从跨文化角度浅谈中美电影的文化融合

论文总字数：34051字

摘 要

在这个全球一体化的时代中,中西文化的交流和融合是全球一体化发展的必然趋势。在这过程中难免产生着撞击和摩擦。对世界各国来说，既是机遇也是挑战。同时随着中国与世界其他地区的交流越来越频繁，中国文化开始走向海外。电影作为信息媒介，在中西文化的交融中起到了很重要的推动作用。近年来，中国电影在传统民族特色的基础上，已经开始融入很多欧美元素。同样，欧美电影也已经开始重视影片中中国文化元素的创建。本文试图从跨文化的角度分析两部中美电影中对中西文化交流和融合的刻画，揭示中西文化交流在电影中的展现，以及提出中美电影中的中西文化融合对我国文化发展的启示。

关键词：中美电影；全球化；文化融合

Contents

1. Introduction....................................................................................................1
2. Literature Review...........................................................................................2
3. Cultural Integration of Chinese and American Films................................4

3.1 Integration of Chinese and American core values..........................................5

3.2 Integration of Chinese and American characters............................................7

3.3 Integration of Chinese culture and American advanced technology...............8

4. The Enlightenment of the Cultural Integration of Chinese and American Films on the Development of Chinese Culture.................................................9

4.1 Persisting in nationalization............................................................................9

4.2 Persisting in cultural exchange.....................................................................10

4.3 Persisting in cultural innovation...................................................................10

5.Conclusion.......................................................................................................11

Work cited..........................................................................................................13

1. Introduction

With the development of economy, science and technology, one of the most prominent features of today’s world is globalization. Globalization widely infiltrated in the political, economic and cultural ideology and other fields. In the current era driven by economic globalization, culture has also broken through the cultural barriers of countries and nations and gone global. The so-called culture refers to a social phenomenon, which is a product created by people through labor in the long-term historical development process. Whether it is geography, history, traditional culture, or literature, painting and calligraphy, film and television works, opera, opera and other tangible culture, it is a direct reflection of a region, a nation and a country from the image to the essence.

Film is not only the carrier of culture, but also the product of culture. As a cultural carrier, film inevitably presents the inherent cultural characteristics of various countries and nations. It not only brings spectacular visual feast to human beings, but also opens a new window for human to understand foreign cultures. In the era of rapid development of market economy, film is the perfect carrier to realize cultural value and commercial profit. While reaping huge commercial profits, Hollywood films have also become one of the most effective media to publicize American culture. With the rapid development of China’s economy, Chinese films have also made great progress, and have been stepping into the world through blockbuster strategic international cooperation and other ways. We can see the differences between Chinese and western cultures in films, and these difference reflect the similarities and differences between Chinese and western ways of thinking in language features and ethics values. On the basis of differences, different cultures need to have the spirit of understanding and broad mind to communicate and integrate with (Tong 25). Chinese and American films have also made positive exploration on this. Therefore, this paper selects films from various forms of cultural expression to analyze the phenomenon of cultural integration in the development of Chinese and American films under the background of cultural globalization, and proposes the enlightenment of cultural integration of Chinese and American films to the cultural development of China and other countries in the world.

2. Literature Review

Cultural integration refers to the process in which national culture, based on traditional culture and in the process of cultural exchanges, absorbs and digests foreign cultures to promote its own development as required. This paper, from a cross-cultural perspective, briefly discusses the cultural integration between Chinese and American films. The content is a detailed analysis of the film Wolf Warrior and Kung Fu Panda 3, and it is a comparative analysis of the cultural integration between Chinese and American films. This phenomenon belongs to a kind of cross-cultural communication phenomenon. This paper also referred to a large number of relevant literature, and its collation, classification and summary.

Nowadays, more and more co-productions begin to appear in front of the public. As a special “mixed-race” identity, Chinese films have occupied a large market since the 20th century, and meanwhile they shoulder the burden of external communication. In the current global film market, co-productions have become the preferred way of cooperation in many countries, and the cultural integration of co-productions has also become a concern of the industry. In the development of recent years, Chinese and foreign co-productions have accumulated some experience in the co-production of Chinese and foreign co-productions from the initial stage of development to the growth stage. However, Chinese and foreign co-productions still need filmmakers to keep exploring and making progress, so that they can achieve real cultural integration. In recent years, scholars at home and abroad study the phenomenon of cultural integration from the perspective of co-productions through case studies. Though research, we can better understand the connotation of Chinese and foreign films, strengthen the communication between China and the west, and promote cross-cultural communication.

