论文总字数：33385字

摘 要

不同的文化孕育了不同的文化价值观，每个国家的文化价值观都不相同。家庭价值观是文化价值体系的核心，它对每个家庭成员都有着非常重要的作用。随着世界全球化的不断发展, 美国与中国的跨文化交际越来越多。通过对美国家庭价值观的了解，我们可以更好地理解美国文化，更好地进行跨文化交际。本论文主要以电影《少年时代》为基础，从历史和宗教两个方面分析形成美国家庭价值观的原因，了解家庭价值观的定义，并从美国家庭的家庭结构，家庭成员关系，婚姻观和教育观来论述美国的家庭价值观，然后进一步提出美国家庭价值观可以给中国家庭带来的启示，有助于我们更好的了解美国家庭和美国文化。

关键词：家庭价值观；少年时代；家庭结构；婚姻观；教育观；

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Definition of Family Values 3

4. The Causes of the Formation of American Family Values 4

4.1 History 4

4.2 Religion 5

5. Family Values from Boyhood 6

5.1 Family Structure 6

5.2 Family Relationship 7

5.3 Marriage 9

5.4 Education 10

6. Enlightenment to Chinese Family Values 11

7. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

In modern society, the most influential way of mass media is film. People can learn more culture from different countries through films. At the same time, with the deep development of economic globalization, intercultural contact is becoming increased significantly. The USA is a world power and its economical and cultural communication with China increasing frequency. So Culture, as the soft power, is becoming more and more important. Lack of understanding may cause bias, bias may cause misunderstanding, and misunderstanding may cause conflicts or even wars (Zhou 1). Also, in recent years, more and more students go to America for further study. Most of them choose to live in the homes of local residents. In order to avoid conflicts as much as possible, it is significant for Chinese to understand American family and American culture. Family is where people get their start in life. No matter where in the world, family plays an important role in the society. Family value is a cultural element and also the core in the research of cultural values, which reflects the American culture aptly. So if we can fully understand American family value, we can get a better sense of American culture.

Boyhood is an American film in 2014. The director Richard Linklater writes the script of the film. It takes the director 12 years to finish the film with the same cast. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of the growth of a boy who is called Mason. Linklater and his team would take a few weeks each year to shoot the film from 2002 to 2014, essential filming another chapter in the fictional family’s life. The film depicts the childhood and adolescence of the character Mason Evans from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Taxes with his family. The film also records the lives of the people around and the changes of the main characters in the film. It can represent living styles and family values of America and make people learn about American family values directly. This thesis focuses on analyzing the modern American family values from this film and also analyzing the causes of the formation of American family values.

2. Literature Review

Values are persons’ views or beliefs to their surrounding world. They are formed in people’s family at the beginning and change rarely with the growth of people. Values have a great effect on people’s actions, beliefs, dreams and life goals. Simply, family values are the views of family member to family affairs, such as the views of marriage, the views of education, how to get along with family members and so on. American family values have been studied by many scholars from home and abroad. Many theses focus on comparing traditional Chinese family values with American family values. In the past years, many students like analyzing the differences between Chinese family values and American family values from the famous novel The Joy Luck Club. For example, Luo Yanli from the Three Gorges University studied different family values in Chinese and American cultures on the basis of The Joy Luck Club. In her article, Hofstede’s value dimensions are applied to explain the reasons of differences. Some students prefer to study the differences of family values in America and China from movies. Yang Lu and Zha Wenjuan from Beijing International Study University studied the differences in the film The Wedding Banquet from the family structure and the status of husband and wife in family. Zou Yunlai from Tianjin University of Technology writes a thesis about the family values of Breaking Glass by Damae Roberts. This thesis analyzes the causes to the family clashes from the aspect of family value differences between Chinese and Americans.

Some people only study American family values. But the material that he studied is very old-fashioned. Just like Yin Xing analyzes the values of independence and equality in American family in 1922 from a book called Main-travelled Roads describes the hard life of rural households in the Midwest of America. The world is changing, so American family values does. But few scholars concentrate only on American family values in modern society. Boyhood is a new film and it mainly depicts the growth of the character Mason and his family. Analyzing American family values in Boyhood can tell us the actual state of American family and American culture and be good for cross-cultural communication.

3. The Definition of Family Values

Family values incorporate two words: family and values. Only can we understand the two words, we can make a full sense of family values.

