论文总字数：25943字

摘 要

好莱坞梦工厂制作的电影《功夫熊猫》,深受中国观众的欢迎。这部影片巧妙地将中国的传统文化与美国本土文化结合起来，体现全球化背景下中西文化的融合。本文综合当前诸多的理论研究成果，介绍了跨文化交流的定义以及跨文化交流在国内外的研究状况，并从跨文化交流角度解析其所包含的中美文化因素，为中国文化和中国的跨文化交流的发展以及中西文化的融合提供一些建设性的建议。本文是电影《功夫熊猫》中中美文化融合的个案研究。

关键词：跨文化交流；中国文化；美国文化；文化融合；《功夫熊猫》

Contents

1.Introduction 1

2.Literature Review 2

2.1Definition of Intercultural Communication 2

2.2The Intercultural Communication in Foreign Research 2

2.3The Intercultural Communication in Domestic Research 3

3.Intercultural Interpretation of Kung Fu Panda 4

3.1Chinese Culture in the Movie 4

3.2The American Factors in the Movie 6

4.Implication from Kung Fu Panda for the Development of Chinese Intercultural Communication 8

4.1Exploration on the Conjunction Point of Chinese and Western Cultures 8

4.2Successful Integration of Chinese and Western Cultures 8

4.3Chinese Traditional Cultural Spirit in Western and Chinese Intercultural Communication 9

5.Conclusion 9

Works Cited .....11

1. Introduction

American DreamWorks has released the animated art movie Kung Fu Panda in 2008.As soon as it appeared, Kung Fu Panda became popular all over the world, especially in China. It has gained both fame and wealth. Why the movie is so great? The reason is that it is a good example of proper using of Chinese culture and the success of China’s intercultural communication.

The story of Kung Fu Panda happened in ancient China. There has a place called “Peace Valley”. The hero is a pudgy young panda named Po, who dreamed of “legends full of legendary warriors whose exploits are the stuff of legends”(Corliss 40) like Furious Five. Furious Five, which consist of Tiger, Viper, Crane, Monkey and Mantis with excellent skills of Kungfu. While in real life, Po just is the son of the boss of a noodle shop. One day, because Tai Lung, a dangerous leopard with wild ambitions decides to revenge to the citizens. Although the Master Oogway defeated him and sent him into prison, he had the opportunity to escape at any time. In order to protect the citizens, the old Master Oogway was going to hold a competition to choose Dragon Warrior. So all the citizens of “Peace Valley”, including Po, go to watch this game. But he was chosen as the Dragon fighter accidentally. Although Shifu and Furious Five were really disappointed facing the result and Po at first and Master Shifu tried his best to drive Po out, under the instructions of Master Oogway, Master Shifu noticed his own fault and found out an effective way to teach Po---“food attract”. Master Shifu forced Po to train by give him delicious food as rewards. Po did not let him down again. Finally, Po became a real Dragon fighter and found the true power of Dragon Scroll which helped him defeated Tai Lung and save the citizens of “Peace Valley”, as well as gained respects from all.

With the new development of technology of information and communication, different nations and different cultures make more frequent contact with one another in this global village.Human societies across the world have established progressively closer contacts with each other in terms of politics, economy and culture(郭慧钰,2012:10). on the background of cultural globalization, one nation has to admit different kinds of cultures and communicate with them in order to develop own cultural characters. And only when the movie keep a good balance between traditional and modern culture, local and global culture, can the movie step into the world and be popular among different nations. The success of Kung Fu Panda is such a vivid example.This thesis is a case study on the integration of Chinese and American cultures in the movie Kung Fu Panda. It aims to raise the awareness of the importance of our own culture, and provide some constructive implications for the effective and creative use and dissemination of Chinese culture. Because of the limitation of my time and level, I’m sorry to can not make a further study.

2. Literature Review

2.1Definition of Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication refers to the communication between a native speakers and a nonnative speaker in the literal meaning, but more accurately, intercultural communication is a form of communication that aims to share information across different cultures and social groups. The term intercultural communication is used regularly when coming to communication between people from different cultures. People usually have differences in cultural backgrounds, living styles, educational, political, and economical conditions, even hobbies and any other natural conditions, thus plenty of troubles and obstacles appears in intercultural communication.