1. Domestic research on the cultural integration of films

In 2010, the domestic scholar Zhao Chaoxia selected the representative kung Fu Panda movie from many films for comparative analysis. This paper expounds the fusion of western and Chinese traditional cultural spirit in the movie, a mix of values and cultural fusion phenomenon of the characters. She also put forward the three enlightenment to the development of Chinese culture. It is to hold to nationalization, hold to pluralism to coexist respectively, develop jointly and strengthen cultural communication, promote cultural renewal. In 2018, domestic scholar Li jinhua has published a paper on the subject. The paper takes A Grandson from America as the carrier and makes a contrastive study between Chinese and western culture from three aspects under intercultural communication perspective. They are language, diet and values. It deepen the understanding of the differences between Chinese and western culture and fusion and promote the effective intercultural communication. Through the comparative analysis of the three aspects of language, diet and value in the movie, it is found that the differences and conflicts between Chinese and western cultures are unavoidable. In the face of differences and conflicts, we need to understand Chinese and western cultures, strengthen communication and exchange between China and the west, and promote effective cross-cultural communication (Li 190).

1. Foreign research on the cultural integration of films

In 2013, foreign scholars took the production of kung fu Panda 2 as an example to make a comparative analysis of the Chinese and western cultures in the film and put forward specific suggestions on the development of Chinese culture. It is a typical cinematographic works of the perfect integration of Chinese and Western culture. Through interpreted and understood Chinese traditional culture, this film is intertwined with western cultural elements, which convey the core ideas of multicultural coexistence and prompting mutual development of culture in Chinese and western culture collision. On the culture and idea side, Kung Fu Panda 2 is the film which is integrated with Chinese and western culture successfully and delivers the culture. Based on this point, through comparative study between Chinese and Western culture in Kung Fu Panda 2, this paper further summarizes the enlightenment from this film to Chinese culture development. It pointed that the way to promote the communication of Chinese culture and improve China’s soft power in the world is to integrate with national features continuously. In 2016, foreign scholars make a brief analysis of Chinese and Western Cultural differences in Animated films featuring Chinese elements. According to the article, as an independent art form, film has always been popular with all classes since it was born. Animated film, based on the functions of film in a broader sense, is able to rid the public of real-world restrictions while entertaining them. Since China is one of the four oldest civilizations with a long and glorious history, people from all around the word turn to be interested in it. As a consequence, Chinese elements are recognized and studied by an increasing number of people, and Chinese-featured history and culture are becoming an indispensable part of animation works. Animated film is totally under the control of its director, and nothing is impossible on screen as long as your imagination can reach. To an animated film, the script itself is an important part driven by imagination, while the plot brings life to it. After all, the root of animations is just telling a good story. There are countless stories and subjects throughout Chinese history in which traditional culture has been cultivated for thousands of years. However, instead of us taking advantage of our history, it is westerners who dig into it for stories. For example, Mulan, a well-known Chinese story, was produced into animated film by Disney (Fengamp;Kuo 113). The conclusion of the article is that to make Chinese animation art energetic, we have to think in modern vision, find out the relation between the old and the new, absorb some entertaining elements and follow the popularization trend. The conclusion discussed in this kind of article will help promote the transition of Chinese films to internationalization and provide strong support for the integration and coexistence of Chinese and American cultures (Fengamp;Kuo 115).

To sum up, with the development of world economy and trade, the exchanges between Chinese and western civilizations become more and more frequent. In the process of communication, the differences between Chinese and western cultures are increasingly obvious. How to alleviate the contradiction caused by cultural differences, from conflict to integration has become a common social topic in today’s world. Only those excellent works that can achieve the best integration between traditional culture and modern culture, local culture and world culture can go abroad to the world and resonate with people of different cultural backgrounds all over the world. So the corresponding research objects will be selected through the combination of case study and literature study. Meanwhile, by increasing the study of Chinese classic films, the cultural integration of Chinese and American films will be observed and analyzed in a more comprehensive way, and the enlightenment for the development of Chinese culture will be put forward.

3.Cultural Integration of Chinese and American Films

This paper takes the Chinese film Wolf Warrior and the American film Kung Fu Panda 3 as examples to make a comparative analysis of the cultural integration between Chinese and American films. Wolf Warrior is a modern military war film directed by Chinese director Wu Jing. It is the first 3d action war film in China and took 7 years to make. The movie Wolf Warrior really presents a sino-foreign border war, it also let the Wolf of the east special forces troops and high-energy soldiers on the big screen for the first time. It tells the story of a small person to save the fate of the country and the nation and grow into a lonely hero legend. Wolf Warrior not only has a unique theme and is featured in Chinese films and TV programs, but also has a huge cost and is jointly created by China and foreign countries. It has a first-class creative team and applies advanced 3d technology. It is a film that integrates innovative elements and national traditions. Chinese films reflect on Chinese and western cultures and explore the integration and symbiosis of two different cultures too.