First of all, what is family? Families are the quintessential institution of a nation, providing both biological and social continuity as they simultaneously shape, and are shaped by, the larger society. Families are also the locus of consumption, savings, and some production activities that are vital to people’s overall economic well being, and they bear special responsibilities for nurturing and educating the nation’s future work force. According to the United States Bureau of the Census, family is a group of two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption. However, by this definition, unmarried people, either heterosexual or homosexual, living together and foster families are excluded, and it is disagreeable to many. American families have changed in many aspects over the past years. So does the definition of family. In the past, the family was defined as a group of people who are related to one another by bonds of blood, marriage, or adoption and who live together, form an economic unit, and bear and raise children. According to this definition, families were created through childbearing, and it was the parent-child relationship that links generation (Wang 153). With the development of economic, the family of America has changed a lot and appears many different family models, so the concept of family has changed too. Now families are defined as relationship in which people live together with commitment, form an economic unit and care for the young, and consider the group critical to their identity. This kind of definition combines diverse living agreements and relationships such as single-parent households, same-sex couples, cohabiting unmarried couples, and a family with several generations.

At the same time, family values are important parts of culture values. Values are the most important factors to decide family values in the modern society. In order to comprehend the concept of family values, we need to know what value is. Value is a value appraisal system or relatively fixed evaluation of all kinds of things, which is also called value orientation. In the book American Society and Culture, Wang Enming says values are ideals about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, normal and abnormal, proper and improper. This definition gives us an intuitive feeling of value. Value exists in our minds and guides us to think about the surrounding world. Value is the represent of culture and the core of communicative culture. At the basis of the above explanation of family and value, we can know that family values are the behaviors of family members, living criteria and also the standard which measures these behaviors. It is the value passed on from generations to generations within families which is the moral and ethical principle.

4. The Causes of the Formation of American Family Values

4.1History

The United States is an immigrant country which has a short history. But it is the short history that contributed to the unique culture it has. The first settlers from Europe came to North American continent to establish colonies which were free from the controls that existed in European societies. At that time, many, many European people couldn’t endure the interposition and oppression in Europe. They wanted to escape the controls and restrictions placed on many aspects of their lives by Kings, churches, priests, governments and authorities. In those circumstances, freedom was more valuable than their lives to them. They chose to adventure across the Atlantic Ocean and began their new life in North America. Americans thinks that freedom means the desire and the right of all individuals to determine their own destinies. It was that time freedom became the most sonorous and inveterate value of Americans and family values of the colonies was gradually forming.

In 1776, American Revolutionary War broke out. The British colonial settlers declared that they were independent from England and established a new nation, the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence convey the aspirations of Americans: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Also, this conscience has a significant effect on American families. Americans create their own culture in the new nation and establish Americans images. They advocate the values of individuals and think that the power of individual is infinite. And this kind of awareness became the American values of individualism. The concrete embodiment of the values of individualism in the American family is the American people have a strong sense of equality, freedom and independence in the family. They form their value criteria and family values which are self-centered. They respect the values of family members, fulfill their personal potential and are responsible for their behaviors.

American Civil War took place in 1861. The war had its origin in the factious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. At the end of the war, slavery was abolished and all black southern slaves were freed. The black won the independence. In the above mentioned history, Americans always fight for freedom and independence. These events affect the value of America and also have a great impact on American family values. Later, the feminist movement in the United States changed the status of women in family. Women won the right to vote, went out of the home and freely took part in work. Equality was more mentioned in society and family. The equality makes family members respect and care about the healthy development of others.

4.2 Religion

Religion is a cultural phenomenon which is ancient and common. The cause and development of people’s religious idea and their impact on human behaviors are important parts of human history and are also essential nuclear parts of culture. It is well known that the United States is probably the most religious country in the developed countries, not only in terms of its high adherence level, but also in terms of its diversity. There are many religions in America, such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and others. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2007, the majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians (78.5%), while non-Christian religious collectively make up about 1.5%. The religions in America have great impact on American values and family values. So from the survey, we can infer that Christianity influence the values most. Religious belief especially puritan belief of Christianity has a long history in America, which is the main ideological of American society. Religion is the spiritual comfort of Americans and the unified morality and values of American nation (Sun 40). This shows that the United States has a set of value orientation and requirements which takes Puritan beliefs as the criterion. Protestants believe that a person, as an individual, is able to contact God directly to achieve redemption without the aid of priests. People enjoy the freedom to believe. The Protestant convictions such as “Justification by Grace through Faith” proposed by Martin Luther, “the Idea of calling” and “Predestination” by Darwin have deeply influenced Puritanism in North America. Carl N. Degler, an American historian, said “Individualism is the core of Puritanism bequeathed to future generation…Puritanism is the main source of individualism”. “Individualism” is a basic feature of American culture. And the “Individualism” is from the rational principle and the pursuit of individual autonomy of puritan belief. Americans extend the meaning of individualism as equality of opportunity. It means everyone has equal opportunity to achieve success by his hard work and endeavor.