Intercultural communication is often defined as a process that contact with closely unrelated areas like cultural anthropology and communication. The key of Intercultural communication is to set up and comprehend how people from different cultures communicate with each other. Intercultural communication is a region of study that looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds strive to communicate. It is a combination of many other fields in the scholarly realm. All of these fields include anthropology, linguistics, cultural studies, psychology and communication and so on. (布罗斯纳安,1991:23)

2.2The Intercultural Communication in Foreign Research

Intercultural communication rose in the United States in the 1950s.Hall(1959) first proposed the concept of intercultural communication, and the publication of this work mark the birth of intercultural communication in academic world.Porter(1990),one of the leader of the international interculturalscholars lists 8 variables that impact on intercultural communication: attitude socialorganization patterns of thought roles and role expectations language space time andnonverbal expression. He pointed out the eight elements do not exist separately instead they are all interrelated to each other in affecting intercultural communicative behaviors. “Fitzgerald(2004)indicated some factors,such as language, religion, experience,etc will influence the participants, while these factors will produce an unequal relationship between researcher and participants. The author emphasizes the importance of the participant in the research. Only by understanding the important of the participants, the researcher can obtain valid data, thus ensuring the reliability of the research. Biber(2001) emphasized the importance of quantitative research method, and pointed out that quantitative analysis enhanced the credibility of the study. Seror(2005) indicated the limitation of traditional statistical methods and introduced a computer-based software to value the innovative methodology during research. ”

2.3The Intercultural Communication in Domestic Research

Intercultural communication was not introduced into China by the domestic foreign language teaching scholars.How about the development of Intercultural communication in China? People started taking an interest in intercultural communication in the early 80s. Nowadays,intercultural communication has great development in China.Teachers of foreign languages started studying the relationship of language to culture. And Professor XuGuozhang was the first who wrote about cultural loading words, the cultural meaning of words. Many articles, actually hundreds of articles were written on intercultural communication. And then there were followed by books (probably more than 20 books). And three conferences have been held. (first in harbin, second in Beijing, third in Shenzhen, a fourth will be in Xi’an) A national association called China Association for Intercultural Communication was set up in 1995. The scholars involved in this field of study include the teachers of foreign languages, teachers of Chinese as foreign language, linguists and psychologists. Wang Linhai(2006) divided the intercultural communication research methods into three categories: the functionalist approach, the interpretive approach and the critical approach and introduced intercultural communication dialectic method. He explained each research method, their strengths and weaknesses, indicating that they are interrelated to each other but sometimes conflict with each other.

3.Intercultural Interpretation of Kung Fu Panda

3.1Chinese Culture in the Movie

3.1.1 Chinese Scenes

In Kung Fu Panda, the audience are presented in a fairyland,they may find the flying petals,tortuous paths,distant pavilion surrounded by clouds and terrace. The producer also add a bunch of typical Chinese images, well-proportioned green mountains, dotted farmland, antique eastern architectures, green rivers, elegant pavilion and with the special traditional Chinese instruments, like Chinese fiddle, bamboo flute and so on as background music, all emerge the charm of oriental art. Then the point turns to the crowded town market, the steamed buns, noodles, tofu, chopsticks, firecrackers are shown one after one in the traditional Chinese daily life.

3.1.2Chinese Martial Arts

Chinese martial arts,colloquially referred to as kung fu. Kung fu in China is both popular and traditional, and it has a long history of development. It is said to be one of the most important selling points in the movie. Many Chinese and foreigners alike love it and want to learn it. This movie combines all kinds of Chinese traditional Kungfu—the legendary Furious Five—Tigress,Crane,Mantis,Viper and Monkey,Master Shifu’s most powerful tip with a single finger,and Master Oowgay’s world famous Kungfu skill—shadowboxing,etc. In ancient China, those who were taught kung fu were all men, but now everyone can learn kung fu in China, including foreigners. It is now also known as “Kung Fu” in the world. (姜德成，吴陈亮,2008:67)

3.1.3Chinese Philosophies

Taoism and Buddhism are valuable and wonderful treasure of Chinese philosophies which play important roles in Chinese traditional culture and make a huge impact on the development of Chinese society.

In the movie, Master Oogway is like an eastern Buddhist,or Lao Tse,a philosopher in ancient China．While Master Shifu struggles in seeking for inner peace. Many lines in the movie also demonstrate the theory of Taoism and Buddhism.Master Oogway’s wisecracks, like“One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it”, “There is no accident”, and “There’s just news. No good or bad” shade such a philosophy which is so familiar to Chinese audience. When Master Shifu is worried about the return of Tailung, Master Oogway says: “Your mind is like the water, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear”. These words spread another thought in Taoism—emptying oneself of everything and letting the mind be at peace. So when things are growing, one can observe their regeneration.Moreover, Taoists also appreciate the concept of nonbeing, because for them being is sought from nonbeing. It is well illustrated in their sayings—an immense image seems shapeless; the glorified Tao seems indefinable.The producers of Kung Fu Panda seem to apply this philosophy to the movie. In the story, there are two puzzles. One is the limitless power of the Dragon Scroll, and the other is the secret ingredient of the noodle soup. Unexpectedly, the audience finally find the Dragon Scroll is in blank and non-secret ingredient is the best secret ingredient. Then Po understands that “No strike wins the trick” is the highest state of kung fu.“Quit,don’t quit.Noodles,don"t noodles.You are too concerned with what was and what will be.”(Master Oogway,who had already penetrated what"s in Po"s mind tried to convince Po of his own destiny.) (Ma Qing,2009:96-97)