American film Kung Fu Panda 3 is a western artist, with the film as the carrier, with the Chinese kung fu and panda as the theme of the core protagonist, the panda Po is a love to eat noodles dreamer, living in a daydream all day, he dreams of becoming a legendary dragon warrior. The scenery, costumes and props of the film are full of Chinese elements. It integrates Chinese elements into the creation of the west perfectly. As soon as it was launched, it was warmly welcomed by the vast number of fans and won many awards at international film festivals. Through the understanding of Chinese culture and the integration of numerous Chinese and western cultural elements with advanced western film technologies, this film demonstrates the fusion and symbiosis of contemporary cultural pluralism, which is a typical example of cultural globalization and the integration of Chinese and western cultures.

These two films are the result of the exchange and integration of Chinese and western cultures, showing the fusion phenomenon of cultural globalization and diversity, and fully showing that cultural integration can promote the progress and development of national and world cultures in today’s era.

3.1 Integration of Chinese and American core values

Film and television animation works are more easily accepted by the public because of their unique entertainment properties in the dissemination of culture and education ideas, and their educational functions are incomparable to other cultural carriers. The core values embodied in film and television animation are different in different countries because of different lifestyles and cultural traditions. As a major carrier of ideological and political communication, film and television animation plays an educational role in the embodiment of core values for the growth of teenagers. But at the same time, it is also affected by different social and historical backgrounds and regional cultures. Animation created in different historical periods and regional cultural backgrounds will have different characteristics in the expression of core values (Wangamp;Zhang 58). With the exchange and collision of the world film market, the styles and themes of Chinese and foreign films are basically the same, but there are still big differences in the ideological tone and expression of thoughts. They also have different cultural values, which are embodied in the great differences between Chinese films’ expressions of “collectivism” “loyalty and righteousness” ethics and morality, and foreign films’ expressions of “individual heroism” “freedom and equality” and privacy right.

Dutch psychologist Hofstadte summarized six dimensions to measure the cultural values of different countries, including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and collectivism, masculinity and femininity, long-term orientation and short-term orientation, self-indulgence and restraint (Zhangamp;Shao 57). The cultural values embodied in these two films belong to the third dimension. Collectivism are the main embodiment of contemporary Chinese core values. Individualism, subjectivism and liberalism are the main manifestations of the core values of contemporary western society. The American individualistic culture emphasizes individual goals and achievements, while the Chinese collectivist culture emphasizes loyalty to the collective, which should exert its power to solve problems and overcome hardships. Most Chinese films advocate the value of collectivism, and the power of the individual is not as big as that of the collective. In movie plots, it is the wisdom and power of the collective that play a huge role. In the process of making western movies, Hollywood writes scripts according to American values and emphasizes the value orientation affirmed by American society. In the American movies, we often see a person to save humanity, save the earth feat, as well as the pursuit of freedom of the individual heroic image, such as superman, spider-man, and so on. They are the savior of the world and suffering. They were respected and loved by people. But now both Chinese and American films have made historic breakthroughs.

In the Chinese film Wolf Warrior, the punishment of cold front played by Wu Jing for disobeying military orders and other plots can be seen that the film has created a heroic image of individualism similar to that common in Hollywood movies, affirming the values of individualism. Though, the film is still a celebration of collectivism. At the same time, Kung Fu Panda 3 also breaks this pattern. The individualism values of the first two Kung Fu Panda films are in contrast to the collectivism values of Kung Fu Panda 3. For example, there is a plot to fight against the devil Kai in the movie, and each of the panda villages comes forward and unites together. In the spirit world, the panda Po and Kai fight , when his life hangs a gleam, panda familial, close relatives and friend are in charge of all send gas, relied on collective force to defeat day evil spirit eventually, removed menace, saved whole panda village and the peace of whole world. It can be seen that the Chinese traditional collective values can be fully demonstrated. In terms of the dimensions of individualism and collectivism, Kung Fu Panda 3 highlights the values of collectivism, and the story frame of the whole film is built around collectivism. The two films reflect the intercommunication of Chinese and western core values and the integration of Chinese and western culture.

