ThaiImagein“LostinThailand”and“LostinInterculturalCommunication”

XIONGSHAYANG

In the Chinese Spring Festival of 2012，the comedy movie of Lost in Thailand with the small investment of 30 million yuan was released in Chinese mainland and obtained the box office of 1.264 billion yuan，becoming the Chinese movie with the highest box office income in Chinese movie history.

In a cross-cultural perspective，the “Thai Image” shaped in the film has aroused the curiosity of the audience towards Thailand as a county in Southeast Asia.Undoubtedly，the Chinese audiences curiosity for Thailand has brought the explosive development of the Thai economy and promoted the development of the Thai tourist industry.Moreover，besides economic impacts，this film，as a peak in the Sino-Thai cultural exchanges，has made us ponder on “Lost in Intercultural communication” in and outside the film.

1.General Situation about Chinese films shooting in Thailand before Shooting of “Lost in Thailand”

Although as Chinas largest oversea tourist destination，Thailand has not been a top choice for shooting Chinese films.“The Big Boss” is the first Chinese film that found views to shoot in Thailand in 1971.Bruce lee，as a starring role in this film and also a Chinese legend，traveled to Thailand for location shooting.The “Duel of Fists” was another film which was shot with some views in Thailand in 1971.Views of Thailand increased the visual enjoyment of this film，but views of Thailand in this film did not make the Chinese people know more about Thailand，as they just accounted for a small proportion in the film.Into the 21st century，a growing number of Chinese films have found views in Thailand.However，according to data provided by the Tourism Authority of Thailand，during ten years from 2005 to 2014，the number of Chinese films that were shot in Thailand showed a rising trend，its total number was still far lower than Japan，Korea and India in Asia，and even the faraway America.

2.Overview of ‘Lost in Thailand

The Chinese name of “Lost in Thailand” is which can be literally interpreted as “embarrassing things happened in Thailand”.This film is compiled，directed and acted by Xu Zheng who reproduces various “embarrassing things” that he encountered in his previous Thai travel in his film.The story was about three people from different social backgrounds and classes.Xu Lang （acted by Xu Zheng） is a successful business person who spent five years inventing a magical product called “youba （supergas）”.Gao Bo （acted by Huang Bo），the classmate and also partner of Xu，wants to sell this invention to a French company.However，Xu Lang strongly disagrees，as he hopes to make in-depth development and research of this product so as to popularize “youba” and get more gains in the future.The two people express their respective reviews and run into endless debates，but make no consensus.As they hold the same proportion of shares in their company，the only way for them to win the other party is to get the authorization of Zhou Yang as the largest shareholder of their company.Upon knowing that Zhou Yang is in Thailand，Xu Lang immediately set out for finding Zhou Yang.Gao Bo places a tracking device on Xu Lang and follows Xu Lang to Thailand.On the plane，Xu Lang meets with Wang Bao （acted by Wang Baoqiang），a boss of a scallion pancake store from the underclass.Xu Lang tries all ways to get rid of Gao Bo through Wang Bao.However，Xu Lang does not successfully get rid of Wang Bao and Gao Bo，and Wang Bo finally turns into the “personal nanny” of Xu Lang.When the three main characters arrive in Bangkok at the same time，the funny story starts in Thailand full of exotic atmospheres

3.Lost in Intercultural Communication

3.1 What is “Intercultural”？

“Intercultural” is similar with another two English words：“cross-cultural” and “trans-cultural”，but reflect different perspectives.“Cross-cultural” refers to crossing of one culture to another culture，stressing on static horizontal comparisons or contrasts.“Trans-cultural” mainly refers to the transformation of a cultural to another culture，implying abandonment of one culture and integration into another culture.“Intercultural” is a dynamic concept which refers to the interaction between different cultural groups.That is to say，in the process of intercultural communication，different cultures launch dialogues and communication and show mutual respects to make equal interactions，so as to make cultural sharing become possible.Therefore，it is more suitable to use the term “intercultural” to describe “outbound travel”.

“Lost in Thailand” tells a story occurring mainly in Thailand.In this typical field for intercultural communication，Thailand appears to be a typical field of intercultural communication，involving the international airport，hotels，cultural attractions （such as temples） and some cultural symbols （including Ladyboys，elephants，the Songkran Festival，etc.）.In this intercultural communication field，the main communication subject includes Wang Bao，Xu Lang，Gao Bo and Thai locals.Communicative languages include Thai，English and Chinese.Communicative events are travel and looking for Lao Zhou.Logic relationships between the three main characters are interactive networks between Wang Bao，Xu Lang，Gao Bo and Thai locals which are full of cooperation，competition and confrontations.The intercultural language communicative skills，the lack of intercultural awareness and collision of different thinking modes are uncovered in this story.Intercultural characteristics are quite distinct in this film.

3.2 Impact of Intercultural Communication on “Thai Image”

In the course of intercultural communication，what you see may not objectively true，but an outcome of strong impacts from so-called “egocentrism” and “cultural stereotype”.“Egoism” and “cultural stereotype” as two features of intercultural communications are the root causes of communication barriers between two cultural groups.In this film，many behaviors of main characters precisely reflect the two features of intercultural communication and can explain why the audience in China and Thailand show different degrees of acceptance of this film.

Egocentrism is a term in psychology.According to egocentrism，oneself is taken as the center to explain the world and deal with things.In the process of intercultural communication，egocentrism derives into cultural centralism and national or group centralism.It is quite hard to form a two-way perspective in egocentrism.Therefore，egocentrism would prevent people in one cultural group from realizing critical understanding and acceptance of another culture，and reflecting on their own culture.Opposite to cultural equality awareness and cultural diversity awareness，egocentrism is a manifestation of a lack of intercultural awareness.Therefore，egocentrism would set obstacles for people to make cultural empathy and integration and deal with things in a flexible way.

Stereotype is a psychological product of the perception process in which things in the external world are simply classified into several categories.Brown believes that the cultural stereotype is an overly simplistic image of an exotic culture formed by one cultural group from its own cultural perspective.

In the film “Lost in Thailand”，many dialogues reflect the existence of cultural stereotype，which is also a manifestation of lacking intercultural awareness.For example，in the film，the taxi driver says that “The Chinese people are most hurried” and Xu Lang says：“Thais are less hurried.” Xu Lang tells Wang Bao that “all beauties in Thailand are Ladyboys”.All of these are outcomes of overgeneralization and typical manifestations of cultural stereotype.

Conclusion

“Lost in Thailand”，as a highest-grossing comedy movie in the Chinese film history，has successfully averted the gaze of the Chinese audience towards Thailand in Southeast Asia and taken 1.268 billion yuan at the box office.In a cross-cultural perspective，the “Thai Image” shaped in the film has aroused the curiosity of the audience towards Thailand as a county in Southeast Asia.Undoubtedly，the Chinese audiences curiosity for Thailand has brought the explosive development of the Thai economy and promoted the development of the Thai tourist industry.Moreover，besides economic impacts，this film，as a peak in the Sino-Thai cultural exchanges，has made us ponder on “Lost in Intercultural communication” in and outside the film.

References：

[1]JiEun，Lee.Monsters in Contemporary Thai Horror Film：Image，Representation，and Meaning.Ph.Ds thesis，Thai Studies，Faculty of Arts，Chulalongkorn University，2010.

[2]Baiqiu，Liao.The Lost of Intercultural Communication in ‘Lost in Thailand，Mangzhong Journal，10（2013）：185-186.