1。2 Literature Review
After Geert Hofstede put forward cultural dimensions theory, lots of researchers and scholars began to apply this theory to illustrate culture differences。 Some researchers applied six dimensions of Hofstede’s theory to probe into the financial, marketing and even tourism websites, such as Kumar C。 Rallapalli, Cameron D。 Montgomery(2015), Doo Syen Kang, Teresa Mastin(2008), Zhan Xiaohai and Zhang Ruochen(2015)andErkki K。 Laitinen, ArtoSuvas(2016)。 Also, based on Hofstede’s model, Jonny Villatoro, John Chang and Samuel Lane (2006) tried to study ethics, values and cross-cultural differences in China, Mexico or the United States, and draw the conclusions that Americans are known for assertiveness and ambitious inpiduals, who tend to like to argue and debate; while in China, there is more preference for mentor-type relationships between managers and persistent qualities in leaders。 Li Jing, Peng Renzhong and Li Ting (2012) took IBM and Lenovo as typical instances to compare management culture of Chinese companies with American companies。 The articles what I have mentioned above, they were much elaborated and took all six dimensions into consideration, however, the coverage is too large to analyze, and thus I want to focus on one dimension--power distance。文献综述
When taking a look at power distance, most researchers focused on commercial and economic society by applying into power distance theory, both at home and abroad。 For example, Willie Tan and Eddie Chong (2003) attempts to isolate the key factors that affect power distance perceptions by middle-level construction employees in Singapore。 Then, , Aileen Smith and Evelyn C。 Hume(2005)chose six countries for the survey of ethical beliefs and power distance, which helps international marketers’ managers to identify differences in consumer ethics across different cultures and thus provides a theoretical base for designing effective marketing strategies。 Moreover, Hofstede's power distance theory is used in the field of education。 Elizabeth Koh and John Lim (2007) use this theory to examine whether the cultural background of learners is a crucial factor in determining the effectiveness of educational technology。
Hofstede’s theory is widely used in various culture-related topics。 It offers a clear guidance for researchers to describe and compare the cultural differences, which facilitates people’s deeper cognition of the cultural differences。 Still, the researches of China-America cultural differences from the family relationship are deficient。 Few researches have applied the power distance theory to analyze the cultural difference in parent-child relationship。 In this thesis, I will make the research in this aspect。 Also, in order to make my research more detailed, I choose Ang Lee’s movies to give readers some concrete examples。
Ang Lee, a Taiwanese-born film director, has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers and he enjoys a high reputation in China and America。 He accepted different Eastern and Western education, and the impact of two different civilizations created the different vision and temperament of Ang Lee, both the Oriental tradition of gentle and Western-style free and easy unruly。 For one thing, he tries to explore the East and the West cultural conflict, and opens up the horizons of Chinese people。 For another, he accurately grasps the cultural psychology of Europe and the United States, bringing enterprising spirit and value。 Just as Lee said, “A movie is really provocation。 It's not a message, it's not a statement。”Ang Lee’s movies are featured by their mix of traditional Chinese culture and American culture; therefore, the movies of Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet are the ideal analytic subjects for this study。