3.2 Integration of Chinese and American characters

The two films also embody the cultural integration of characters. In the Chinese film Wolf Warrior, the stereotyped image of Chinese soldiers is transformed into Hollywood blockbuster super hero to satisfy the “Hollywood blockbuster feelings” of modern young people. Meanwhile, the animal origin of the panda Po in Kung Fu Panda 3 comes from China, which is a typical Chinese image. In the film, the modeling of the panda Po has gathered the simple and honest and lovely characteristics of Chinese panda. However, it is such a cute and honest panda that makes people laugh. Although he has always accepted the Oriental filial piety of father duck to inherit his “noodle” ideal, he has always dreamed of having an extraordinary life outside his ordinary and boring noodle life and becoming a kung fu warrior who punishes evil and punishes good. It inspired him to work hard and realized his American panda dream. Unlike the panda Po, master raccoon is based in the America and prefers to live in forests near rivers and lakes. Raccoon love clean, often catch food into the water to wash away the sediment, hence the name raccoon. However, it is permeated with Chinese culture. its robes, long beard, dexterous use of chopsticks and the nickname “shifu” are all entirely Chinese. In addition, this master not only has the noble moral character of the Chinese martial arts master, but also continues the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. He obeyed master oogway’s teachings and instructions. It has a very long life and has experienced a life process that no other creature can experience. Therefore, it has a wisdom beyond the ordinary. The master oogway in the film is just an elder who understands the tao of heaven and man. He is endowed with great wisdom and has an open mind to see through the world. The oogway master in Kung Fu Panda is both the embodiment of the western cultural prophet who foretold the escape from prison of the evil leopard and the birth of the dragon warrior, but also the symbol of the turtle in Chinese culture.

In addition, Chinese martial arts have a long history. Chinese people pay attention to spirit and likeness, so they created the famous pictographic boxing -- tiger and crane double shape monkey boxing, snake boxing and praying mantis boxing. The five sages in Kung Fu Panda, tiger, crane, monkey, snake and mantis, endow the Chinese martial arts with an intuitive and vivid entity and show the wonderful image thinking of westerners (Zhao 49).

3.3 Integration of Chinese culture and American advanced technology

Among foreign films, Hollywood commercial films are known as big-budget films. Many of the big scenes have been computer-generated, from “Star Wars”to “King Kong”, from the beloved “Spider Man” to the real-life “Titanic”, from the thought-provoking “The Day After Tomorrow” to the whimsical “Independence Day” which let the global fans have to admire its advanced technology. In recent years, more and more western elements have been incorporated into the production process of Chinese films, especially their first-class special effects. The film Wolf Warrior succeeded not only in promoting traditional Chinese culture, but also in giving audiences the feeling of watching a Hollywood blockbuster through the gorgeous 3D visual effects in the film. Some media commented that Wolf Warrior is a “Chinese hard dish cooked by Hollywood way”. In the film, there are not only fierce scenes of tank racing, tank drifting and side by side stalemate, but also Hollywood style chase shots of forced car side collision, drift and chase. It combines advanced western technology and reserve Chinese expression.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is infused with a lot of Chinese elements and thus attracted a large number of Chinese audiences. It can be said that Kung Fu Panda 3 is a combination of the essence of Chinese culture. Chinese cultural elements are still highlighted in the film, and the film successfully combines the characteristics of American films to be sought after by the audience. It is precisely because these two films successfully integrate Chinese elements and American values and other essences that the film culture industry gets better development and innovation, and also promotes the integration of Chinese and western cultures.

1. The Enlightenment of the Cultural Integration of Chinese and American Films on the Development of Chinese Culture

4.1 Persisting in nationalization

Culture is the comprehensive expression of the material and spiritual products of human society. Film not only is a cultural symbol, but also the product of culture. It influence mutual promotion each other. Unique characteristics and cultural traditions of different countries makes the movie theme with strong regional culture characteristics. Chinese films should not only absorb the experience and essence of the American films, but also develop Chinese traditional culture and unique style to a deeper level and have a strong national characteristics and styles. The success of Wolf Warrior lies in that it not only absorbs the advantages of western film culture, but also retains its own cultural characteristics and satisfies the audience’s strong nation mood. It is necessary for contemporary Chinese filmmakers to learn from the successful American cultural export, keep their own unique export mode with Chinese characteristics and make the two blend naturally.

Therefore, while insisting on nationalization, we should treat the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures rationally. The cultural exchange and integration of various countries in the world and the nationalization of culture are not opposite to each other, but complementary to each other, which not only includes the emphasis on the national culture, but also means the recognition of the dialogue and communication relationship between different cultures and different nations. Cultural integration is based on national culture, adhere to the nationalization in the process of cultural development, and learn and draw lessons from other cultures according to the specific reality of the nation. The purpose is to absorb positive and nutritious parts for their own better use, enrich the development of their own culture, make their culture more dynamic.

