Compare: Identifying Differences: Generalised Group of People Represented by

(Q.6.2.3.1) GW: 好象美国人不是单纯的看你的社会地位，而且是看你的中间那段努力的过 程吧. 中国人注重一个结果，比如说你混到了一个科级，处级，不会认为你一开 始起点是那么低，在经过这么长时间达到这个水平已经是你付出努力. 他们不会 这么看。 English translation:

GW: It seems that Americans don’t purely judge you based on your social status, what they also care how you got there. Chinese people only care about the result. For example, if you manage to become an executive or manager, (they) wouldn’t care whether or not you started from a very low position, or whether or not you reached this high level by your own endeavour. They don’t care about this.

Having watched the film Forrest Gump prior the interview, based on her understanding of the main character, Forrest, GW identified the differences in attitudes between American people and Chinese people.

The focus of this section is to illustrate the third type of ‘identifying differences’ activity, identifying differences between people represented by the character(s) and Chinese people. Let us look at some more examples collected from the empirical data.

DYY talked about the film The Graduate he had seen before.

(Q.6.2.3.2) DYY: 就是这个男主角叫 Ben。他是一个美国人，[…]，他最后就会很直接的，很 大胆的，很疯狂的去追求那个女朋友，不顾周围所有人的一种排斥一种诅咒， 他会勇敢的追求自己的爱情。而且其实在中国来看的话，这简直是不敢相信的， 我觉得国人还是偏向于传统思想，他不会直接的去表露，我觉得很少会有人这 么大胆。 English translation:

DYY: This leading man is called Ben. He is an American, […] In the end, he (Ben) very directly, bravely, madly pursues his girlfriend, regardless of all the people around and their rejection and taunts, he bravely pursues his love. However, really, as far as China is concerned, this is simply unbelievable. I think Chinese people still tend to be conservative, and they would not dare to reveal themselves. I think very few people would be this brave.

DYY responded strongly to the film, and in particular how the character Ben pursued his girlfriend. DYY believed that people in China would not do something this brave because, according to his view of Chinese people, they tend to be conservative. After comparing the character Ben with Chinese people, DYY then continued:

(Q.6.2.3.3) DYY: 美国人他们会很独立，他们会有自己的思想，他们不会说，父母说，这件 事情不对，而我认为这见事情是对的，因为父母说不对，所以我不会去做，他 们不会这样。他们会_{, 很自我，很独立，我既然认为这件事情是对的，我就一定} 要去做。中国孩子的话，首先他肯定会, 首先他周围的人对他的思维的影响会很 大，如果说某个人说这件事情不对，而且说的是还是比较有道理，他们他可能 就至少会，原来是_{100%的一种情绪上去做，现在也可能是 50%了。像美国人他} 们就不会这样。 English translation:

DYY: Americans, they are very independent. They have their own thoughts. They would not say, “my parents said this is not the right thing to do, and so even though I think this is right, because parents said it’s not right, I cannot do it”. They are not like this. They can (be) … very self-assured, very independent, “if I believe this is the right thing to do, I will definitely do it”. However, a Chinese young person, first, he

definitely would not … firstly, people around … will influence his ideas a lot, if someone says, this is not right and (this person) sounds quite reasonable, his determination will reduce, originally he was 100% determined to do it, now he is perhaps 50% determined. But Americans, they are not like this.

It seems that DYY’s perception of Americans being independent and not easily influenced by their parents (in terms of pursuing things that they want) has a strong link with how he felt about the main character, Ben. In other words, he has made a link between the character Ben and bigger group of people who are from the same cultural context as Ben, the U.S.A. This is probably because DYY’s understanding of the character Ben fits his existing perceptions of Americans, and, as a result, the character triggered and reinforced this existing perception of American people. DYY identified particular differences by comparing American people with Chinese young people in terms of to what extent they would be influenced by others. Although he used the term ‘Americans’ during the process of comparison, it seems that he was more specifically referring to American young people, because of the reference to Chinese young people and parents. This shows a tendency for DDY to generalize.

