On “Pushing Hands” from the Intercultural Perspective

Liu+Wei

【Abstract】In this paper， I am going to analyze the conflicts and problems that are shown in Ang Lees film Pushing Hands from the perspective of intercultural communication. This film reveals that there may be not perfect equality between cultures； however， there is great possibility that the two cultures develop from conflicts to fusion with self-adjustment and more mutual understanding between cultures.

【Key words】intercultural； conflicts； fusion

1. An Introduction of the Film

The film Pushing Hands tells the stories in the families， between the traditional old parents and their westernized offspring. It is about an elderly Chinese man， Mr. Chu， a conservative Chinese from Beijing immigrating to the united state， after his retirement to live with his son， American daughter-in-law Martha， and grandson in New York. However， because of the deep language and cultural gap， both he and Martha were unwilling to learn others native language and accept their respective life style； some frictions were gradually emerged between them during his stay in America. Moreover， it has explored deeply the issues of intercultural and generational conflicts， which become the backbone of the film works.

2. Inevitable Cultural Conflicts When the East Meets the West

2.1 The Conflicts in Material Cultures

When people from different cultural backgrounds come across and communicate， their differences are obvious and easily cause conflicts between family members. In the film “Pushing Hands”， Martha， the white daughter-in-law became bad tempered for the smallness of the house， especially when the old Mr. Chus coming to live in disturbs her regular pace of life. So her friend， a real estate barons visit seemed to bring a perfect solution.

It is not hard to see that the real problem for Martha is completely not the old Mr. Chus unexpected coming which looks like making her life so bad even like a mess； on the contrary， it is just that she is not ready enough to share a place， or in other words， just the same work room with an old man. So nothing is better than a new and bigger house. However， from the dialogue， we know the old Mr. Chus son Alex opposes to this idea. Why？ The apparent reason is the short of money. But in fact as the dialogue goes， we get to know one of the main reasons is not the lack of money. And we can see that from Alexs negative comments on Linda. “From Maoist revolutionary to real estate baron， if there is one thing worse than a communist， it is an ex-communist who has become a capitalist. She is not doing us a big favor， but trying to sell us a house again.” So the thing that really matters is that， in a Chinese way of thinking， Alex believed that the only difference for his fathers moving in is they need one more bedroom for the old man； the whole place is really big enough for the family to live. To buy a new one is not a necessity， but rather sort of a waste of money and another way of luxury life. This incident makes us realize that even though Alex has lived in the United States for so long， and his life is completely American-styled， something in his mind is still so Chinese， deep and rooted. His American wifes complaint is truly understandable， but not so reasonable in Alexs traditional opinion.

2.2 The Conflicts in Ideological Cultures

Language is always the first barrier to cross in terms of cultural communication. At the same time， we can feel that how woeful it should be to live in a perfect strange land or place without knowing its language at all. And it is what happens to the old Mr. Chu. He knows no English， and his all white daughter-in-law Martha knows no Chinese， so there is no dialogue at all between the two important family members. The beginning of “Pushing Hands”， 7minutes and not a word is said. Such a silent beginning creates incredibly stuffy atmosphere. The house the film characters live in is a big one and seems so nice and comfortable. But the silence makes the lovely house a bit cool and a lack of warmth or vitality. “God， he is really getting you down” Martha's friend surprised at how upset and depressed she looks like. What makes things worse is her husband， Alex' no understanding of her poor feelings and the displeasure eventually turns their easy talk into a quarrel between the mixed couple and then a complete disappointment of each other.

Unlike the young， that the aged come to America and live with the children usually for a shelter and cannot adapt themselves to a brand new environment quickly enough. Language is the first tough issue they are confronted. The silence caused by languages enhances the cultural rift between the family members. And more problems in life are drifted from the deadly silence.

3. The Cultural Fusion in the Delicately Harmonious Family

3.1 Mutual Acceptance and Understanding in the Family

In this film， cultural and generational differences are found in many tiny details and the conflicts are so severe and sometimes turn out to be unsolved. It is striking that during dinner， Martha and Jeremy use forks to eat while old Mr. Chu and Alex use chopsticks. When old Mr. Chu teaches Tai Chi， most students wear no shoes particularly designed for practicing Kung Fu but the Nike shoes. And when Mr. Chu and Mrs. Chen talk in the community center， behind the old man is an American flag while behind Mrs. Chen is a piece of Chinese calligraphy. Wei Tung uses a fraud marriage to keep his lie and cheat parents. The silent war takes place between Martha and his Chinese father-in-law. Such subtle displays of cultural differences are clear.

The similar happy ending in Pushing Hands is that everyone was much happier than before. Alex bought a new house， much bigger than the old one. Even Martha， the American daughter-in-law learned to accept the Chinese traditional father， which is symbolized by her decorating the guest room for him and asking the question if he would ever visit. And she learned to cook the Chinese dish “spring roll” and became interested in the Chinese culture and started to write a new novel about a father brought over to work on the railroad.

3.2 The Realization of Cultural Fusion

The demonstrations of the conflicts between eastern and western cultures in the pushing hands are really vivid and incisive. Because greatly influenced by the West cultures， the young generation is much easier to be accepted by the mainstream of America. Deeply rooted in the Chinese traditional cultures， the growing missing for the homeland and the language problems put them into a dilemma. On the one hand， the dominant language and culture try to press on the dominated people， especially the new comers in the land. On the other hand， the dominant cultures refuse to accept the dominated people. In such restrictions， the pressures are not only from the language but from the unequal intercultural communication. Problems and conflicts become naturally inevitable. The old immigrants are forced to mediate between two cultures. So， a life in Chinatown for the convenience of the language and the familiarities with Chinese traditions is almost the only way available they could escape from the American mainstream. In the Fancily Trilogy， Ang Lee demonstrates the confusions of the old Chinese immigrants vividly through old Mr. Chu's encounters.

However， Ang Lee makes his explosion in the possibility of getting access to the mainstream culture. Many old Chinese traditional cultures cannot fit western culture along with development of modern society. Modifying the old and fatuous and absorbing essence is the most important mission. For instance， in Chinatown， in a noisy activity community centre， once full of sight are old people playing mahjong day after day with no special purpose but to kill time. It was a way to escape from reality and self-relief. But at the end what we see is the hilarious and prosperous scene of people practicing Tai Chi here and there. We even notice a few white Americans scattered among them.

4. Conclusion

Cultures are an indispensable part of society. Cultures present huge diversity around the world. As one of the most important factors of communication， the differences of cultures are bound to cause various problems and even conflicts. The world is getting smaller， and the cultural communication is becoming more frequent than ever before. Therefore issues about cultural communication—have never attracted so much attention as today. With the further opening policies in China， we have learnt more about the world and also need to be accepted by the world. Interactions between nations force us to hold an acceptable attitude towards differences. Win-win and mutual benefits are the purposes of communication worldwide. Then， to keep the Chinese traditional cultures unchanged and always stick at what we believe may finally lag down our progress. Therefore， we need to learn how to avoid conflicts and how to communicate effectively with people of different cultures.

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作者簡介：劉瑋（1987-），女，漢族，湖北武漢人，碩士，助教，研究方向：英語教學及跨文化交際。