Nurul CAPS Blog #2: Interpretive Approach

Every nation has its own culture and identity. Culture does not have a definite definition as it is very subjective and the meaning of culture changes depending on the nation and regional context. "Mao’s Last Dancer" is a tense movie about cultural conflicts and dilemmas faced by a Chinese who is learning ballet in America. By using interpretive approach, a researcher could collect information through observation. The goal of interpretive research is to understand and describe human behavior (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 59). From the interpretive perspective, there are three clear cultural patterns could be identified in this movie; cultural conflicts, lifestyles, and life disciplines. 

"Mao's Last Dancer" is based on a true story.

China government and communism ideology.

"Mao’s Last Dancer" is a true story about a poor boy named Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer who is facing various dilemmas due to his culture and his government ideology, communism. Li comes from a poor peasant family and he has seven siblings, which is considered as a big family by most Western people. Li is very lucky as he is chosen by China government to learn classical ballet in Beijing. At first, Li dislikes for being in art academy and he is always scolded by his instructor, Teacher Gao for being so weak. At night, he cries at dormitory. One of the communist officers at the dormitory warns him and says, “Crying is a sign of weakness. You will be sent for detention if you continue crying and being weak” (Beresford, 2009). Cultural conflict arises when communist leader wants to put revolutionary elements into ballet. Teacher Chan disagrees with this idea as it opposes the softness and originality of ballet art. Revolution and ballet can’t be together at once. At the end, Teacher Chan is arrested by the government since he is a counter –revolutionary. Another example of cultural conflict in this movie is when the communist officers refuse to send Li to America because he does not politically ready to resist capitalism. 

Li does not understand why he is chosen to learn ballet.

Students are trained to do ballet so that China government could spread the communism ideology through it.

Another cultural pattern could be seen in "Mao's Last Dancer" is lifestyle. Two different lifestyles, Chinese and Western lifestyles are well portrayed in this movie. Li never eat muffin for breakfast when he was in his country, China. He and his whole family only eat tapioca every day. When Bobby asks him to eat muffin, he says, "Horse?" (Beresford, 2009). America is a land of liberty and people have freedom of speech unlike in China. Li tells Bobby that he really admires China's president at that time, Chairman Mao. He is very shocked whenever Bobby says he dislikes the president of America. Bobby says, "This is America, Li" (Beresford, 2009). One of the "Mao's Last Dancer" themes is the importance of freedom. It illustrates what we can sometimes be asked to sacrifice to attain it and why we should not easily give it up-especially not in the name of security (Trueax, 2012).

The third cultural pattern could be seen in this movie is life discipline. Students in China learn about communism at school. The main intention of China government is to demolish class distinction. One of the students asks the communist officers, "Which country has the lowest?" They answers, " Capitalist and imperialist nations" (Beresford, 2009). Consulate-general of the people of Republic of China in America once advises Li to live according to communist principle. America is totally opposite of China. A lot of fun things can be explored in America. Americans can do whatever they want to do without being afraid of government. After several months, Li could adapt to American's lifestyles quite well and he even falls in love with an American girl, Elizabeth. For Li, who was taken from his isolated village as a child and has spent his entire life training to be both a dancer and a communist, it isn't until he finds love that he discovers that the West has too much on offer to resist (Morris, 2012). However, China government did not allow Li to live under Western influence anymore since he is still young. 

Li with his American girlfriend, Elizabeth.

They get married in America without China government permission.

Li faces a lot of difficulties in his life because he lives in two different cultures at the same time. He experiences bounded versus dominant identities where he needs to adjust his life according to the norm set by Americans but at the same time, he has to preserve his culture and identity as a Chinese and spread the ideology of communism. According to Martin and Nakayama, Li may generate attitudes and behaviors consistent with a natural internal struggle to develop a strong sense of group identity and self-identity (2012, p. 187).

"Mao's Last Dancer" trailer. This is the best movie ever. My favorite quotation from Li, "My father has 50 dollar one year, you spend 500 one day" (Beresford, 2009).

References

Beresford, B. (Director). (2009). Mao's Last Dancer [Motion picture]. Australia: Samuel Goldwyn Films and ATO Pictures.