Because most of the parents are puritans, Americans have access to religion from their dates of birth. Their parents take them to attend church activities such as pedobaptism, sermon and mass after their birth. So the family values are influenced subtly by Puritanism. Puritans put families at the centre of society and they think that the duties of families are to support and love families and inherit beliefs. Individualism overturn patriarchy on thought in American family, each family member advocates individual-centered development. Then they form the family values of equality, freedom and independence. Individualism in American families means every member has right to make his own choice without controls and restrictions from others. From the above materials, we can know that religion especially puritan significantly influence American family values.

5. Family Values from Boyhood

5.1 Family Structure

The USA was an agricultural society in the 18^th and 19^th century. Family was an economic unit which is self-sufficient. The family structure of America was extended family at that time. It is a family unit composed of relatives in addition to parents and children who live in the same household. Extended families typically include grandparents, uncles, aunts, or other relatives. Having several generations is its most outstanding feature. Then industrialization and urbanization promote the acceleration of population, the awareness of individualism of American people is enhanced. Traditional nuclear family appears in America. It is a family unit composed of one or two parents and their dependent children who live apart from other relatives. Its characteristic is miniaturization. Today, with the development of economy, there are various family structures in America. They are nuclear family, single-parent family, single-person household, DINK, blended family and so on. In the film Boyhood，we can see several kinds of family structures mentioned before. At the beginning, Mason’s mother lives with Mason and her sister Samantha and raises the children only by herself. It is a typical single-parent family. Then they move to Houston. Because Olivia will go back to college and they can be closer to Olivia’ mother who can help Olivia take care of the two kids. Afterwards, Olivia and Bill who is Olivia’s teacher have married and blended their two families including Bill’s children Randy and Mindy from a previous family. The structure of the family is a blended family. Olivia’s third husband is Jim, her student and an Iraq War veteran. They also form a blended family. Mason’s biological father Mason Sr. remarried with Annie and has a baby called Cooper. The family structure of him is a classic nuclear family. It only has the parents and child. Even though some family structures do not appear in the film like gay or lesbian family, we also can have a basic understanding of American family structures and learn a lot of knowledge of American family.

5.2 Family relationship

As we know, Americans emphasizes individualism in life, so the relationship among family members is quite simple. Everyone in the family is equal and gets along well with other members. The relationships in a family are mainly composed by the relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between parents and children.

People in the western countries hold the view of gender equality. They think the differences between men and women are not determined by gender differences but the different social demand put on them. This contributes to their different roles in family. Men and women’s status are equal in a family. They respect the values of each other. In Olivia’s second marriage, she gets married with her professor. Under normal circumstances, the wives will quit learning and take care of their children. But Olivia still keeps learning to get a degree. And her husband Bill supports her decision. So in film, we can see a scene that Olivia studies in the living room helping Bill educate children. In Olivia’s third marriage, she and Jill both make money, pay the bills, and take care of children.

The relationship between parents and children is friendly and equal. In Boyhood, we can see the equality between parents and children from many details. Manson Sr. makes a promise that he will not say bad words in front of Mason and Samantha. If he breaks the promise, he has to be fined. He says sorry to his children. Once, Bill ordered Mason and Randy to have haircuts in their home. Mason was very unpleasant because he liked his longhair. He expressed his disdain to his mother. Olivia expressed her understanding and comforted Mason. She said she would talk about it with Bill later and felt sorry for him. In an American family, parents get along with children like friends. They talk about many things in their life. When Samantha is 15 years old, Mason Sr. learns that Samantha has a boyfriend and talks to her and Mason about contraception. He tells Samantha not to avoid the topic and they have to be able to talk about it. American parents also communicate with children about loving problems. Mason Sr. and Mason go camping at Pedernales Falls State Park and Mason asks his father if he ever kissed the girl whom they met in a restaurant. He also tells his father some confusion about relationships. Also parents treat each child equally. Even some kids are not his or her own flesh and blood. For example, in Boyhood, Bill and Olivia play games with children happily.

