刮痧

当我怀着好奇的心态去看《刮痧》时，心情好像过山车一样，感到不解，感到气愤，感到沉重，感到欣慰。其中，给我感受最深的是中西方文化之间的差异，让我体会到中国文化在传播过程中的艰辛，它们不被接受，甚至被曲解。
《刮痧》这部影片主要讲述了丹尼斯因为肚子疼，爷爷就用刮痧的方法给他治疗，一天，丹尼斯不小心磕破了额头，医生在给他治疗的过程中发现了他身上留有的刮痧痕迹，认为许大同夫妻对孩子实行了暴力，进而展开了一系列事情。看完这部电影，心情久久不能平静，让我们感受到文化和传播的相互影响：
一方面是文化对传播的影响，表现在文化的维护等方面，文化的维模功能对传播的影响具有两面性：当外来文化有利于原来文化模式的维护时，即可以增进传播的发生；而当外来文化对原来文化模式具有破坏性的时候，则限制不同文化圈之间的交流和沟通。在影片中，在第二次与法官交流的过程中，儿童福利局的律师列举了许大同许多表现暴力倾向的事件，如简宁生产时，由于胎位不正等原因，许大同要求保大人，在许大同的眼中，这是人之常情的事，孩子没有了，还会有的，但是大人没了，就真的一切都没了，然而这种思想在传播到西方思想中，他们认为这是不尊重儿童的表现，破坏了美国对儿童保护的法律。同时还列举了张飞和孙悟空，在中国，张飞和孙悟空是英雄人物的象征，许大同将他们设计在游戏之中，传播中国文化，让西方人能够进一步了解中国文化，展现中国人有勇有谋、英勇无畏、敢于反抗的精神，而在美国人看来，这类人物放在游戏中，他们作为一种外来文化，充满了血腥、暴力，对本国原有文化倡导的保护孩子，让孩子树立正确的价值观和道德规范背道而驰，美国人对于这个就进行批判、反抗，在片头的时候，还出现了游行示威的活动。
另一方面是传播对文化的影响，表现在传播中的文化震惊等方面，文化震惊指的是生活在某一个文化圈中的人，当他首次接触到另一种文化模式时所产生的思想上的混乱与心理上的压力。在影片中，当医生和护士发现丹尼斯身上留有的刮痧痕迹时，医生和护士震惊了，他们立刻打电话给儿童福利局，认为许大同夫妻对孩子实行了暴力，这刮痧的痕迹就是家庭暴力活生生的证据，与他们国家制定的对儿童的保护相违背，要求孩子的监护权由儿童福利局拥有，同时，许大同也震惊了，刮痧作为中国的传统治疗方法，拥有悠久的历史，代代相传，在他的眼中，这是一件习以为常的事，而且自己以前也进行了多次刮痧的治疗，现在竟然被说成是虐待儿童，让他气愤，觉得不可思议，许大同的律师约翰•昆兰在看到那几张刮痧的照片，也认为许大同有虐待儿童的行为，法官让许大同拿出证据证明刮痧是一种治疗方法，但是这种传统方法是无法用语言来形容的，许大同感到很无奈。还有一次，保罗和丹尼斯打架了，许大同要求丹尼斯道歉，丹尼斯不愿意，许大同就当着约翰•昆兰的面打了丹尼斯，约翰•昆兰对于这种行为震惊了，而这种教育方法在许大同看来是正常的对孩子要进行适当的严厉教育，同时也是给约翰•昆兰的一种交代，对他们给予尊重的表现。但是文化观念的不同，这样的行为会使人震惊，让人曲解。
这部影片表现了两种不同的文化，许大同的观念方法代表着中国的文化，美国律师等人代表着西方的文化，它们在传播过程中发生的矛盾冲突，让我们感受到文化和传播的相互影响，也让我们看到了赫尔德尔在《人类历史哲学概要》中说的，文化有明显的边界，文化作为一个区域的文化，它总是明显区别于其他区域的文化。可喜的是，最后法官撤销了对许大同进行的处罚，这在某种意义上，表现了中国文化在被西方文化了解，接受，这是文化传播的一大进步。

