei(1521-1593) presented a reading of the Mulan legend different from the ballad. Xu was the first to give Mulan the surname “Hua”. With a newly invented plot dramatizing Mulans military achievements, Xus play enhances the appeal of the woman as a skillful fighter. “Xu seeks to makes a case for the Chinese tradition of female heroism that a woman could be an entity of both strength and wisdom” (Tan 67). The plot of Xu Weis play was later utilized by the Qing novelist Zhang Shaoxian in his Bei Wei Qishi Guixiao Liezhuan (The Legendary Story of a Filial and Heroic Girl from the Northern Wei). Zhang aimed at inspiring the virtues of loyalty and filial piety. Zhao (2001) thinks that the significant invention in Zhangs novel is Mulans sacrifice of her marriage for the cause of the emperor. Zhangs addition of Mulans self-sacrifice in individual happiness to her story carries her image forward to the extreme conformity with loyalty and filial piety (25). B. Hua Mulan in The Women Warrior and Disney Movie Mulan“Maxine Hong Kingston, who is believed to be the first writer who adapts Chinese myth and folklores in Chinese American literature, employs the motif Hua Mulan in her work The Woman Warrior: Memories of a Girlhood among Ghosts, in which the adaptation of the image of Hua Mulan is impressive and controversial.” (Yang 2008; cited in Leslie .W. 58).In The Woman Warrior, Kingston reproduced the story of Hua Mulan by means of combining the different Chinese stories with American reality. She fancied that Mulan was a woman warrior called “the Swordswoman”. When she was seven years old, she joined an old couple in the mountains to have her physical training. Then she became a warrior and during the battle she met her finance and gave birth to a baby in the barrack. After she killed the local tyrants and set free the imprisoned women, she knelt at her parents-in-laws feet, promising to do farm work and housework. Kingstons version of Hua Mulan is equivalent in frame with the original, but different in connotation. The Swordswoman is an image of “modern feminist, who wants to take revenge, to lead revolution and to make contributions” (Kinston 40).In 1998, Chinese popular ballad The Mulan Ballad was shot by Walt Disney Company as a cartoon “Mulan”, which was tinted with American culture. Disney portrayed Mulan as an image of pursing freedom, objecting to feudal society making attempts at self-expression. “Traditional Chinese feel a lifelong obligation to their family, ideally exemplified by an unreserved devotion to please them in every possible way. Their country and family loyalty take priority over personal goals while Americans value individualism and equality in a family” (B. Strauss 95). Here the influence of Chinese traditional loyalty and filial piety diminished, the movie stressed more on Mulans attempts at self-realization, which perhaps represented the western peoples understanding of Hua Mulans story. The plot that Mulan finally fulfilled her dream stands for the victory of seeking equal rights for both sexes. It is worth mentioning the love story in the movie, where Mulan became the paragon of freedom to love. Compared with Chinese works, it can be seen that western people pay more stress on self-happiness while Chinese people advocate loyalty and filial piety. The story of Hua Mulan is a household tale in China. The similarity of Chinese editions of Hua Mulan in different times is that they all preserve her integrity as an obedient daughter and loyal subject. Oppressed by sexism from Chinese culture and racism in American society, Kingston modified the image of Hua Mulan by endowing her with strength and power. Disney movie Mulan shows American culture through adding details of American thought based on the traditional Mulans story. In a word, no matter what and how people in different countries portray the image of Hua Mulan in their works, they all develop and maintain their unique cultures. The real significance of these works is to let people realize the cultural exchange in the multicultural world.III. Culture and FilmA. Definition of cultureIn fact, culture is really a large concept, very complex and difficult to define. “ It is said there have been at least over 250 definitions of culture, but none of them seems to be able to tell us everything about culture” (Xu 40). The following definitions are just some of the well-known ones. “Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors 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 peoples life” (Ding 2004; cited in Lado 79). This view incorporates both “material” manifestations of culture that are easily seen and “non-material” 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 2004; cited in Robinson 45).Culture is an extremely complex concept and an enormous subject. However complex 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 peoples mentalities and behaviors, 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 culturethe content that fills leisure hoursthey have blurred lines that were clearly drawn before the twentieth century” (Mei 2002; cited in Kutler1996). The invention of motion pictures was the first important twentieth-century advance in popular culture. Because of its own special features, movie has been attracting peoples attention since the date of its birth. In the twenty-first century, it has become a main means of intercultural communication. The rapid development of photography, digitalization, sound recording and computer-aided 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 penetrate 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 communication. It is an ideal cultural vehicle with visual symbol. Audiences can enrich their knowledge of other countries surface and deep-rooted 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 MulanA. Tradition vs. freedomIn Chinese history, Confucian culture has an important influence on peoples 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 womens 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 feudal society, as a Chinese saying goes like this: womens virtue lies in their incompetence, 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 womens virtue, womens figures, womens speech and womens labor. “The content of three obedience is about the rule of womens positions in family and society. According to the rule of womens 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 Chinas 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 make-up, resuming her girlhood, which shows that Chinese traditions for women are still deeply rooted in Mulans mind, though truly she has successfully done mans 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 the should-be girls at that time makes Mulan different from traditional woman in feudal China. “On the one hand, Mulan was trying to recite the social virtues that she should follow, namely, quiet, demure, graceful, polite, delicate, refined and punctual; on the other hand, she behaved across the line”(Wang 35). Though she was not against these virtues, her “overactive” behavior was far beyond these social rules. From Disney Mulan, it is easy for audiences to find that compared with yoke of the feudal ethical code on women in China, Americans pursue freedom. Historically, the earliest settlers came to the North American continent to establish colonies that were free from the controls that existed in European societies. They wanted to escape the controls, which had a profound effect on shaping the American character. The United States came to be associated in their minds with concept of freedom. As the fundamental law of a state, the Constitution of the United States is the basic instrument of American government and the supreme law of the land. The emphasis on personal freedom is one of the salient features of the Constitution. This shows how important freedom is to Americans, for many of them are the descendants of those who came to America from the background of political or religious suppression and were determined to preserve freedom in the New World. By freedom, Americans mean “the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church or any other organized authority”(Mei 2002; cited in Deng 33) . The respect for the individual freedom has increased the diverse character of the people of the United States and made the essential unity of the American nation grow stronger. Richard C. Schroeder, the former consultant to the U.S. State Department, says, “Stability without freedom is a hollow accomplishment” (Mei 2002; cited in Richard 15). Surely, America is one of the few countries in which individual freedom is enormously observed and at the same time amazing prosperity, as well as stability, is achieved. The movie awards Mulan enough independent rights in the choices of life roads and values and her ignorance of the doctrines of feudal society, which just show Americans emphasis on freedom.B. Family priority vs. individual priorityIn The Mulan Ballad, Mulans motivation for fighting in a battlefield came from her dedication to the family and her determination to protect her aging father. Her sense of commitment pushed her into a position for which she had not expected before. It is her devotion to her family that the poem puts more emphasis on. The emphasis is made stronger when the poem ends with Mulans preference for family life over high official ranking. The heroines valor was rewarded with her family reunion and her relatives warm welcome. The written Mulan heroic tradition started with her love for home and her brave in the battlefield. However, only the emphasis of the poemher dedication to the family and her determination to protect her aging father, was strengthened in the later evolution of the heroic tradition in the process of fitting doctrines of patriarchal feudal society in China. The doctrines of sanggang or the “three cardinal guides”, namely, “monarch guides subject, father guides son, and husband guides wife” are worth mentioning among these doctrines. “This doctrine, functioned as