安娜与国王赏析.doc

刘方文 外101-3
201054501318
The analysis about the culture conflicts in the film---
Anna and the King

Anna and the King based on a story of an English widow who going to Thailand with her son and teaching King’s sons English. The story happened in the middle of the 19th century in Thailand. It reflects the conflicts of culture between west and east.
The first difference existed in human rights. In the western word most countries has moved into capitalist society .Western people possess the value of equality; while Thailand still stayed in feudal society .They rank people by their gender and social state. In the film I notice this scene When Anna met the prime minister of Thailand for the first time, she was called “sir”, which made her confused. Until others told her that girls must go down on their knees when meeting the primer. Although she had been advised to touch forehead to floor and bow down to the king, she insisted on greeting in the way of her own custom. What is more, When Anna saw a slave being asked outside. She felt unfair and angry. She did her best to request king to release her. She thought each human being should be equal,no rank and everybody has their right to pursuit their freedom. Princess Chulalongkorn is effected by his teacher and treat other respectful and equally.
The second conflict happened in personal communication.When Anna met primer for the first time. Primer asked a series of personal questions. Anna stressed that her purpose was to teach king’s son, As for the personal questions it’s out of her duty and unnecessary. However, asking personal questions first is a gesture to be polite and friendly. Because westerners pursue individualism and value the importance of privacy, which is different from Thailand’ custom. People do not care about some personal privacy. They are willing to tell others their own private information.
The difference in concept of time is another culture shock in this movie. After Anna came to Siam, she wasn’t called in until the third week. Prime minister think that everything has its own time in Siam and it will resolve itself in time. However, in Anna’s mind, it has nothing to do with the time. It is about keep promise.
In this film we can find a lot fresh example about the culture differences between the west and the east. when two different cultures meet conflicts may happen. But we can also find that two different cultures accept and learn from each other, which promote the development of culture further.