The main philosophy of Kung Fu Panda is Confucianism. It was put forward by Confucius, Confucianism considered that everybody, no matter bad or good, could be educated by ethics. In this movie, Confucius much focus on Shifu. When the Master Shifu lost himself and his own faith, the Master Oogway never gave up but trying his best to help him build confidence. Master Oogway said: “you just need to believe.” Everything can be guided towards the right direction. Traditionally, Confucius spirit stands for virtue, morality and etiquette. First, Shifu highly respects Master Oogway, even if when Master Oogway shakes his head to Tai Lung, Shifu"s most favorite pupil or his son. To some extend, Shifu does not against Oogway"s decision, though he also feel disappointed. Shifu always follow Oogway"s advice with great trust and patience. Second, the Furious Five, being a together, to fight the evil Tai Lung. This is a group sense among them and also the feature in China. In Confucius spirit, person"s value is under the group, only being in a group, one person could have developed his or her dream. As for the virtue and morality, we could see them overall the film. Tai Lung, can"t be the dragon warrior because of his inside evil. But Po, looks clumsy, lazy for appearance, but he speak for justice and goodness, which light and keep away darkness. (郭慧钰,2012:28)

3.2The American Factors in the Movie

3.2.1American Individualism

Individualism emphasizes self-motivation,autonomy and independence. To America, they put strength on individual development. In American, individual can be defined as the privilege to against government absolute control and to affirm personal and group legal rights. The unique features of individualism is that every person or group voluntarily joins in country, but not the cost of person"s or group"s rights. So, you are free to do anything you like without breaking laws. In the movie, when Po gets up in the morning and lies he has dreamed a noodle dream to his father, his father is so happy that he says:" This is a sign, Po. You are almost ready to be entrusted with the secret ingredient. And then you will fulfill your destiny and take over the restaurant." His father, on behalf of Confucianism, spontaneously thinks his son has to take over this restaurant because he has taken over from his father and the restaurant should be passed to next generation. Po, on behalf of individualism, is unwilling to let his Kung Fu dream always being a dream. Po finally tells truth to his father he didn"t dream a noodle dream and then yell out his dream “I love Kung Fu”on firecrackers.The film surely praises individualism, that is every people has the right to choose what he like to do. (Yao,2010:22)

3.2.2 American Humor

Americans’ warm and cheerful personality created American-style humor. Humor has became the most common element in the American movie. American humor has made the movie more popular and easier to understand. In the movie,teasing is a main mean to make audience laugh. In order to make Po quit,Master Shifu and The Furious Five tease Po in the training ground. The funny Po makes a show of himself. Later,Shifu teases Po with a bowl of dumplings to train him. Watching Po’s anxiety,the audience cannot help laughing.

Another style of American humor used in Kung Fu Panda is self-mockery(Zhang,2008: 36). Po possesses such an American personality.When Tigress says to Po that he does not belong there and shuts the door heavily,Po still smiles and replies: “Big Fan”. It is so amusing.

3.2.3 American Heroism

Heroism is a permanent topic in Hollywood and heroes are cherished and worshiped by American people. However, American heroism reflected on screen has its unique traits.Numerous American heroes in movies, such as Forrest Gump and Spider Man, are civilian heroes. Their making of heroes encourages the ordinary people to believe heroes are among them. Raised by a noodle family and achieving the goal through his own efforts, Po is surely one of such heroes. When Po discovers the Dragon Scroll is in blank, at first he retreats. It is not appreciated by Chines people but easily accepted by American audience, because in American culture hero is a human rather than a god.What is more, the birth of an American hero is extremely rapid. The Hollywood-made heroes either have innate power like Superman, or obtain the power overnight like Fantastic Four. “Although starting from level zero, Po is found having great potential in kung fu, he is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food. His inborn ability plus hard work makes him an extraordinary kung fu master and qualified for the Dragon Warrior. Without any kung fu foundation, Po amazingly becomes a kung fu master in a couple of days. His enemy is Tai Lung who is also a kung fu talent but has gone astray. At last,with his individual ability, he finally defeats Tai Lung and successfully saves the valley.Consequently, Po is undoubtedly labeled with American heroism. Hollywood again successfully creates another classic superhero Po in whom we can see the shadows of many of its previous superheroe.” (Yao,2010:20)

