论文总字数：27464字

摘 要

长期以来，同性恋现象都被涂上一层神秘的色彩。由于不同的文化背景和社会习俗，中西方对同性恋的态度也不同。本文以前人对同性恋现象的研究为基础，综合其它一些对电影《喜宴》的研究，从电影情节，电影脚本和电影中的人物行为等角度分析电影中表现出来的同性恋现象，探讨中国和美国对待同性恋的态度差异，以期有助于加强人们对中西方对于同性恋的不同态度的理解。作者同时还试图从家庭观念，婚姻观念和文化背景等方面探究引起态度差异的因素，目的在于通过分析电影中表现出来的中西方对待同性恋的不同态度，使人们更好的理解双方的文化差异，促进文化融合。

关键词：同性恋；《喜宴》；态度差异；

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Studies on homosexuality 2

2.2 Studies on The Wedding Banquet 3

3. Different Attitudes Reflected in the Movie to Homosexuality 3

3.1 Different attitudes reflected in the plots 4

3.2 Different attitudes reflected in the actors" lines 5

3.3 Different attitudes reflected in the actions 6

4. The Influential Factors of Different Attitudes to Homosexuality 6

4.1 Value of family 7

4.2 Value of marriage 8

4.3 Cultural background 9

5. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 11

1. Introduction

Homosexuality is a phenomenon that a person who is sexually attached to people of the same sex. Homosexuality is a social phenomenon with a long history. It has always been hidden in the society. In some countries, it is regarded as a taboo subject. However, the phenomenon of homosexuality has always existing since ancient times. The attitudes of Chinese and Western people to homosexuality vary a lot. In western countries, people show more tolerance and respect while people in China can’t completely understood and accepted.

The Wedding Banquet, a very famous film directed by Ang Lee, a Chinese director, was released in 1993. It tells a story among Gao Weitong, Simon, Weiwei, Mr. and Mrs. Gao. Gao Weitong, a Taiwanese youth, cohabits with his American boyfriend Simon in the Unit States. Although Gao Weitong is a Chinese, he has lived in the Unite States for several years. Hence, to some extent, Gao Weitong’s ideas and concepts are influenced by American cultures. Simon is native-born American. Weiwei who is a Chinese female artist lives in the house of Gao Weitong in the Unit States. She is a modern independent woman, whose thoughts are also influenced by American cultures. Gao Weitong is always urged to get married by his traditional Chinese parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gao. Under the pressure, Gao Weitong and Simon want Weiwei to pretend to marry Gao Weitong. Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Gao come to United States to attend their son’s wedding. They have to accept the fact his son is a gay as well.

This thesis aims to help people have a better understanding of the differences between Chinese and American cultures and make better cross-cultural communication by analyzing the different attitudes of Chinese and American to homosexuality reflected in The Wedding Banquet. The thesis consists of five chapters: chapter one gives readers a brief introduction of homosexuality and The Wedding Banquet; chapter two describes the review of previous studies on homosexuality and The Wedding Banquet; chapter three analyzes the different attitudes reflected in The Wedding Banquet; chapter four puts forward three influential factors of different attitudes and chapter five summarizes the whole thesis and discusses how to deal with the conflicts caused by different cultures.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Studies on homosexuality

Most previous studies have focused on the psychological cause of homosexuality. Many experts also expressed their views of homosexuality. “The same is a natural property. Physical aspect of fertility make people love the opposite sex while spiritual aspect of fertility make people love the same sex. The essential difference of the two love is that the formal is designed to reproduce the human race while the latter aims to create beauty.” (Zhu Guangqian 2007：81) According to Plato’s point of view, it seems that it is easy to find that homosexuality than heterosexuality for mankind offers more possibilities of love. Foucault said “Homosexuality brings a new way of life and a new mode of existence. It is an aesthetic way of modern life.” (Li Yinhe 2002：455) Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, denied that homosexuality is immoral and he said “homosexuality is the perversion of sexual roles.” (Li Weixia 2013：101) Socrates said “ it could be accepted that two adult men to share the pleasure of sex.” (Li Weixia 2013：213) “The homosexuality is just a different sexual orientation and lifestyle. It is not only the view agreed by some gays, but also should be hold by a large part of other people in modern society.” (Harvey 1997：278)