1.电子游戏颁奖典礼上强行出现cosplay兵马俑是几个意思。。

2.美国人的游戏颁奖典礼上，为何会有《街头霸王》（made in Japan）乱入？

3.大同获奖感言中，大谈美国梦说：“只要努力，总有一天我会成为你们中的一员，成为一个真正的，成功的美国人。” 你一个中国人，最终想成为美国人，给你差评！

4.老霍这个人物出场合理吗。（首先出场方式就不多加吐槽。）既然是大同父亲的老朋友，那么他一定认识大同吧，所以他将以兵马俑身份出席大同的颁奖典礼这件事，大同和他父亲一定是提前知道的吧，然而电影中两人偶遇时显然并不知道会遇见对方。

5.老霍存在的意义是什么？想表达父亲在美国唯一的朋友死了，父亲从此再无生活伴侣了？那为什么不能是一开始就没有老霍这个生活伴侣？

6.关于丹尼斯背上的血痕，影片中也提到了是因为局部毛细血管的扩张，而不是通常所见的皮肤器质性损伤，这与被殴打致伤有着本质的区别，有点医学常识的人怎么可能连这也不能区分？

7.大同所在的电子游戏开发商老板约翰，为何又身兼版权法律师一职？（可能老美确实多才多艺。。）

8.听证会上，大同处于不利的态势，而他挽回颓势办法竟然是极力证明自己有多爱孩子。。以一个正常成年人思维不该是把重点放在证明刮痧是一种中国传统疗法上吗？即使当时美国医学有关书籍并无记载，但结尾处大同父亲来信中所说的做法不就对了吗？

9.夫妻二人关系恶化显得莫名其妙，破出租屋内两人把酒时的对白莫名其妙。

10.圣诞夜，抢劫犯大行其道，大同勇敢搏斗，一旁的圣诞老人不帮忙也不报警也就算了，他的反应却是小心小心别把劫匪打死了！！

除了以上情节或逻辑上的问题以外，插句题外话，蒋雯丽阿姨的演技不忍直视。尤其拿着手柄狂打游戏那一幕和两人醉酒的那一幕。

另外，看完《刮痧》给人感觉这其实是一部立意不那么深的电影。最大的问题在于，导演为了讲述一个因为文化差异而险些导致悲剧的故事，故意放大了矛盾，并且刻意将解决矛盾的keys给抹去，避之而不谈，从而使矛盾扩大化，话说回来这个矛盾其实并不是不可调和的。影片在节奏的把握上显得拖拉，机场离别一幕将剧情推向高潮，结尾处却又在大做文章，爬水管的戏画蛇添足。
对于两股势力或是两个人之间因意识形态产生的矛盾，解决的第一要义绝对是通过交流，互相了解。影片中面对老美不了解刮痧，我们第一要做的难道不也是通过搜集证据，让他们了解刮痧吗？

不得不说的亮点是梁家辉极具张力的演技和他会说话的眼睛！

   中国人主张“没有规矩，不成方圆”。
   
   中国人自称自己是礼仪之邦。

   其实礼仪，无外乎规矩，哪里没有？只是某些礼仪或者规矩，于一个民族来说，是天经地义的，在另一个民族眼里，却不可理喻了。

   人前教子背后教妻、打是亲骂是爱、家和万事兴。许大同带着这许多的中国规矩来到美国，寻求一种公平竞争。在竞争中，他成功了，如愿以偿，家庭幸福事业有成。他站在领奖台上对美国人说：我是你们中的一员，我爱美国，这里是我的家，我实现了美国梦。然而一转身，许大同却因为深夜里把儿子独自一个人留在家里，并且摔伤送进医院，又阴差阳错地被发现孩子背上爷爷刮痧留下的瘀痕而遭到美国儿童福利院起诉，怀疑他存在严重家庭暴力虐待儿童。在多次与儿童福利院的法庭辩论中，许大同与代表美国规矩的儿童福利院陷入僵局。他们各自上演自己的闹剧，一方拼命攻击，一方歇斯底里。他们根本无法交流。中国人最传统最民间的家庭治伤法“刮痧”，在国美人眼里简直不可思议。他们需要科学的解释和准确的证据。而许大同之前对孩子的武力管教替父受过爱妻弃胎，甚至根据中国神话英雄孙悟空设计出来的游戏，居然都成了呈堂证供。包括他最信任的朋友兼上司昆兰，都成了控方的证人。许大同觉得这帮洋鬼子才真是不可理喻。他扔下一句“道不同不想为谋”忿然辞职。为了能让儿子回家，妻子违心与他分居，父亲内疚回国。