We know many American families are blended families. So they might meet brothers and sisters or grandparents from the previous family of their stepfather or stepmother. They are able to get on with them. In the film, Mason, Samantha, Randy and Mindy spend time together, like going to the opening party of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” at the local store, doing housework together and playing video games. When Mason is fifteen years old, Mason Sr. comes to pick up his two kids to the home of Annie’s parents (Annie is Mason Sr.’s new wife.) Annie’s parents, Cliff and Nana give Mason a bible and a rifle. Cliff also teach the two kids how to shoot. It seems that they have harmonious relationship with others.

5.3 Marriage

The American style of freedom emerges into every corner of American life including their marriage. In modern society, Americans pursue romantic love marriage. They advocate free love, free association and think that feelings are dominated. People in the United States emphasize freedom to choose one’s spouse and their marriages are decided by themselves without agreement and approval of their parents or suggestions from other relatives. Individuals in contemporary America are relatively free to marry whomever they please. Social class, ethnicity, religion and race, these factors may affect people’s choice in some degree. However, they will not pay much attention to their partners’ jobs, family and ages. Woman can accept man who is much older than her. At the same time, man can marry to woman who is five or even ten years older than him. They also believe love is the most important factors in marriage. If love disappears in marriage, they divorce quickly. In the United States, the divorce rate once reached astonishing figure of 50 percent. If couples think they are not meant for each other for many reasons, they face divorce unperturbedly and begin their new life.

In Boyhood, we can see many examples reflect Americans’ views of marriage in the family. Mason’s mother Olivia had three husbands. Olivia’s mother does not interfere with her daughter’s marriage at all. All decisions about marriage are determined by Olivia herself. Olivia is an independent woman who is eager to do things well and self-disciplined. But Mason’s biological father Mason Sr. pursues his music career, loves sports and is a slacker who chases freedom. We can know the result of their marriage is meant to fail from their different characteristics and attitudes towards life, even the film does not tell us the reason of their divorce. The second husband of Olivia is her teacher Bill. In the film, they fall in love and marry quickly. A student and her teacher get married. This seems to be incredible in China. But it is normal in America. As I said, Americans do not pay much attention to partners’ jobs and ages. Soon after, Bill is shown to start drinking. His demeanor towards his kids seems to be getting harsher. When he begins to beat Olivia and endangers the kids, Olivia moves out from the house with Mason and Samantha and gets divorce from Bill quickly. Usually, Americans have a zero tolerance for domestic violence. The actions of violence do harm to Olivia’s body and emotion and are not good to the growth of children. Having been through two failed marriage, Olivia never stopped the pursuit of true love. When she becomes a teacher in college, she meets her third husband who is her student and much younger than her in a Thanksgiving party. They get married some time later and live happily for a long time. In the end of the film, Olivia becomes single again. The film does not show us the reason of divorce. But I believe life is going on and Olivia will out stop pursuing truth love.

5.4 Education

Education is the source of cultural development of human being and is also necessary conditions of the formation of individual value idea. In one’s lifetime, the family is the first school. The earliest education is also the longest and most profound one. Americans take education seriously because of Puritanism. The USA, as a major world power, has its unique family education. The film Boyhood can exactly provide a platform to learn about it. In an American family, parents not only attach great importance to the education of their children but also pay attention to their own education. Just like the mother Olivia in Boyhood, when she realizes she can’t afford to raise her children, she decides to go back to school in order to earn her degree. So they can have a better living in the future. Eventually, Olivia becomes a college teacher.