Yan Youwei and Xu Yongzheng once made a survey about the attitudes to homosexuality. They found that eighty percent of people who were surveyed thought homosexual acts are abnormal(Yan Youwei et al. 2002：645). Another survey made by Tao Lin and Zhou Hong showed that fifty-seven percent of people who were surveyed hold that homosexuality was a kind of disease(Tao Lin et al. 2001：475). This thesis focuses on the study of different attitudes between American and Chinese to homosexuality in order to help people further know the differences of American and Chinese cultures and make better cross-cultural communication.

2.2 Studies on The Wedding Banquet

Many scholars have done some studies on The Wedding Banquet. They also express their own views. “The conflicts of Chinese and American cultures which is expressed in The Wedding Banquet can help readers have a better understanding of the differences of two cultures.” (Yang Lu et al. 2011：47) “The Wedding Banquet not only discusses the homosexuality, but also reflects the conflicts of Chinese and American cultures.” (Yu Dian 2008：40) “Ang Lee presents the tendency of the blending of Chinese and American cultures by The Wedding Banquet.” (Ji Beibei 2008：165) “Every plot the movie reflects Chinese traditional cultures, including the concept of family and marriage.” (Li Youran 2013：92) “The Wedding Banquet explores the differences of the social system, the concept of ethics and relationships between Chinese and American cultures.” (Wei Xiaojun 2012：48) “The movie focuses on the homosexuality which is a widely concerned topic in modern society. As a director, Ang Lee presents the profound histories and cultures of China and America on a broader perspective.” (Li Youran 2013：92)

3. Different Attitudes Reflected in the Movie to Homosexuality

In The Wedding Banquet, Gao Weitong is a Chinese man who lives in American and falls in love with an American Simon. This phenomenon is not abnormal and does not need be covered up in American, so in the film, Weiwei and other people don’t think Gao and Simon are freaks. In Chinese, many people’s attitudes to homosexuality are oppressed, and there is no law specifically statement to protect the legitimate rights of gay, so the gays in the society, to a certain degree, are confronted with discrimination and oppression. Most importantly, Gao is the only child in his Chinese family, he is responsible for the procreation of his family, so Gao’s parents who is Chinese couple can’t completely understand and accept the fact that their son is a gay. However, in American cultures, people can respect different things and believe that everyone has rights to pursue beauty.“We have to admit that homosexuality is in line with the pursuit of beauty. Moreover, the appreciation and pursuit of beauty should be no nationality and gender-specific.” (Morrison 2001: 179) All men are born equal and free, people know that they should accept and respect the gays, they praise highly emphasis on individualism.

3.1 Different attitudes reflected in the plots

Most American people can respect and understand the phenomenon of homosexuality. Some plots of The Wedding Banquet reflect the different attitudes of Chinese and American people to homosexuality. For example, although Weiwei agrees to pretend to marry Gao Weitong in order to get the green card, as a matter of fact, she still falls in love with Gao Weitong. Most importantly, after Weiwei knows that Gao Weitong is a gay, she doesn’t treat Gao Weitong as a freak and alienate him. From this plot, it is obvious that Weiwei can understand and accept homosexuality instead of thinking it a very amazing thing. In The Wedding Banquet, Simon falls in love with Gao Weitong and lives with him. And he tells his father the whole thing without any hesitation. All these details in the movie can indicate that Simon himself and his father can understand and accept the homosexuality.

However, in The Wedding Banquet, Chinese people show different attitudes to homosexuality. The first plot is that Simon could come up with the idea that advising Gao Weitong to pretend to marry Weiwei in order to deceive Mr. and Mrs. Gao. This plot can indicate that Simon and Gao Weitong have known that Mr. and Mrs. Gao can’t understand and accept the homosexuality. The second plot is that after everyone knows the truth, Mrs. Gao doesn’t agree Weiwei to have a abortion. In the movie, after Mr. and Mrs. Gao knowing the truth, Weiwei feels very sorry to them. Weiwei thinks Gao Weitong and Simon, including herself are too selfish since they do not take the feelings of the parents into account. Therefore, she decides to go to hospital for having an abortion. When Weiwei and Gao Weitong are ready to leave for hospital, Mrs. Gao makes great effort to follow them to prevent her from aborting. For Mrs. Gao, the baby is very important for her family. Most importantly, she believes that if Gao Weitong has a child, he will not be a gay. In other words, Mrs. Gao wants her son to be a normal person. From all these details, it is obvious that Mr. and Mrs. Gao, the representative of traditional Chinese, can’t accept the homosexuality even discriminate the people who are gays.

