chapter-one-the-view-of-love-毕业论文.doc

青岛大学本科生毕业论文（设计）
毕业论文
Introduction

When talking about the famous sitcoms, many people will refer to “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman”. This is not hard to understand because both of them are very outstanding and successful sitcoms in America and China. Although the two sitcoms are very different in many aspects such as plot and release date, they have both perfectly mirrored the features of their ages and countries. Just because of this, we could clearly see both of the two countries’ cultural values via them and then feel the cultural differences between China and America.

“Friends” is an American sitcom screenplay by David Crane and Marta Kauffman which aired on NBC from Sep.22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. In total, it has 10 seasons, 236 episodes. The sitcom mainly tells about the interesting and humorous stories of six young friends (Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe) in an apartment of Manhattan, New York City. The life of the six friends is a vivid reflection of the life of American young people, so it attracts many audiences. What’s more, depending on its humorous words and ups and downs of the plot, “Friends” became famous very quickly.

“My Own Swordsman” is a Chinese costume piece screenplay by Ning Caishen which was released in the year 2006. In total, it has 80 episodes. The sitcom mainly tells about the interesting and humorous stories of six men with character (Bai Zhantang, Tong Xiangyu, Lv Xiucai, Guo Furong, Li Dazui and Zhu Wushuang) in a tavern called “Tong Fu Tavern”. The sitcom quickly became famous because of its nonsense and humorous plots. The audience rating of “My Own Swordsman” had once reached 7%. It is not hard to tell how popular “My Own Swordsman” is in that moment.

Cultural difference is a complicated topic, it refers to many aspects. With the development of globalization, cultural shock becomes a common phenomenon, especially for the young man. The two sitcoms “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman” mainly tell about the stories of the youth, so the cultural differences they reflect are mainly about the issues what the young people care. In this paper, the author chose to analyze the cultural differences between China and America in the following four aspects: the view of affection, the view of love, the view of friendship and the view of money. The four aspects are those the youth care the most. The author hopes to let people know the differences and then make suggestions for them on how to learn American and Chinese culture.

Chapter One The View of Love

This part discusses the different views of love between China and America. With the comparison of the two sitcoms “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman”, the author will analyze this question in the following four ways: the view of choose lover, the wedding, the conjugal relationship and the married life. And then guide people to choose the right view of love.

1.1 The Pandect

The different views of love between China and America typically reflect the different cultural traits of Chinese and American people. That is, the Chinese people are always meaning and conservative while the American people are outgoing and fancy free.

China has a history of over 5000 years, the golden mean of the Confusion school has a profound influence on the Chinese people, of course, it also determines the view of love. This makes the Chinese people meaning and conservative, they would like to hidden their feelings rather than express them. On the contrary, America is a newly-emerging nation, it has a history of only 300 years. The American culture is based on the ocean culture of the Ancient Greece tradition. The logical thinking and analytical thinking of Aristotle has a great influence on their thinking mode. Compared with the Chinese golden mean thought, the American people are more romantic and freedom. What they care about is the personality liberation. On the view of love, the American people are more open. They would like to do anything they want for their love, no matter how amazing it seems to be. We will dwell on this in the following sections.

1.2 The View of Choose Lover

1.2.1 Different standards of spouse selection in China and America

China and America have different standards of spouse selection. In China, when talking about the standard of spouse selection, we will always hear the following questions: “what’s your parents’ opinion?”, “Are you matched for marriage?” “Dose he have houses and cars?” “Is he a Gaofushuai?” While in America, these questions rarely mentioned. In “Friends”, the six protagonists all have changed many boyfriends or girlfriends. When talking about their boyfriends or girlfriends, we often hear about these descriptive words: funny, sweet, smart, pretty, handsome, especially the first two words.

Therefore, we could say that the standard of spouse selection in America is very simple, people would choose to go together only if they have common interests and love each other. But in China, the situation becomes very complicated. When thinking about marriage, the same interests and love are not the decisive factors. What really matters are your parents’ attitude and your family background. Based on historical records, Zhaocheng emperor of Wei dynasty has a descendant who was dismissed from his post just because he married a common people.(Textual Research of Law of Nine Dynasty). So we could see that be matched for marriage is very important in China. The next, let’s take “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman” for examples.

1.2.2 Take “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman” for examples

In “My Own Swordsman”, we could see the influence of parents’ attitude and family background on the marriage. In the first set, Tong Xiangyu was married to a man called Mr.Mo who she even didn’t know. This is the so-called arranged marriage. Unfortunately, her husband died a few days after marriage. In the old tradition, widow can’t remarry so she even had no right to love. In the 25set and 67set, Tong Xiangyu’s father and Guo Furong’s father came to Tongfu Tavern to intervene their daughter’s marriage. The six protagonists of course tried their best to let the two father satisfied because they are the crucial factor of their daughter’s marriage. Just because of this, we could make a conclusion that love each other is absolutely a key factor, but if the parents say no, the love will become worthless no matter how deep it is.

In “Friends”, we could also see the standard of spouse selection in America via some specific examples. For those who have watched the sitcoms, I believe that they must have a deep impression on the May-December relationship between Monica and Richard. Although their ages are not match, they still chose to marry because they love each other. It is just so simple. While the life after marriage was not very happy because they had a lot of disagreements, especially on the issue whether they should have a child or not. Finally, they chose to divorce. Not like most Chinese families, most Americans prefer to choose to divorce rather than still live together reluctantly. This is their standard of spouse selection.