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Morris, A. (2012). Mao's Last Dancer [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.webwombat.com.au/entertainment/movies/maos-last-dancer.htm

Trueax, R. (2012, Jan 08). Mao's Last Dancer [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://rainydaythought.blogspot.com/2012/01/maos-last-dancer.html

Stiens Caps #2

How often does culture affect us? In day to day activity we do not really pay attention to culture but if we stop to think about it culture is what shapes us as people. It changes our style, actions, and personality. We go through day to day activities not realizing the culture around us. But what would happen if we were submersed in another culture? We would definitely notice a change. We would notice those differences of style, actions, and personality. If submersed in it long enough we may learn to love it or on the other hand we may become a little homesick and miss the culture we were raised in.

This is exactly what happens in the movie Lost in Translation. The two main characters are both living kind of as lost souls in Japan. Bob, a famous actor, is flown over to Japan to shoot a new commercial for a new brand of whisky and Charlotte, a recent Harvard grad, has gone to Japan with her recently wed husband who is in Japan shooting photography. Neither Bob nor Charlotte sleep well at night and they often run into each other down at the hotel bar. The two befriend each other and find comfort in having someone they can relate to.

Since the setting of this movie is in another country there are many different cultural patterns shown throughout the movie. Right off the bat one of the first things I noticed is the language difference. This difference comes up many times throughout the movie. One of the main characters, Bob, specifically has a hard time with it. For example, in one scene of the movie Bob is shooting the new commercial for whisky. The director speaks Japanese and Bob must have a translator. Bob has a hard time figuring out what the director is asking of him. It often seemed like the director was angry and asking a lot of Bob but when the translator translated what he was saying he was only asking for small changes and was just being enthusiastic. We learn in this scene that Japanese is a much more complex and intense language.

Below is a clip from the movie where Bob is literally lost in translation.

Another example of a cultural difference I noticed was age. Bob was an older man who had a wife and children back home in the United States while Charlotte was a young woman who had just graduated from college and had just gotten married. We see this difference in age have an effect in the scene where Bob and Charlotte are lying in bed. Charlotte is telling Bob how she is lost with her life. She doesn’t know what to do. She said she tried went through a photography phase like every girl does at some point and she tried writing but she didn’t like anything she wrote. Bob gave her advice. He basically said keep writing. Keep doing the things you enjoy. You’ll figure it out eventually.

A third example of a cultural difference in the movie that I noticed was race. The people of Japan have a similar look. They are all a little bit shorter, have dark hair color and have a fair almost porcelain skin tone. An instance in the movie where race is pointed out is early in the movie when Bob and Charlotte are both in the elevator along with quite a few other Japanese people. This is the first time Bob notices Charlotte because he could tell she was of the same race as him. Bob even later on in the movie makes a reference to how he noticed Charlotte the first time by saying something about how she “didn’t exactly blend in on the elevator”.

The interpretive perspective to intercultural communications allows us to observe how people act in their own environments. It allows us to see exactly how people of the same cultural identities influence each other and it allows us to establish our own opinions about a certain cultural identity. However, since the interpretive approach is based on observation, it does not allow us to dig deeper into the meaning behind such cultural aspects. People can sometimes have tunnel vision and see the things they want to see. This approach does not allow us to establish one main conclusion. Instead we develop many different possible conclusions which can have both positive and negative aspects.

Coppola, S. (Director). (2003). Lost in Translation [Motion Picture].

Schwarting -- Caps #2

Do you believe that someday, there might be one universal language?  A combination of all the languages already established.  As a business major, I am always thinking about the global market. The world is shrinking each day as it is made easier to travel.  We are coming into contact with other cultures a lot more regular then we are used to.  When being in contact with other cultures, things like proxemics, cross-cultural training, conversational restraints, etc. come into play.  Cultural researchers study theses findings in three different approaches: the social science, interpretive, and critical approach (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p.80). I acted as an interpretive researcher while watching the movies, The Terminal.

While watching The Terminal, the character Victor Navorski is put to the test when he is trapped in an airport for nine months until the United States recognizes his country.  Victor is a European man from Krakozhia.  These cultural traits identify him as a person throughout the movie.  Victor cannot speak any English when he first starts off in the movie.  The US officials used the communication accommodation theory when they used non-verbal “sign language” to explain to him why he could not enter America.  When he tries to use his calling card to make a call back home, no one will help him because they are not interested in helping out a foreign man who cannot speak English.  One character suspects him of being a CIA spy because he was a foreigner that did not fit in to their culture.  Being from Krakozhia, a very small made up country next to Russia, the US officials needed his help once.  He felt a sense of belonging when he had to speak to a man from Russia who was having a meltdown because the US officials were going to take his pills away that he needed to give his dying father.  Since Victor was a European and could help him, it was the first time he got a little taste of his own culture.  Since Victor was a man, he also go treated a little differently then a woman would have.  The U.S. people’s perception of him was different then had he been a woman.  They would of helped out a woman and not left her to fend for herself like they did for a man.  Lastly, being from such a small country like Krakozhia, he was all alone in this culture.  In the beginning, his intercultural competence was close to none. In the end though, through acculturation, Victor and the employees that worked in the terminal understood each other and grew to love each other. 