3.2 Different attitudes reflected in the actors’ lines

Many lines of the character in The Wedding Banquet reflect the different attitudes between American and Chinese to homosexuality. In the movie, Gao Weitong goes to Weiwei’s house for rent and when he is leaving, Weiwei says “please say hello to Simon for me and tell him that he has found a handsome and rich boyfriend, I want to find a boyfriend like you”. From these words, it is not difficult to see that Weiwei treat Gao Weitong and Simon as common people, in other words, Weiwei accepts and respects the fact that Gao Weitong and Simon are gays.

Another scene in the movie is that Gao Weitong is writing the file received from his mother Mrs. Gao about information of marriage. Simon says,“ Does it need to be paid? why don’t you tell them directly? I have already told my father about our things. Shit!” while Gao Weitong answers, “Yes, but how could I tell them?” In The Wedding Banquet, Gao Weitong meets a Chinese girl. When the meeting found by Weiwei, Weiwei says, “poor Simon!” Gao Weitong smiles and says, “Simon, oh! Simon! How is he?” The reaction and words of Gao Weitong imply that he pretends to be unfamiliar with Simon. In other words, he is not willing to let Maomei know that he is a gay in that if Maomei knows that he is a gay, his parents will also know the fact. From the above words, different attitudes can also be detected: Simon can tell his father directly without any worry and hesitation since he knows his father can accept and respect the homosexuality. However, as for Gao Weitong, he knows clearly his parents’ attitudes to the fact their son is a gay and their disapproval to the relationship between him and Simon, so he chooses not to tell them at the beginning of movie and even pretends to marry Weiwei.

After Mrs. Gao knows that Simon is the lover of her son, she asks him whether he has any brother or sister. When she knows that Simon has two sisters, she says, “Are they also freaks?” What’s more, in the climax of the movie, when Mr. Gao is in the hospital, Gao Weitong tells Mrs. Gao that he is a gay and Simon is his lover. Mrs. Gao cries and says, “don’t tell it to your father, he can not stand this thing.” It is easy to see that Mrs. Gao can’t believe the truth that her son is a gay. All these words indicate that Mr. and Mrs. Gao can’t understand and accept the homosexuality.

3.3 Different attitudes reflected in the actions

Not only can the plots and scripts in the movie reflect the different attitudes between American and Chinese to the homosexuality, the characters’ actions can also reflect the differences.

In the movie, Weitong meets a Chinese girl called Maomei. When the meeting found by Weiwei, she shouted at Gao Weitong and says, “poor Simon! I sympathize him!” Weiwei’s action implies her angry and sympathy for Simon because she thinks Gao Weitong should be loyal to Simon. In other words, Weiwei regards them as normal lovers. At the wedding, Simon cleans Gao Weitong’s mouth without any shyness and shame. From these actions, it can be inferred that American attitudes to homosexuality is not very opposed.

However, after Gao Weitong knows his parents will come to America, he replaces the photo of him and Simon with the photo of him and Weiwei. Moreover, after Gao Weitong knows that Weiwei decides to have a abortion, Gao Weitong lets her not to tell his father. What’s more, even after Mrs. Gao knows the truth that their son loves Simon, she still does not agree with Weiwei to have a abortion because she hopes that her son can choose to live with Weiwei rather than Simon. At the end of the movie, Mr. and Mrs. Gao are ready to return to China. At the airport, they are looking at wedding photos. When Mr and Mrs Gao are seeing the photos of their son and Weiwei, they are very happy. Nevertheless, when they see the photos of their son and Simon, they close the album immediately. From all these details, it can also be easily found that this traditional Chinese couple are not willing to accept the fact their son is a gay.

