Reconstruction of Chinese Culture in some Chinese—American films

付海莹

Abstract：The film "The Joy Luck Club" was adapted from the novel of the same name by American Chinese writer Amy Tan. This does not reflect the film of the mother and daughter's emotional life. This film ，which reflects the emotional life of mother and daughters， contains a lot of Chinese cultural elements. However， from the perspective of Orientalism， Chinese culture， in the cross-cultural context， has been subjected to change and reconstruction in many aspects. Traditional ethics and values，Chinese cultural codes such as values and ethnic activities have been significantly "other". The image of China and Chinese cultural codes in The Joy Luck Club are “others” and are a subculture of the edge； Compared with Chinese traditional culture， the Chinese cultural elements in the film are virtual dymbols After Having been decomposed and reconstructed.

Keywords：The Joy Luck Club；Chinese culture；otherness；reconstruction

1.The "otherness" from the perspective of Orientalism

Orientalism is a representative term in postmodern literary criticism theory， derived from Sayed's representative work Orientalism. As a way of thinking.，orientalism takes the study of orientalism as the object of criticism and is the eastern aspect of westernization. The critical theory takes western culture as the core and overlooks the east with a superior national superiority. It also believes that the east is generally a strange， ignorant， uncultivated barbaric land， and it is the marginal "other" of chaos. The "objective neutrality， impartiality" of orientalism， which is advertised by western cultural criticism， is actually full of explicit subjective distortions and creations. Orientalism has fabricated an east， making the east and the west have ontological differences， and enabling the west to look at the east with a novel and biased vision，thus creating a completely different kind of national essence，which is inferior to theirs.What is highlighted in the film is the backwardness and brutality of Chinese culture， and emphasis is placed on the blind obedience and dependence of Chinese women， which reflects the inevitable "otherness" thinking， and the result is a conceptualization of the Chinese culture. It magnifies the shortage of Chinese culture and reinforces the virtual description of Orientalism

2.The "otherness" of Chinese elements

2.1. The "otherness" of the Chinese image

In many Chinese-American films， the image of China has been severely formatted， and it has been permanently classified as a poor， backward， unpopular， and imprisoned nation. The film "The Joy Luck Club" still follows the tradition of "otherness" in orientalism， showing the face of the dirty and vulgar Chinese society in the former industrial society. For example， in the film， Wu Suyun describes the scene of war in Guilin： Every day， and every moment， thousands of refugees enter the city， looking for shelters everywhere. Everyone spits on the sidewalk， and the body exudes the same the

smell of stinking， poverty-stricken， dirty， and low-quality Chinese image is vividly portrayed， which coincides with the Chinese image of orientalism.

2.2 The "otherness" of ethics

The core of Chinese ethics is Confucianism， emphasizing the loyalty， filial piety， righteousness， and mediocrity. However， traditional Chinese ethics with Confucianism as the core is also dismembered and reconstructed in the film The Joy Luck Club. Xu Anmeis mother is a typical example of the unfortunate Chinese woman in this film： she became a widow at a young age， and she was deceived later. She became a businessmans four-in-one.Awoman with such a difficult fate，did not only get the care of her family， but she became a shame for her family. The family thought she was a punk and called her a punk .Xu Anmei's personality portrayal is only to let the western audience see the dark side of a magnified version of the Confucian ethical culture， and to a large extent ，cater to the taste of the mainstream American group. "Filial piety" is the core element of Confucian culture， and it is called "the filial piety is the first"， but the description of "filial piety" in this film is shocking. There is such a shot in the film： the mother cuts a piece of meat from her arm and puts the cut meat into the medicine soup， hoping this can touch the god and save her own mother. “Mut-cutting the mother” is a shock in China， but for the Western audience who do not deserve Chinese culture， this way of self-injury and saving the mother is not only incomprehensible， it is simply ignorant. The "filial piety" in Chinese traditional ethics is "otherized" in the film in such a strange and ignorant way.

2.3 The "Otherness" of folk culture

The story of ghosts and gods is not uncommon in Chinese folk culture， but with the improvement of social history and social civilization， it is becoming a kind of sacrifice and interesting legend.Nevertheless， the depiction of ghosts and gods in the film magnifies the Chinese people's awe and worship of ghosts and gods. After Xu Anmeis son had an accident at the seaside， she put a valuable ancestral emerald into the sea to seek the blessing of the Dragon King. There is also such scenes as a mother and daughter in the "feng shui" situation in the film.Additionally， when the child are not obedient， adults scare them with ghosts. In order to escape the cage of the deformed marriage， Gong Linda deceived the ghosts on the day of the Qingming， and defrauded the cost of going to the United States. Such actions in the film brought to the western audience the incomprehension and confusion ，even feeling it was unbelievable. The theory of ghosts and gods exists in both China and foreign countries， but the film reinforces the contradictory unity between ghost fear and ghost worship in China， which makes it difficult for Western audiences to agree with.

Chinese cultural writing is an important way to express Chinese people. It is a unique cultural imagination space for Chinese- American films to advertise ethnic characteristics. The film "The Joy Luck Club" adopts the motherland culture to cater to the image of "others， backwardness， inferiority" and other orientalism set by Western discourse. Chinese cultural codes are gradually decomposed in the impact and integration of heterogeneous cultures， and China and Chinese traditional culture is inevitably "otherized."

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