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Inpidualism and Collectivism is defined as the following: “Inpidualism stands for a society in which the ties between inpiduals are loose: Everyone is expected to look after him/herself and her/his immediate family only. Collectivism stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede, 2008:225)”.
Power Distance is a measure of the interpersonal power or influence between a boss B and a subordinate S as perceived by the less powerful of the two, S (Hofstede, 2008:83). In other words, it refers to the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept that power is distributed unequally (Wang, 2012:35).
Uncertainty Avoidance measures the extent to which a culture can accept ambiguous situations and tolerate uncertainty about the future (William J. Starosta & Guo-Ming Chen, 2007:52). It is reflected by Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), which can be classified into high and low uncertainty avoidance. People in different countries adapt to uncertainty in different ways. The higher score in UAI, the more anxious people will be when dealing with the uncontrollable.
Masculinity and Femininity means that “Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life. Femininity stands for a society in which social gender roles are overlap: Both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life” (Hofstede, 2008:297). The duality of the sexes implies the biological difference between the sexes that should have for the emotional and social roles of the gender (Hofstede, 2008:279).
Long- Versus Short-term Orientation refers to a person’s preference about life and work (Myron W. Lustig & Jolene Koester, 2007:128). In short-term orientation country, people think that most important events in life occurred in past or occur in present. On the countrary, in long-term orientation country, people hold the view that most important events in life will occur in the future.
1.3 The Cultural Analysis of TV Plays
TV plays are one kind of visual forms to express social culture. American TV series are the refractor of American culture that reflects on the screen. More and more people start to research them from different perspectives. Take Prison Break as an example; there are numerous cultural analyses of it. In article titled An Analysis of Western Inpidualism in Prison Break, the authors point out that western inpidualism is fully embodied during the whole process of escape (Shen & Chen, 2012: 223). The play shows that western people put high value on personal value and dignity. Although most characters are prisoners, they still enjoy the right of being respected (Shen & Chen, 2012: 223). Personal struggle and independence are also highly praised. The hero of this play, Michael, finally achieved success by his own persistent efforts.
Desperate Housewives is another popular TV play. Many scholars carry out researches on it. Everyone has his own focus. In the article named Appreciate Western Culture through American TV Plays----Take Desperate Housewives as an example, the author elaborates on American culture from six aspects. They are various parties, children’s independence, independent economic value, independent American old people, American farewell and racial discrimination. He stresses that people should keep the positive attributes of flash, while removing the negatives, and try to obtain
new forces into Chinese culture (Yue, 2011: 50). Another article, An Analysis of Cultural Themes in Desperate Housewives, states that this TV play has two salient points. One is that it grasps social cultural psychology accurately. The other is that it expresses humanity deeply. The author writes that the most striking points of this TV play is that it contains realistic critical spirit. It uses elite culture element to wrap mass market products, which has an important guiding significance to TV production (Li, 2011: 48).