4.Implication from Kung Fu Panda for the Development of Chinese Intercultural Communication

4.1 Exploration on the Conjunction Point of Chinese and Western Cultures

Under the great background of cultural globalization, the public media movie plays an indispensable role in intercultural communication, and gradually transformed into the most convenient way for cultural transformation. Nowaday,the United States with his huge funds and advanced technology, carrying out the intercultural communication all over the world. With the improvement of our nation’s politics, economy, and culture, the more concerned topic is how to spread our culture out with mass media. The best way to promote Chinese culture and achieve the intercultural communication of the movie is exchanging the two kind cultures,and find the same place between the two. Therefore, to make Chinese movie successful, we must change the traditional way of expression. In reference of the Western direct expressions, so that Western audiences able to accept the contents of the movie easily, to find a more balanced point between Western and Chinese culture in order to integrate a better combination of domestic culture and foreign culture.

4.2 Successful Integration of Chinese and Western Cultures

With more and more international exchanges and intercultural communication of modern society, learning cultures from different countries also appeared integration and development. Kung Fu panda is a motivational piece which not only shows the spirit of the logic of “Understanding, mining potential” and the concept of “Everyone can be a hero” of America, but also advocates the traditional value of “Evil can never prevail over good.” And the theme of Kung Fu panda is healthy and progressive. And the Chinese factors used in the movie are not “Cultural aggression", but cultural integration. For the development of Chinese culture, this successful Hollywood cartoon is a kind of reference and incentive. Facing such a perfect cultural mergence and innovation, we should study and learn it seriously in order to acquaint the coordination and coexistence between different cultures and make contribution to promote different cultural exchange.

4.3 Chinese Traditional Cultural Spirit in Western and Chinese Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication, including intercultural communication between ethnic, nations and the same kind of cultural exchange between different populations. It is mainly used to describe a integrated process of different cultures. Due to every country has a special nature of culture, in order to make a successful acrossing, knowing profound understanding to different countries is indispensable. In the movie, Dragon Fighter is a demonstration of the fatalism in Buddhism. However, in the western culture, when the King of ancient Israel inherited the throne, people had to put the oil on the head of the King, which symbolized that it was God’s blessing. And as time goes by, this custom transferred to the knowledge of that the Savoir of the world was the chosen one by god. This is another important characteristic of Christianity. The chosen of Dragon Fighter in the movie of Kung Fu Panda exactly interprets “the chosen one” from Christianity. The Kung Fu Panda is a combination of traditional spirit of Chinese and Western.

5. Conclusion

As the rapid development of the globalization, the function of culture becomes increasingly paramount. Intercultural communication also become more and more important. Through the study of the movie Kung Fu Panda,we can make a conclusion that Kung Fu Panda is a representative example of local culture symbol to be international and also a mirror to reflex the merger of Chinese and Western cultures.

“These years we have seen Western cultures pouring into our country and penetrating into every aspect of social life. The phenomenal success of Kung Fu Panda sounds the alarm bell for us, reminding us that the best things are already in our hands. Therefore, we urgently need to raise the home culture awareness. In this new era, no culture can exist without the influences of other cultures. Kung Fu Panda’s success in both Western and Eastern markets depends largely on its intercultural nature, namely,integrating Chinese and American cultures. In fact, it is acknowledged and shared by all cultures.”

China is now receiving considerable recognition from the rest of the world. Chinese culture, having been polished and precipitated for thousands of years, is now playing a significant role on the world stage. We should take this opportunity to establish a good image of our country, and step up efforts to spread our culture if we want to gain more influence internationally.

As Intercultural communication develops faster and faster,one of the most important things we have learned from Kung Fu Panda is that we should on the one hand carry forward the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation and must study Intercultural communication hardily. Because we want to communicate more effectively with people from other cultures. By interacting and integrating with diverse cultures, Chinese culture will show the world its unique splendor in a brand-new way.

The most attractive culture element in the movie Kung Fu Panda is food culture. Huaiyang cuisine is one of the four cuisines, which originated in two main cities--Huaian and Yangzhou. As a local of Huaian, therefore, next I try to make a further study on intercultural communication can be possibly developed from the aspect of the food culture of Huaian.

Works Cited

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