There are many ways to explore cultural conflicts, and film is a really effective carrier to show them。 Film works as an art form, based on image symbols instead of text symbols。 Compared with other art forms, it plays a very important role in mass communication。 It is easy for people to understand and accept。 What’s more, it brings audiences not only aesthetic experience but also cultural values。

As a matter of fact, the film The Joy Luck Club reflects very well the Chinese and American cultural conflicts by presenting the complicated mother-daughter relationships and conflicts。

2。 Literature Review

The movie The Joy Luck Club, based on Amy Tan’s 1989 best-selling novel, tells the story of four mothers, who were born in China and eventually moved to America, and their daughters, who are “banana people”。 The mothers establish a club called “the Joy Luck Club”, where they place the expectations of a better life。 It can be said to be the habitat of the traditional culture in mothers’ minds。 They enjoy themselves in the club, where they can wear Chinese clothes, chat with the mother tongue and play the Chinese mahjong。

Each  of the four Chinese women has a  daughter。 Nevertheless,  it’s  hard  for them  to

communicate with their American born daughters。 Obviously, this communication disorder partly comes from their different cultural backgrounds。 As we all know, different cultural backgrounds  give  rise  to  different  thinking and  values,  thus intercultural  communication 来自优W尔Y论W文C网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520,18766

barriers and conflicts frequently erupt。

In recent years, many Chinese scholars have devoted themselves to the study on the movie The Joy Luck Club and made abundant achievements。 They study the movie mainly from three aspects: mother-daughter relationship studies, identity research and feminism research。

In 2003, Liu Jun wrote a paper named “Terms of Endearment” which describes mother-daughter relationship directly。 Story structures and emotional stories between mothers and daughters are discussed in detail。

Another aspect of study on this film is to seek identity of Chinese Americans。 For example, “Today’s immigration New Role --- the new perception of the cultural identity of Chinese American in The Joy Luck Club”, written by Hu Yamin, analyzes that a new generation of Chinese Americans began to have curiosity and interest in their Chinese cultural identity with the acceleration of the process of global integration。

What’s more, the majority of the researches on this film are conducted from the view of feminism。 These studies explore the relationship between women, women’s perceptions of the world, and their awakening in consciousness。 Through these scholars’ investigations, we can know their angles and learn to use different views to explore the same text。

This paper makes an introduction of the movie and selects several typical plots in this movie to present the conflicts between mothers and daughters。 Then it further explores the reasons for these conflicts on languages and values。 Finally, it puts forward some ways to deal with these cultural conflicts。论文网

3。 Conflicts between Mothers and Daughters in The Joy Luck Club

Conflicts are the main plots in the film。 In other words, the mothers and their daughters have many conflicts because the two generations were born and raised in different circumstances and environments。 The mothers, born and educated in China, are greatly influenced by Chinese traditional culture, while their daughters, born and  brought up in   the

USA, have more American cultural identity。 Thus it is hard for the mothers and daughters to understand each other。