When we talk about family education, we should know the objective of it. The objective of American family education is to raise children as social people who are conform to the different surrounding and are independent. So they lay stress on knowledge education and also pay attention to helping their children acquire capacity of all aspects especially the ability of independence. At the beginning of the film, Olivia just met Mason’s teacher and talked about his schoolwork. When they move to Huston, Mason helps to paint the wall. After that Samantha helps making breakfast. And there is a scene Samantha reads her grade to her grandmother and she gets almost A . It can be seen that Olivia puts a high value both on children’s schoolwork and cultivation of abilities. In Olivia’s second marriage, Bill asks Randy if he finishes his science project after the honeymoon. He also arranges chores for all the kids and teach Randy and Mason how to play golf. They actively provide their children with chances to exercise. They believe that children’s growth must rely on themselves, only in this way children can form a self-supporting will and develop the capacity to live independently when they grow up. So in high school, Mason works at a restaurant as a busboy to earn some money preparing for her campus life, he learns to be independent step by step. Children in American family have much freedom about their life. Their parents rarely interfere with their affairs. On the contrary, they usually support them and give them some useful ideas. At 11^th grade, His father asks Mason if he applies University of Texas and tells him if he wants to go there, he should probably do some early acceptance things. Mason Sr. also asks Mason about his work and be proud of his son. In many things, his parents just give him some guidance and will not interfere with Mason’s decision. Meanwhile, American parents pay attention to fostering the interests and developing the specialty of children’s. In the film, Mason develops an active interest in photography. Mason’s stepfather Jim gives Mason a camera and Mason Sr. thanks Jim for doing so. Mason spends a lot of time in the dark room and all about photography. Before he graduates from high school, he joins in a photography contest and he earned a silver medal. In America, when kids become adults, most of them leave the house and begin an independent life. American parents consider it natural to let go. Just like Mason in the film, when he graduates from high school, he moves out his mother’s new apartment for college and drives off to college alone.

6. Enlightenment to Chinese Family Values

The USA is a developed country, while China is a developing country. The development of America and its family gives us examples to learn how to improve our own country and family. With the development of economy, Chinese family values have changed during the few years. If we can attain enlightenment from American family values, we can build a better family and a better country.

In recent years, more and more nuclear families have appeared in China. It is because young people are influenced by the idea of independence from America. When they grow up and get married, they do not want to rely on their parents. Moreover, they do not like their parents interfering with their life. Also, the equality in American family is impressing. I hope Chinese parents can emphasize equality between them and their children. Do not try to make children obey their orders. Parents and kids can communicate with each other like friends. They can provide background information allowing children to choose what to do and give some useful advice when their children meet some troubles. I think they should try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true dreams, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment.

In education, Chinese parents care most about their children’s grade point average. They want their children have good grades, go to a good university and have a bright future. They are strict with children’s study and almost regard the grades as the only standard for future success. But the Chinese society is changing. Training all-round development of children and cultivating comprehensive human resources for the needs of community is the most important. So Chinese parents should learn from American parents, pay more attention to children’s all- round development, including knowledge learning, sports, hobbies and other techniques. In the film Boyhood, the family members of Mason all support his hobbies of photography.

In traditional Chinese family values, Parents usually don’t allow their kids to get married without their permission. Besides, they have various requirements about their son’s or daughters’ spouses, such as financial situation, age, job and so on. After watching the film, I think the Chinese should give care more about their children’s happiness not the additional conditions of their children’s spouse and give children more freedom.

I believe our generation can make a better family, if we can give them respect, freedom and equality.

7. Conclusion

America is a highly developed country and formed its unique family values. We can know the causes of the formation of American family values through its relatively short history and religion and have a overall understanding of the definition of family values. By analyzing the family structure, family relationships, marriage and education in Boyhood, we can clearly know American family values. Besides, with more and more cross-cultural communication, we can achieve some enlightenment from American family values and improve our Chinese family. By studying the family values in Boyhood, we can avoid many mistakes when we engage in cross-cultural communication.

Works Cited

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Datesman, Maryanne, and JoAnn Crandall. American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture. Pearson Education ESL, 2014.

Samovar, Larry A., and Richard E.Poter. Communication Between Cultures. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2012.

常俊跃，李莉莉， 赵永青：《美国社会与文化》. 北京：北京大学出版社，2009.

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王恩铭：《美国社会文化》. 北京：北京大学出版社，2010.

[Wang Enming. American Society and Culture. Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2010.]

王晓红：《美国社会与文化》. 西安：世界图书出版西安公司, 2010.

[Wang Xiaohong. American Society and Culture. Xi’an: Xi’an World Publishing Corporation, 2010. ]

王玉娟：《中美家庭价值观的跨文化差异对比研究》（硕士论文）. 山东大学，2008.

[Wang Yujuan: The Comparative Study of the Cross-Cultural Differences of Sino-American Family Values (master’s thesis). Shandong University, 2008]

周毅：《美国人及其文化》. 北京：北京大学出版社，2010.

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邹云来：《论梅迪.罗伯茨《打碎玻璃》的家庭价值观》（硕士论文）. 天津理工大学，2009

[Zou Yunlai: On the Family Values of Breaking Glass by Dmae Roberts(master’s thesis). Tianjin University of Science and Technology, 2009]

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