Week9: Cinema and television

"Whenever we try to make sense of information visually, we firstly see the similarities and the differences. These relationships permit us to not only identify objects but also to give them meaning. As soon as we have an understanding of the relationship between elements, we can stitch together the whole story and understand what we are seeing ."(Wroblewski 2003) Therefore, when we analyze the cinema and televison, it’s very important for us to understand the cultural literacy in it. Phil Wood and Charles Landry note that cultural literacy "creates the possibility to take apparently familiar issue or discipline and to look at it afresh through an intercultural lens."(Phil Wood and Charles Landry,2008, 245)However, failure to understand the cultural literacy in the film may lead to our misunderstanding of the concepts and the meanings of the films.

Look at the discourse of the film “Gua Sha Treatment”. This film shows exactly the cultural literacy between the Chinese and Americans. Gua Sha Treatment is one of the ideologies in the film. It’s a famous Chinese traditional treatment. The medicist use a hard thing to scrape the patient’s back, chest of neck in order to drive the “sha” away for his body. It’s effective but it may leave some red petechiae. Guasha treatment is common among Chinese and it’s acceptable in China. However, it’s little known by the westerners. Westerners are familiar with the discourse of “Gua Sha” at all and of course, they don’t know how to negotiate and deal with it. In this film, the westerns know nothing about this Chinese traditional treatment so they think the father has abused his son and decide to sue him. What the director tries to draw our attention to is the cultural difference, values and cultural conflict between China and America.As an audience, if you don't have familiarity with Chinese culture, you will find it hard to have the resonance with the Chinese father. Further more, it’s also difficult for you to grasp the central meaning of this film.

To conclude, when we analyze a film, we have to understanding its culture literacy which can make us understand the meanings of the films thoroughly.


References:
1.Wroblewski, L. (2003). Visible narratives: Understanding Visual Organization.Available. Retrieved October 24 from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/visible_narratives_understanding_visual_organization.php
2.Wood,P.,Landry,C.(2008).The Intercultural city: Planning for Diversity Advantage.UK:Cromwell Press.pp.245