4. The Influential Factors of Different Attitudes to Homosexuality

4.1 Value of family

“The family is a processing plant of human, it manufactures the necessary factor of heart development for every person and trains them into functional members of society” (Hus 1981：76). However, Chinese and American values of family have their own distinctive features.

In Chinese value of family, people almost live as a part of the family. The family is the basic unit of society. On the one hand, the value of each member is reflected by the whole family and the interest of family is more important than individual interest. On the other hand, in a family, the role of father makes father absolutely authoritative, so father tends to impose his own will, especially the concept of prolonging the generation line, to their children. In the movie, Gao Weitong is the only child of the family, so Mr. Gao wants his son to marry and have a child as soon as possible. Moreover, Chinese people praise highly emphasis on filial piety as their family ethnics. Filial piety is an important factor in maintaining the order of the whole family. Filial piety, reflected in a family, means to respect the elderly and satisfy their requirements as far as possible. In fact, the primary meaning of filial piety is obedience which makes children in the family obey their parents completely. Mengzi, a famous Chinese scholar, once said,“there are three unfilial things in China, the first one is not having a son.” In The Wedding Banquet, the identity of veterans makes Gao’s father a person with deep-rooted traditional family values. Hence, Gao’s father is not only a family member but also a symbol of Chinese traditional culture in the movie. He looks forward to having a grandson, so he insists on urging Gao to marry soon even when he is in hospital. Therefore, Mr. Gao is very opposed to the fact that his son Weitong is a gay. This is also the reason why Gao Weitong chooses to pretend to marry Weiwei instead of telling his parents the truth.

In American value of family, independence is the main feature of an adult. Every family member has his or her own ideas and is responsible for his or her own destiny. In American family, children are developed the awareness of independence from an early age. The center of life of American is not the family or kinship. No one expects to rely on the family. “He can invite all family members to celebrate his happiness, but he can not require the family to share his misfortune.” (Xu Langguang 1990: 238) American people praise highly emphasis on individualism, which is regarded as their family ethnics. Individualism is also an important part in American culture. In American family, all family members have rights to do what they want to do and they know that each member should respect others. American people focus more on personal feelings. They can choose to live with their own will because American parents will not try to control their children. Therefore, in The Wedding Banquet, Simon is not urged to marry by his parents and is able to choose the way of life in according to his individual will. As the result, in America, few think homosexuality is ridiculous or intolerable. What’s more, influenced by this concept, Weiwei can understand the feeling between Gao Weitong and Simon and accept it naturally.

4.2 Value of marriage

In China, the aim of marriage is procreation: marriage is related to interests of family. Therefore, to a large extend, family has an inherent power to control the marriage. Hence, the aim of the marriage directly leads to the view of mate-selecting. In the movie, the first meeting of Mr. Gao and Weiwei, he asks her many questions about her family and says, “she has strong fertility.” In the face of the mate-selecting, Chinese people would consider more about objective factors, for example, the condition of family and education background. All these traditional Chinese values of marriage directly result in that Gao Weitong, an adult with good health and business success, doesn’t marry with a woman must be worried and urged by his Chinese parents and relatives. It is a very common thing that parents want their son to marry and have children when their son grows up and become independent in China. However, Mr. and Mrs. Gao do not meet their desires at the beginning of the movie, because their son Gao Weitong is a gay and have an American boyfriend. The homosexuality is not admitted in Chinese traditional value. In Chinese traditional cultures, the phenomenon of homosexuality contradicts the aim of marriage, so homosexuality is abnormal and is difficult to accept by the public.

However, in America, people’s marriage mostly be based on love. On the one hand, people marry for love, never for tradition. American people think that marriage is an absolutely private thing and no one has a power to interfere with. On the other hand, marriage is not a moral issue. Everyone has the right to choose to live with his favorite person together. Once the existing marriage is a mistake, or something with the existing marriage is wrong, everyone is entitled to a second choice. If one of the couple falls in love with other people, neither would be condemned. People think that forcing two people without love to live together is very cruel. Love is the essential factors in the family. Two people build a family only because of love. The aim of marriage in America is to pursue happiness. Therefore, in The Wedding Banquet, Simon can live with Gao Weitong without worrying anything, because love is the most important in his mind. Most Americans think homosexuality is a natural and private thing, and Weiwei, who is influenced by American culture, is even very angry when she knows that Gao Weitong makes an appointment with another woman because she thinks that Gao should be loyal to Simon.

