A Depressive Story of Cultural Shock in Pushing Hands

張湘 李洪俊

Abstract：Pushing Hands tells a series of stories of an immigrant family in the United States， which shows the conflict between Chinese traditional culture and national customs of the United States. This paper introduces the movie Pushing Hands and culture. It selectsthree different fields of dietary habits， values and social relationships， which is shown in the Pushing Hands to analyze Chinese and American cultural differences.

中圖分類號：H319 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1672-1578（2016）07-0003-02

1 Introduction

In this film， Director Ang Lee is mainly to borrow four main characters of a family symbolically make a discussion. One of them， master Zhu， is on behalf of Chinese traditional culture. Another one， the daughter-in-law Martha， stands for Native American culture. The next one， the son Alex， is set for two kinds of cultural awareness in one person. In addition， Alex is the perceptual appearance of conflicts between Chinese and western abstract culture. The last one， the grandson Jeremy， actually symbolizes the product of conflicts between the two cultures. Many details in the film show the differences of Chinese and American cultures. Conflicts between master Zhu and Martha are the most important.

In fact， the conflicts between father and daughter-in-law are in a sense the superficial phenomenon of the conflict between Chinese culture and American culture. The director does not speak directly of the words about cultural conflict but describes fully the family relationship. Therefore， by analyzing the conflicts in the family we can disclose the cultural differences hidden behind the family relationship.

2 The Cultural Differencesin Pushing Hands

2.1 Dietary Habits

In this film， we can see two very funny scenes. One is at the beginning of the film， the father holding a large bowl full of rice and a variety of vegetables as well as meat， feast on his meal with a good appetite. Meanwhile， daughter also sits at the dinner table， and she does not eat rice like father but eat a piece of roasted biscuit and a small dish of vegetable salad. Similarly， the daughter also relish in it. Nevertheless， when they eat， both of them inadvertently and quietly glance at each other's food with wondering eyes. From Martha's eyes， we can see that she does not understand Chinese food and that she thinks it is very strange of the father how to eat nutritious meals. Father is the same surprised at Martha's meal， because he feel hard to swallow that lettuce. Another scene is at a dinner where the family sit together to eat.

We can see from the two scenes that Chinese cooking dishes pursue color， flavor and taste. Each cuisine has its own flavor and characteristics. Even， a dish of the same cuisine， where side dishes and spices differently used， tastes different. Chinese people eat a lot of food and everyone looks thin. Few as foreign dishes are， the foreigners are much stronger than Chinese. American diet pays attention to nutrition and science so its highest standard is nutritiousness.They eat raw tomatoes， cucumbers， lettuce， and even cabbage， broccoli and many other vegetables.

2.2 Social Values

Values criteria are the criteria of judging goodness and badness， beauty and ugliness， cleanness and dirt， justice and injustice， decency and inappropriateness. Values reside in the human mind. On one morning， Martha goes down the stairs in a hurry to get the newspaper for novels review. When Martha finds there is no novels comment， she bend over the table， very troubled. Because of language barriers， master Zhu lets Alex tell Martha that years from now， we will all be lying peacefully underground，and that what the big deal is？ It is visible that the attitude towards career is slightly different. American people are filled with a strong sense of competition and especially value the success. American character is formed in the highly competitive environment. They believe that in order to succeed， they must continue to struggle in order to achieve a successful result， which is a measure criterion of a person's success. Therefore， after they get the honor， they show off undisguised happiness. So that as far as us Chinese people are concerned， Americans are not humble. Nevertheless， Chinese culture does not advocate show off personal honor but promote modesty. Chinese think it not a good thing to perform too prominently in the competition.

2.3 Social Relationships

From the beginning of the film， Chinese father and American daughter have many barriers in daily life. Martha's attitude master Zhu is not bad， but not good， because she is usually indifferent to her father. When master Zhu want to go for a walk， Martha does not go with him， lets him go ahead and says what she does care. She just find master Zhu absent until Alex comes back home， which makes Alex angry. Besides， after master Zhu runs away home， Alex spares no efforts to look for his father. Eventually， he finds his father in a police station， and he express his thoughts to master Zhu that he has studied and worked so hard to build a family in order that one day he could bring father to the United States， so master Zhu could have some good days in his life. In his mind， Martha does not take good care of his father.

In America， insurance is the duty of governments. Old people should be in old peoples home. The society is responsible for them. In addition， they have no rights to interfere the lives of youth. The Chinese people cannot accept these ideas for the family. In Chinese traditional view， raising children for old age is normal. Parents in their old ages need filial sons and daughters， so that parents enjoy family relationships harmony. The younger generation respecting and obeying their parents is an obligation. Whether parents are healthy or ill， the youth should live with their parents and take good care of parents， because filial piety is the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation since ancient times.

3 Conclusion

By watching the movie Pushing Hands， we see all sorts of conflicts between Chinese father and a American wife. In cross-cultural communication， misunderstandings due to cultural barriers even lead to hurt each other， which commonly occur. Sometimes， kindly conversation makes each other extremely awkward， and polite manners are misunderstood as absurd or vulgar ones. Therefore， the study of cultural differences and correct behaviors in cross-cultural communication becomes a problem that cannot be ignored. Such research is benefit to positive transfer of culture， to promote the national language， humanities and cultural development.

References：

[1] Hofstede G. Cultures Consequences： Comparing Values， Behaviors， Institutions， and Organizations Across Nations[J]. London： Sage Publications， 2001.

[2] 賀毅. 中西文化比較[M].冶金工業(yè)出版社，2007.

[3] 賈玉新.跨文化交際學[M].上海教育出版社，2003.

[4] 呂爾欣.中西方飲食文化差異及翻譯研究[M].浙江大學出版社，2013.

[5] 許力生.新編跨文化交際英語教程[M].上海外語教育出版社，2008.

[6] 楊敬偉，常健.從電影《推手》看中西文化對家庭觀念的不同理解[J].文化視野，2010.