Analyzing Cultural Differences in The Karata Kid From the Perspective of Cultural Dimensions

顏凡

Abstract：The G20 conference，the Belt and Road initiative and other international cooperation projects are accelerating globalization.Intercultural communications reflect in every aspects of our lives，even in films，The Karata Kid.In this paper，I will analyze intercultural communication of this film from the perspective of Hofstedes cultural dimensions.

Keywords：Intercultural communication；movies

Firstly，I will begin with the plot of the film：Twelve-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move from Detroit to Beijing after Sherry gets a job transfer at her car factory.Thats where the story begins.Hofstede is a Dutch interculturalist.His two work，Cultures Consequences and Cultural Organization，have made a deep impression on intercultural communication.He came up with four cultural dimensions：Individualism vs.Collectivism，Power distance，Uncertainty avoidance，Masculinity vs.Femininity and Long-term vs.Short-term orientation.Only first two are reflected in this film，so I will introduce them only.Individualism vs.Collectivism concerns the extent to which people feel they are supposed to take care of or to be cared for by themselves，their families or organizations they belong to.Power distance refers the attitudes toward differences in authority or the degree of inequality among people which the the population of a country considers as normal.Cultures with high power distance accept the fact that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.In culture with low power distance，the situation is completely different.

With regard to the power distance index and individualism vs.Collectivism，we know that China is a country with high PDI and low IDV，while America is a totally another story.

Scene 1：Meiying，Dres Chinese friend，is ordered to practice violin every day by her father.She is late for an important audition，but she has a success.After her father knows why Meiying late，he stop Meiying being friends with Dre.Meiying follows her fathers order and stops meeting Dre again.

Scene 2：The first thing Mr.Han teaches Dre is practicing the following actions repeatly：hang it on！ Take it down?。╤ere “it” refers to Dres jacket）Mr.Han doesnt explain anything about it.Dre has to follow the order regardless of rain.

Scene 3：Dres mother greets an American boy，“ Hi，nice to meet to you.You can call me Ms.Sherry.”

Confucianism is regarded as an ethical moral system that governs all relationships in family and society in ancient China to some extend.It mainly focuses on five relationships：the relationship between ruler and subject，between wife and husband，between father and child，between elder and younger.From the first two scenes，the father and teacher are always superior，while the daughter and student are inferior.So in the first scene，Meiying must follow her fathers order and stop meeting Dre.Although Dre is from America with low power distance，he also has to follow Mr.Hans order in China.The third scene reflects the low power distance of America.Facing the similar situation，a Chinese mother would say，“ Call me auntie Sherry！” Because America emphasizes equality，every body is equal.In America，people call their grandparents first names directly.In China everyone is called according to his/her age，status and title.In the movie，Chinese people call Mr.Han Lao Han or master Han，but Dre always calls him Mr.Han.Appellations between China and America reflect the power distance.At the end，Dre says to Mr.Han，“ You are the best friend Ive ever had.”

Scene 4：The teacher reproves Meiying，“ Do you know how important it is to your family，what it means to your life？ We have to wait to this weekend and Ill call your father.”

Scene 5：Dre ask his Mum，“Can you sign this？” “ I think its funny that you have to get my permission to go to the Forbidden City！ I got a pool in Beijing！” “Not funny，Mum，”

Scene 6：Dre gets injured in the tournament severely.The doctor says，“ You must stop，and you has win honor for your family.” Dre insists keeping fight.Mr.Han asks for the reason “Because Im so scared.No matter what happened tonight when I leave，I dont want to be scared any more！”

According to the above，individuals must be responsible for the group and family.In the scene 4，the teacher says，“ do you know how important it is to your family？” he put family before individual.Also，in the scene 6，the doctor says，“You have win honor for your family.” While in the scene 5，Sherry is surprised that Dre needs her permission to go to the Forbidden City.Because for American，everyone is free to make decisions for themselves.In the scene 6，according to Dres answer，there is nothing concerned family or group.He simply wants to win respect and stops being scared in school.While for his opponents from martial art school，they must win honor for their school even though sacrifice themselves.The student is out because of his illegal behavior.In countries with collectivism，individuals sometimes must sacrifice their own interests to meet the goal of the group.

In the movie，there are many cultural differences reflected in this movie.For example，Sherrys honeymoon state in Beijing，Dres cultural shock and understanding of different languages and etc.In this paper，I only analyze the cultural differences from the perspective of two cultural dimensions.In a word，the Karate Kid is the communication and blending of different cultures.

References

[1]Dou Weilin.Intercultural Business Communication（Second Edition）[M].Beijing，Higher Education Press，2011：55-58.

[2]王維蓉.《喜福會》的母女沖突與融合——以霍夫斯泰德的文化維度理論為視角[J].西北師大學(xué)報(bào)（社會科學(xué)版），2012，5（3）：87-89.

作者簡介

顏凡（1994.02-），女，漢族，籍貫四川廣安，現(xiàn)就讀于西安外國語大學(xué)商學(xué)院2016級商務(wù)英語專業(yè)。主要研究方向：商務(wù)英語語言研究。

（作者單位：西安外國語大學(xué)商學(xué)院）