However, it seems that the idea of independence features prominently in DYY’s perception of Americans. This idea of Americans being independent could either be part of DYY’s existing

knowledge and perception of Americans, or this idea could have developed through the process of comparing American film characters with Chinese young people. Alternatively, this idea could also be the combination DYY’s pre-existing perception of Americans, and the ‘comparison sense- making activity’ he undertook while watching the film clip. This issue, which is related with ‘effect’, will further addressed in the next chapter, which will deal with discernible effects of films viewing on Chinese college students’ understanding of and attitudes to other peoples and cultures.

Looking at above example, DYY started by comparing the character Ben, an American young man, with Chinese people. Then, he compared American young people in general with Chinese young people. This indicates that DYY’s comparison activity fall into two stages, first comparing a character with Chinese people, and then comparing American young people with Chinese young people. As a result, DYY identified differences between the character and Chinese people, and differences between American young people and Chinese young people.

Let’s look at another example which also falls into this category.

After viewing the clip London bench day from the film Love Actually (2003), LAQ explained what she thought of the father’s approach to his son. She showed positive attitude towards the father character. Then she said:

(Q.6.2.3.4) LAQ: 我觉得，外国就是，父母和小孩的关系比中国父母和小孩的关系要平等一 些。在我们国家就少。 Interviewer: 我们国家是怎样_? LAQ: 中国就是我是老子你是儿子你就得听我的。不听我的你就挨打，但是外国 我觉得就不是这样子的。感觉上应该不是这样子的。 Interviewer:为什么呢？ LAQ: 我就觉得东方和西方的差异问题吧。中国还是传统一些，比西方肯定，各 个方面都传统一些，就是中国自古以来的那种挂念，那种家庭礼教的观念。从 古到今就是这样子的，我是长辈，你是小辈，说话就得和我很尊敬，就得很尊 重我。要是有什么言语上的冒犯啊什么的，就肯定就会受责备或者惩罚。整个 就觉得西方文化比中国开放很多，各个方面都很开放很多。 English translation:

LAQ: I think, in foreign countries, the relationship between parents and children is more equal compared to Chinese parents-and-children relationship. It’s rare in our country.

Interviewer: What about our country?

LAQ: In China, I am father, you are son, you have to obey me. If you don’t obey, I will beat you. But in foreign countries, I think it’s not like this. It feels that it shouldn’t be like this.

Interviewer: Why?

LAQ: I think this is the difference between the East and the West. China is more conservative, definitely, compares to the west, more conservative in every aspect. It’s kind of concept ever since ancient China, the concept of family and code of ethics. It’s always the same from ancient times to the present, I am the senior member of

the family and you are the younger member of the family, you need to respect me. If there’s any verbal offence, it will certainly be blamed and punished. Overall, I feel that western culture is a lot more open than China, a lot more open in every aspect.

What LAQ did was to compare two groups of people, foreign parents and children and Chinese parents and children. In particular, LAQ compared the relationship between foreign parents and their children with the relationship between Chinese parents and their children. In doing so, LAQ expressed her ideas of what the relationship is like in both groups. In addition LAQ gave reasons behind the differences between these two groups by exploring and giving examples such as the concept of family and the family code of ethics in the Chinese culture.

Considering DYY and LAQ, in their sense-making process they both compared people represented by the character with Chinese people. As a result of their comparison, they both identified differences between the two groups and enhanced their understanding and view of both the group of people represented by characters and the Chinese people.

• Concepts of ‘foreign’ and ‘western’

It is worth mentioning the word ‘foreign’ that LAQ used in the process of comparison. In a previous part of the interview extract, when LAQ was talking about the characters Sam and the father, she was aware that both of the characters were British. However, LAQ went a step further and made a comparison between Chinese people and foreign people, rather than people from any particular country. From the reasons that LAQ gave to explain the differences between foreign people and Chinese people, such as cultural differences between the East and the West, there is a strong link between the concept of ‘foreign’ and the concept of the ‘western’. The concepts of ‘foreign’ and ‘western’, to some extent, are identical or interchangeable for LAQ. More similar cases were found from the qualitative data. For example, DC talked about an American film that she watched before, Mean Girls 22

(Q.6.2.3.5) DC: 我记得还有一个镜头是他们高中老师脱衣服，她想脱一件，结果把两件给脱 了，这个镜头我想，也许他们那边师生关系不像我们这边那么严肃，他们那边 好像更多的是朋友，互相玩伴的关系，多与传道守业解惑的关系。中国肯定会 有师道尊严，中国5000 年的文化，而且儒家的文化就是尊师重教，这种已经是 根深蒂固了，不可能改变。 English translation:

DC: I remember there was also a scene, in which, their high school teacher took off her tops. She wanted to take off one; as a result, she took off both of them. This scene made me wonder, probably, teacher and students relationship over their side, might not be as this serious as our side. On their side, it seems more like friends,

.

