2。 Literature Review

     The relationship between films and culture involves a complicated dynamic。 Chinese scholar, Guo Qingguang has pointed out in his book Journalism & Communication that films entered the historical arena on the dissemination of mass culture at the very start (Guo 4)。 Against the background of globalization, films have gradually become an important medium or means of cross-cultural communication。 Compared with other media, such as newspaper, telegraph and so on, films are more likely to be accepted by most people due to its vivid and intuitive features。 Especially up to late 20th century, many Chinese scholars did a lot of analysis on the relationship between films and culture。 Generally speaking, films can be regarded as an art, also the production of culture。 There are many reasons to explain it。 Belton has claimed in his book Movies and Mass Culture that a film is a means of expression, a language and an art, based on modern technology (Belton 78)。 It is a visual medium and focuses on characters in dramatic confrontations。 Due to this, films gradually become one of the most popular forms of art。 What is more important is that we can see different points of views of the others, especially different cultures of the other parts of the world。 During the same period, many foreign scholars also did a lot of research on this topic。 They thought that films and culture are inseparable。 Just like Vivian said in his book The Persistence of History: Cinema, Television, and the Modern Event “Films have a cultural function: they affirm and maintain the culture of which they are part; they present a portrait of national life” (Vivian 26)。 So, it is not surprising for us to see so many cultural differences。 To sum up, films show us a re-imagined, re-invented version of the real society。 Nowadays people pay more attention to cultural studies which aim to analyze phenomena from traditional poems, dramas, novels, and films。

      This thesis will take the film A Grandson from America as an example to explore cultural phenomena。 Before that, there are many scholars have done some researches on this film。 For example, Meng Gaizheng’s Local Affections under the Background of Globalization---Cultural Analysis from Shanxi Low Budget Film A Grandson from America。 The author analyzes the film in three aspects: family ethic, folk custom, nonmaterial culture。 Wu Xu and Zhou Yong’s The Dilemma, Inheritance and Consideration of Chinese Folk Art from A Grandson from America。 The thesis analyzes the status quo and development of the shadow play to call on people to protect and promote the Chinese traditional folk art。 Huang Fang’s Intercultural Adaptation from A Grandson from America。 The author puts forward the phenomenon named “culture shock” against the background of globalization as well as how to conquer it to carry on intercultural communication。 As a matter of fact, the comparative study of the film and culture is a very complicated and difficult task。 I will analyze this film in perspective of cultural differences and fusion from three aspects: language differences, dietary differences and value conflicts。 This thesis will let us learn about different cultures and enhance our intercultural communication competence。

3。Language Differences and Fusion from A Grandson from America

Nowadays, it is very necessary for us to understand the way of living or culture of foreign people in order to live better in the world full of conflicting ideas and value systems。 However, to enter into another culture, we must know the language of that culture。 It can be said that language acts as a gateway to culture。 Language is culturally filtered and originated; culture and thoughts can be conveyed by a language (Shi 77)。 Culture would not be possible without language。 On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture。 Therefore, different languages reflect different cultures。