ABSTRACT

The Wedding Banquet was directed by Li An in 1993. It tells a story about a Taiwanese immigrant who pretended to marry a Chinese woman to satisfy his traditional parents. The film incisively and vividly reflects different views on marriage between Chinese and Americans. To begin with, this paper will shortly introduce the plot, then summarize different marriage views of Wei Tung Gao, his traditional parents and his same-sex partner. Next, this paper will concretely analysis different views on marriage between Chinese and Americans and their roots. Due to different living environment and culture background between China and America, cultural differences are inevitable. At the end of the movie, we can see that both Wai-Tung and his father make compromises despite having great differences on marriage conception. It means the fusion of Chinese culture and American culture. With the development of globalization, people have more chances to experience different culture. Facing different culture, people should learn to understand and receive, rather than deny and criticize. Although different countries have different historical and cultural backgrounds, people have to respect cultural differences.

Key words: The Wedding Banquet  Views on MarriageCultural Difference  Roots

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

中文摘要

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION-5

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION-5

1.1.1 An Introduction to The Wedding Banquet-5

1.2THE PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PAPER-6

1.2.1 The Purpose of This Paper-6

1.2.2 The Significance of This Study-6

 1.3THE STRUCTURE OF THIS PAPER-6

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW-8

2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON THE WEDDING BANQUET-8

2.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON DIFFERENT VIEWS ON MARRIAGE BETWEEN CHINESE AND AMERICANS-9

2.3 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON THE ROOTS OF DIFFERENT VIEWS ON MARRIAGE BETWEEN CHINESE AND AMERICANS-10

CHAPTER THREE  ANALYSIS OF THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS ON MARRIAGE BETWEEN CHINESE AND AMERICANS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE WEDDING BANQUET-12

3.1 DIFFERENT PURPOSES OF GETTING MARRIED-12

3.2 DIFFERENT ATTITUDES TO HOMOSEXUALITY-13

3.3 THE DIFFERENCES OF SELECTING SPOUSES-14

CHAPTER FOUR  ANALYSIS OF THE ROOTS OF THE THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS ON MARRIAGE BETWEEN CHINESE AND AMERICANS-16

4.1 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT-16

4.2 TRADITIONAL CULTURE-17

4.3 COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM-18

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION-20

BIBLIOGRAPHY-22