22 _{Mean Girls: it is an American film released in 2004. The film is about a girl’s (used to be homeschooled) complex love}

playmates for each other. In China, it’s definitely the absolutely authority of the teachers. Five-thousand years of history in China, plus, the Confucius culture is about ‘honour the teacher and respect his teaching’. This is deep-rooted and impossible to be changed.

Here, the two groups of people DC compared were teachers and students in China and teachers and students ‘on their side’. Based on the fact that the characters in the film were Americans, it could be speculated that the teachers and students ‘on their side’ that DC was referring to were from the U.S.A.

However, this is not necessarily the case. It seems that many CCSs do not always distinguish between countries in the west. Based on findings from the qualitative data, many CCSs use words such as foreign (外国), western (西方), on their side (他们那边), they (他们), as catch-all phrases which blur the boundaries between individual countries, in particular, the U.K. and the U.S.A. For example, PP used ‘foreign countries’ (国外) during her comparison activity. After viewing A

father-son chat23 (Q.6.2.3.6) PP: 太逗了。我觉得这种父亲在中国肯定看不见的这种。我们学校在初二的时候 就组织去开发区看过性教育展，都是图片什么的，… 但是老师从来不会谈这个， 只要你自己去看，你看就得了，回来车上也不要说，谁也不许说，就那样，就 是比较闭会的那种。但是他们的这个就是 … 这就是一项知识，没有什么可以闭 会的，而且父母也是希望你掌握 … 因为掌握这个知识，你有了这个知识总比没 有好，你自己不会受到伤害。就是这些 _{… 像中国好多孩子你自己没有这些知识，} 然后就去别的渠道去获取。反正就是不正常，不好的那种。还是这样比较好。 而且我觉得，在国外他们那个孩子和家长之间的交流特别好，就是很像朋友那 种，什么亲爱的，宝贝我爱你啊什么的，这些说的很多，我觉得在中国很少见。 就比较不善于表达自己感情的那种。 English translation:

PP: This is so funny. I think this type of dad definitely does not exist in China. In the second year of secondary school, our school organized a trip to a Sex Education Exhibition, all pictures etc. … but teacher never talked about it, just let yourself to watch, just watch, and not supposed to talk about it in the bus on the way back, no one was supposed to talk about it. It’s fairly kind of like, taboo. But for them, this is … this is a kind of knowledge, there isn’t anything forbidden, plus, parents also want you to master (the knowledge) … because it’s always better to know the knowledge than not knowing, you will not get hurt. Things like … like many Chinese young people, don’t have this knowledge, and obtain from other resources. Anyway, it’s not normal, not good. This way is better. Plus, I think, in foreign countries,

communication between Children and parents is particularly good, very much like friends, they say a lot, like, ‘dear’, ‘Baby, I love you’ etc. I think, this rarely happens in China. Relatively not very good at expressing own feelings.

, PP said:

23 _{A father-son chat: a clip chosen from the film American Pie (1999). In the clip, Jim, who has a pack with his friends to}

There is a lot of comparison going on. First, based on PP’s comments that the type of dad like Jim’s father does not exist in China, it can be speculated that this idea of PP’s was reached from a comparison between the character, Jim’s father, and Chinese fathers in general. Hence, the fact that PP believed no father like Jim’s father exists in China was due to the sharp contrast between the character and the image of Chinese father in PP’s mind.

Also, PP’s personal experience at school in terms of receiving sex education from teachers played an essential role in terms of facilitating her views and understanding of Chinese people’s view on sex education and how to approach it for young people. The word ‘taboo’ PP used indicates PP’s view on teachers’ and students’ attitude toward sex education at school.

In addition, PP compared communication between parents and children in foreign countries with communication between parents and children in China. The phrase indicates that the particular group of people, parents and children in foreign countries, is not limited to people in the U.S.A. To PP the characters Jim and his dad represent a group of people which includes not only Americans,