4.3 Cultural background

Chinese long history and culture makes many things bound. The cultural values are also more introverted and conservative. Chinese had been a feudal society for more than two thousands years and the farming economic was given priority to self-sufficient. It seldom contacted with new culture and things. Such cultural background make Chinese people are less able to accept new things. In the movie, Gao Weitong who is a Taiwanese does real estate business in New York, he has stable income and career, his identity of a gay doesn’t affect his life. However, if Gao Weitong was a gay in China, no matter how good his ability is, he will only be considered heresy and it is difficult for him to survive and develop in China. Therefore, in the movie, when Mrs Gao knows that her son is a gay she is very sad and can not accept this shameful thing. The same time, in order not to hurt Mr.Gao, she tells Gao Weitong not to let his father know this thing.

American is an immigration country with a short story. Compared to traditional Chinese, American is more open. As a result, new cultures are much easier to be accepted. Every nation in America more or less maintains their own traditions and national characters so that the American culture presents different content and distinctive characters. The diversity of American culture has great influence on American people. In addition, western philosophy also has a great influence on them. Therefore, people pursue individual liberalism and commend human values and promote the free development of personality. In such cultural background, American can easily accept and understand new things. The agreement of homosexuality in American society doesn’t mean recognition of it, but American believe that everyone can choose their life and they respect individualism. Hence, the gays can have more freedom to appear in American society.

5. Conclusion

The Wedding Banquet is a comedy movie. The way of facing the homosexuality in the movie reflects the cultural conflict between American and Chinese. The movie also arouses the in-depth discussion of the homosexuality and reveals the profound connotation of American and Chinese cultures. This thesis has a range of comparative analysis of Chinese and American culture by The Wedding Banquet. It is can be clearly seen that different attitudes to the homosexuality in this complicated story reflect the values and characteristics of western countries and China, such as Chinese filial piety and the concept of family and western individualism. In addition, it also shows readers the differences of Chinese relatively conservative traditional culture and western cultural diversity and openness characteristics. According to the analysis, people can know more about the phenomenon of homosexuality and understand the differences of culture between Chinese and American better. And it can also help language learners to develop their own cross-cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity. As we all know that with the development of globalization, it is possible for Chinese culture and American culture to blend and integrate. “Accepting the western cultures doesn’t mean western cultures can replace Chinese cultures.” (Chen Jingzhu 2006：7) The Chinese philosophy of the golden mean emphasizes the development together on the basis of respect. People can’t go to extremes when they are confronted with different things, they accept new things at last by seeking a balance. The golden mean is the essence of Chinese traditional culture, which reflects Chinese people’s wisdom and tolerance of meeting different thoughts and values. In other words, people should accept and respect other things which are different with ours. People should know everyone has rights to choose their own life and respect individualism. Remember that everything in this world exists for any reasons.

Therefore, it is really useful for people to have a comprehensive analysis of The Wedding Banquet, so that readers can better comprehend homosexuality and differences of Chinese and western cultures and understand their cultural backgrounds, most importantly, people know how to deal with the conflicts when they are confronted with different cultures.

Works Cited

Harvey, J. F. The Homosexual Person. New York: Ignatius Press, 1997.

Hsu, Francis L.K. Americans and Chinese-passage to Differences. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981.

Morrison David. Beyond Gay. New York: Spence Publishing 2001.

陈敬著. 《赛珍珠与中国----中西文化冲突与共融》. 南京：南开大学出版社, 2006.

Freud著，李伟霞译.《性学三论与爱情心理学》. 武汉：武汉出版社, 2013.

季蓓蓓.《碰撞与融合-浅谈lt;喜宴gt;中的文化内涵》. 太原城市职业技术学院学报,6(2008)：165-165.

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