从迪士尼动画《花木兰》看中美文化差异

摘　要

本文旨在通过对比美国迪士尼改编的动画片《花木兰》和中国诗歌《木兰辞》来探讨中美文化的差异性。研究以花木兰为分析对象，从传统与自由；家族至上与个人至上；性别歧视与女权主义三个方面对中西文化差异进行比较与分析。采用的研究方法为文献分析法，对比分析法等。研究发现，美国木兰在从军中实现个人价值，而中国木兰在从军中为家族增添荣耀。因为美国文化与中国文化都有着鲜明的历史和名族特性，所以两者表达事物的方式也截然不同。研究认为，了解文化差异有助于我们更深层次的感受不同文化背景下的电影及文学。同时也能提升我们的跨文化交际能力。

关键词：电影；文化；花木兰；迪士尼

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyse Sino-US cultural differences which are based on the comparison between Disney cartoon Mulan and Chinese Ballad Mulan. The paper adopts the methods of comparison and analyzing materials to analyse the object Mulan in three aspects: tradition vs. freedom, family priority vs. individual priority and gender discrimination vs. feminism. The study finds that American Mulan realizes her own dream in joining army, but Chinese Mulan, adding the glory of family. Both Chinese and American own the obvious ethnic and historical characteristics, which leads to the different ways of expressing things. This paper approves that comprehending Sino-US cultural differences contributes to appreciating movies and literature in different backgrounds deeply. It also could improve our cross-cultural communication ability.

Key words: movie; culture; Fa Mulan; Disney.

1 Introduction

During more than one thousand years, the story of Mulan’s joining the army for replacing her father has been undergoing a series of manifestations, such as folk-songs, long and short poems, novels, theatres, etc. In the year of 1998, Chinese popular ballad The Mulan Ballad was shot by American Disney Company as a cartoon Mulan, Disney fashioned the girl from the 2000-year-old Chinese folktale, and filled with typical Disney delights-breathtaking visuals, catchy songs and an inspirational protagonist of courage and conviction. This movie examined the oriental story with the eye of American and carried out cultural shifts toward the original spiritual core of The Mulan Ballad with their American cultural orientation. According to different cultural values, the original story of Mulan in China stressed her absolute filial piety and loyalty while Disney had changed the story of filial piety into a story of self-realization. Visibly, the reason of the change is culture.