1.3 The Wedding

1.3.1 The wedding ceremony

When talking about the Chinese wedding, people will always be impressed by its grand spectacle. In “My Own Swordsman”, there is only one wedding, but this only one wedding concluded all the factors of a typical Chinese wedding ceremony. The red and grand scene, the numerous guests, the grand banquet, the loud firecrackers, everything needed is ready. The atmosphere of the ceremony is lively and jazzy. Compared with the lively Chinese wedding ceremony, the American wedding ceremony seems to be more peaceful and solemn. Not too many people gathered in the church to bless the new couples. The ceremony is not grand, but warm and a little poetic. “Friends” described 5 wedding ceremonies, all of them are warm and solemn, making the audience feel comfortable. Especially Ross and Rachel’s wedding. Although there was no audience, the mood is very warm. We could deeply feel the purity of love.

Frankly speaking, this differences itself is very interesting. The conservative Chinese people would like to hold a grand and lively wedding ceremony. They act out of normal behavior, showing us the other side of their personality. On the contrary, the jazzy Americans choose to hold a peaceful and quiet wedding ceremony, they also show the other side of their personality. We could find many reasons to explain the odd phenomenon, such as the religious belief, the geographic differences. But I think this phenomenon itself has become a culture, the wedding culture.

1.3.2 The wedding fee

There is another interesting difference between Chinese and American wedding, that is the wedding fee. First, the guests attending the wedding ceremony in China must prepare a red packet (money inside, at least 100yuan) for the new couples While in America, the guests usually bring a common gift for the wedding ceremony. Second, in China, the couple usually pay for the wedding fee together. Because of the red packets, the real fee they need to pay is not a very large number. While in America, the wedding fee is totally paid by the wife. This probably will never happen in China, but in America, this is a common sense.

1.4 The Conjugal Relationship

1.4.1 The property relations

In China, the property is in charge of one person, usually the one is the wife. In “My Own Swordsman”, Tong Xiangyu and Gu Furong took charge of the money. This reflects two phenomenon. The first, although the property is in charge by one person, the property belongs to both of them. It seems to be unequal, but it perfectly explains their firm conjugal relationship. The property ties the two couples together. The second, the females are more frugal and careful than those careless men. They are good at taking charge of the money.

In America, people always take charge of their money. What’s more, they always buy their own things with their own money. A fragment in “Friends” wonderfully explains this phenomenon. One day, Chandler bought a hamburger and a cup of coca-cola after refuel and then went back into the car. Monica was in his car at that time, but he even didn’t ask if she want some to eat. I couldn’t understand his behavior at that moment, but gradually I found out that they are economic independent. One would not buy things forwardly for the other. If they need something, they would buy it by themselves.

1.4.2 The transparency of the couple

In China, there is little transparency between the two couples. Except for the work houses, the couples almost stay together for the whole day. While in America, the couples have their each leisure time. Besides, they respect the other’s privacy very much. In America, the wife will never check their husband’s cell phones and pockets. This is impossible in China.

In fact, the conjugal relationship can perfectly reflects a country’s cultural connotation. Generally speaking, the Chinese couples are like a true love knot weaved by a whole red gimp. The true love knot is not only firm and beautiful but also integrity. On the other hand, the American couples are like two encountered creeks. The two creeks are not only casual but also confluent.

1.5 The Married Life

1.5.1 The affection after marriage

In China, there is an old saying “marriage is the tomb of love”. But in America, this saying is not fit. “The lifestyle of Chinese people is under the demands of the public and other people, love and sex is a kind of lifestyle so it must be limited. For an American, he could ignore anything when he fell in love, while for an Chinese people, he must care about many things not only love.”(XuHuoguangliang Chinese and American People).

1.5.2 Attitudes towards divorce

The Chinese people live by their responsibilities and family relations after marriage, while the American live by their feelings whenever. In their concept, the marriage without love is an evil marriage. So they would like to divorce when they no longer love each other. But in China, we have a lot of things can’t leave besides love, such as the children, the public opinion and so on.

Let’s take “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman” for examples. In “Friends”, Ross had divorced for three times. In their mind, they would divorce if they no longer feel happy. They would still be friends after divorce. Ross and Rachel got divorced the second day after they got married Although their marriage itself is a farce, this thing reflects American people’s attitude towards divorce.

There is an old saying goes “The wife who shared her husband’s hard lot must never be cast aside”. This reflects Chinese people’s attitude towards divorce. When the couple quarreled with each other, they will always think about their past. The Chinese people are affectionate, they would like to live in the sorrow rather than kick down the ladder. In “My Own Swordsman”, Tong Xiangyu would like to bear rather than complain about her husband. After her husband died, she still took care of his younger sister Mo Xiaobei. So we could see that the Chinese people are affectionate and hate divorce.

1.5.3 The sexual life

In China, people rarely talk about this topic. Actually, sexual life is a very important part in the conjugal relationship. In America, people see sex as daily routines. We could see from “Friends” that the American people never regard sex as a taboo. In China, many women wouldn’t like to talk about this question. After marriage, they still feel very shy when making love with her husband. This reflection restrained the orgasm and then influenced the sexual life of the couples. Many Chinese male complain that their wife behaved like a wood when making love. In America, there is a wired phenomenon that a woman can’t leave a man just because this man can make her orgasm. When the couples quarreled with each other, the man will always say “Wouldn’t you want to make love?” At this time, the women will stop complain and hug her husband.

Chapter Two The View of Affection

In this chapter, I will discuss the different views of affection in China and America. According to the comparison of the two sitcoms “Friends” and “My Own Swordsman”, I will analyze the differences of the view of affection in the following three ways: the means of expression, the parents-children relationship, the relationship between siblings.

2.1 The Means of Expression

2.1.1 Words >deeds

In expressing our love to our parents, the American people are typically those who talk the talk better than they walk to walk. We could often see someone kiss their parents or say “I love you” to them in “Friends”, this is their way to show their love towards their parents. It is like routines. Compared with their words, their deeds seem to be inferior.