4.2 Persisting in cultural exchange

The process of cultural globalization is a dynamic one, full of various dialogues and exchanges. Cultural communication is the process of the nationalization of world culture, it is also the process of the national culture globalization. However, cultural globalization can not be achieved without more egalitarian exchanges. In a truly cross-cultural spirit, there is room for egalitarian communication (Kay 106).

Cultural exchange is not only an important driving force for the progress of human civilization, but also an inherent requirement for maintaining cultural diversity in the world. Cultural exchange is of great significance to the promotion of Chinese culture. Cultural exchanges promote China’s advanced culture to the world, which is conducive to expanding the international attraction and influence of Chinese culture, improving China’s cultural competitiveness and enhancing China’s comprehensive national strength. Today is the era of globalization, China wants to seek better development must conform to the pace of The Times. With the development of global integration, the scope of communication and integration of Chinese and western cultures is expanding. Our country should actively respond to the call of The Times. At the same time, our culture is diverse, strong compatibility, conducive to the exchange and learning of our culture and heterogeneous culture. So we should be confident and look forward to the further integration and coexistence of Chinese and western cultures in the future.

4.3 Persisting in cultural innovation

Cultural communication in the process of communication on the basis of inheritance, development contains the significance of cultural innovation. The essence of cultural development lies in cultural innovation. The reason behind the huge success of Wolf Warrior and Kung Fu Panda 3 is not only the successful integration of Chinese and western cultural elements, but also its innovation. Their success set off a trend of co-production between China and the United States, opened up a new field of film culture and received warm response, and also demonstrated the power of cultural innovation. If China wants national works that are accepted by the world, we need to vigorously carry forward our traditional culture and unshackle our imagination and creativity.

There are ways of cultural innovation. The fundamental way of cultural innovation is based on social practice. One of the basic ways is to carry on the tradition and bring forth the new. The second basic approach is to learn from the world. The most important thing is to inject the spirit of The Times. Only cultural innovation can keep the vitality and cohesion of Chinese culture forever.

5.Conclusion

In a word, Wolf Warrior and Kung Fu Panda 3 have brought a strong viewing impact on audiences of China and the west both in image molding, landscape design and plot arrangement, embodiment of values and so on. This movie, combining western culture elements with Chinese traditional culture charm, displays the essence of Chinese and western culture as much as possible and blends this two different kinds of culture background successfully (Huang 73). These two films combine the pop culture elements of the other country on the surface and the cultural elements of their own country on the core, which have won the success in the box office and public praise.

Under the background of globalization, the culture of the media culture product mix and is not a simple process of homogeneous or heterogeneous, but different cultural dialogue and communication, the conflict between conflict, negotiation and integration development process, present a complex condition with frequent cultures communicate with each other, exchange and fusion between different cultures has become a current trend of existence and development. Under the background of globalization, films also reflect the changes of times and the evolution of history and culture, and the communication and integration between different cultures are also reflected in films. Only by finding a balance between traditional culture and modern culture, local culture and world culture, and successfully mixing all kinds of elements together, can the works resonate with audiences from different cultural backgrounds all over the world. The successful example of the cultural integration of the two films in this paper have great enlightenment significance for the co-production of Chinese and western films and the cultural exchange and integration in the future.

Works Cited

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[Zhang Hong and Shao Lingwei. “Kung Fu Panda 3 Cultural mix in Chinese-American Film co-production.” Journal of Jiangsu normal University (philosophy and Social Science Edition) 4 (2016): 54-58.]

章宏，邵凌玮：《功夫熊猫3: 中美电影合拍中的文化杂糅》. 江苏师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版），4（2016）：54-58.

[Wang Xiaohong and Zhang Ying. “A Comparative study of Core values in Chinese and Foreign Film and TV Animation works.” Scientific Research Forum (2016): 58-59.]

王晓红，张颖：《中外影视动画作品中核心价值观比较研究》. 科研论坛,（2016)：58-59.

[Li, Jinghua. “Comparative analysis of Chinese and Western cultures from the perspective of cross-cultural communication-Take the movie A Grandson from America for example.” English on Campus 31 (2018): 190-191.]

李金花：《跨文化交际视角下中西文化对比分析-以电影《孙子从美国来》为例》. 校园英语，31（2018）：190-191.

[Tongshan. “The collision and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures in the film.” The new sharp points 3 (2009) : 25.]

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