  

Understanding culture is an important part of communication.  We all communicate in different ways and understanding one another is key.  I think it is very important to identify different communication styles of different culture in order to not offend anyone and understand the way they do things.  If you can understand how people operate then you can work with them a lot better.  Knowledge is power!

 Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural communication in contexts (5th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

Niccol, A. N. (Writer), & Gervasi, S. G. (Writer) (2004). The terminal [DVD].

Erikson: CAPS Blog 2

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            When I read the prompt for this blog I was excited for two reasons.  First of all, I love comparing different cultures and their differences.  Second of all, I was so excited to watch “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” again!  When I watched this film for the 100^th time today I saw it in a completely different light.  This time I was able to sit back and really dissect and realize the cultural differences that fill this movie.   When looking at the interpretive approach it is easy to see a myriad of different examples throughout “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”  According to Martin and Nakayama, 2012, the main goal of the interpretive approach uses qualitative data through field studies, observations, and interviews to understand human behavior. 

            This comedic film is about Ian (John Corbett) and Toula (Nia Vardalos) who fall in love, but they have completely opposite cultural backgrounds.  Toula’s family is extremely large, Greek, and family oriented where Ian comes from a family on a much smaller scale.  Ian proposes to Toula, which is where he begins the battle to gain acceptance from Toula’s family.   He breaks through multiple cultural patterns by trying to prove and adapt to religion, family, and language with the movie concluding in a happily ever after story where both families respect, understand, and appreciate one another’s cultural differences.

            Before Ian proposes to Toula he is faced with is a cultural pattern that is very different from his, which are Toula’s family and their cultural background and traditions.  On one of their first dates Toula compares the two families by saying that he is a vegetarian, only child with two cousins, where she has twenty-seven first cousins alone.  She emphasizes the fact that no one in her family has ever dated or married a non-Greek and tells of their loud, lamb eating, Greek breeding family.  She expressed in great detail that she doesn’t think it will work out between them because of these differences, but Ian had no intention of stopping anything because of his love for Toula. 

            After meeting Toula’s family Ian was faced with the cultural pattern of religion.  Toula came from an extremely Greek background; therefore, when she told her father, Gus, about her plans to marry Ian he was extremely hurt, upset, and angry that Toula would do that to her family.  To better this situation and an attempt to fit in with her family, Ian agreed to be baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church.  Gus also told him that he needed to speak fluent Greek to become apart of the family.  This cultural pattern was one Gus tried his hardest to learn, but was constantly being fooled by Toula’s brother and cousins as they told him crude and incorrect Greek words and phrases for him to repeat, which in turn made him look foolish. 

            I talked about the cultural pattern of family and backgrounds and I want to bring it up again and incorporate it with the scene where Toula and Ian’s families met for the first time.  What Toula hoped to be a small gathering of just parents turned into all of her cousins and extended family in attendance.  This scene depicted their family differences perfectly.  Ian’s parents pull up to Toula’s home only to see them all dancing in the front yard while roasting animals.  They are then introduced to every family member imaginable. 

            This film ends with the big fat Greek wedding! At this wedding Toula’s mother and father give a speech where Gus describes Toula as an orange and Ian as an apple.  He says, “Here tonight was have an apple and an orange, we are all different, but in the end we are all fruit!” He then gives the newly wedded couple a wedding gift, which was a new home.  This gift represented his happiness for the two and that he respected Ian and his cultural differences.  He realized Ian was an honorable, loyal, and loving man who was perfect for his daughter. 

Here is a great picture of the wedding. Notice the difference in family size - ha!  

Here is a picture that shows the judgmental things Toula's family members were saying to Ian before they knew him.

            Overall, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is an excellent movie that emphasized the importance of the interpretive approach by showing two different cultures that took the time to get to know one other and their cultural differences.  I think this movie proves that intercultural communication is key.   

Here is the trailer is you are interested! 

 References:

Goetzman, Tom. Hanks, Tom. Wilson, Rita. (Producers), & Zwick, Joel (Director). (19 Aug 2002). My Big Fat Greek Wedding [Motion Picture]. United States: IFC Films.

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th edition). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.