    许大同陷入了绝望的境地。他表面暴跳如雷，固执已见，内心却在深深长叹：美国居，大不易啊。他痛哭，他呐喊。他忘了他已是“美国人中的一员”，也忘记了他的儿子只会说英语。他想回到愿意承认他的感情他的观念的中国。但是他是负罪在身，为了证明他的清白与正直，他必须留在美国等待宣叛。

    为了能在圣诞夜给儿子送礼物，许大同悲壮地从室外爬水管到9楼自家的窗外。然而正在他险些失足坠楼的时候，昆兰和福利院女主管带着法院的解禁令拯救了许大同。而这个结局是昆兰以自身作为实验品到华人街请中医为他刮痧，证实了确实是种家庭疗法而非暴力。
掌声，礼物，泪水，理解，感动，大团圆结局。

   尽管如此，整部电影的基调却是凝重、阴沉的。美国人是理性的，中国人是感性的。当我们无法让别人承认自己的时候，常常会以表达自己感情的方式试图打动别人。法律无外乎人情，美国人也并不一概那么机械那么无情，他们的法律也一样在乎人情，但最终还得事实说话。电影虽然为我们展现了这个事实，但内里的情绪却无时无处不在渲染一种“背井离乡”“寄人篱下”的悲怆与凄凉。这便是中国人极度自卑导致的极度自尊。

   《刮痧》绝对是一部值得一看的电影。倒不是说这电影有多么好，其实各方面表现平平，还有扮可怜博同情赚眼泪的嫌疑。But，这电影跨越了了海外华人在物质生存上的挣扎，进入一个文化差异层面的反思，给观众一个警示：大多数向往国外的人，并不在于那里优越的物质环境，而于那里优良的竞争环境。请注意，西方的人文环境，有时会公平得豪无人情。好在这个世界越来越兼容了，但是，兼容的程度与文明发展的速度是成正比。所以希望别人兼容我们的同时，我们也得学会兼容别人。我们的礼仪里，包括了“入乡随俗”这一条。

Because He Is Chinese: Chinese Immigrants’ Struggle for the recognition of American Society
—The Maze of Different Value Systems and The Disillusion of Those Outsiders’ Daydream

Brief Introduction to the Movie:
  Datong Xu and his wife Jian Ning have been lived in America for eight years; through struggle they have made great success in their career and with their son Dennis they live a very happy life.
Xu’s father comes from China to visit his family. While there, he gives his grandson a harmless traditional Chinese medical treatment of Gua Sha, which the local authorities wrongly regard as child abuse. The family goes through a very hard time when the child is taken away by the child protection agency. Meanwhile, the Xu’s father leaves America because he finds that the living environment is really not suitable for him, as he feels that Gua Sha, which is so common in China is treated as child abuse in America. Worst of all, he cannot converse in English.
Eventually, an American friend of Datong tries Gua Sha and proves that the treatment leaves painful-looking marks that are not actually harmful at all. And the end result sees that Dennis is returned home and the family is reunited.

Movie Analysis: with a focus on pieces taken from the movie
Value Systems deeply rooted in Different Cultures Do Make Clashes
As is shown to us, despite the fact that Datong, with his wife has been to the States for eight years, deep in his heart his root is in China and some of the most fundamental viewpoints of his are still typical Chinese style.
Scene one: at the very beginning of this movie Dennis and the son of Datong’s friend Quinlan have a fight and Dennis beats the other boy, then Dennis goes to play computer games. Let’s see what Datong has done to his son: he shuts down the computer, beats his son and asks him to apologize to Quinlan’s son, an act making the Quinlan family feel confused and puzzled.
Now you see, having lived in America has made Datong look like an American citizen and has gained him a good reputation as an American computer game designer; however, it fails to change his value system since he is brought up in China and mainly educated there. Family structure and their inherent relationships and obligations are a major source of cultural difference. (Xu, page 94) And differences between west and east in value systems occur, thus making the culture clashes: Quinlan never did this to his son, so he can’t understand Datong’s deed and feel quite surprised.
Scene two: at the hearing Datong shows his fury and “overacts” as he witnesses someone saying something bad about Chinese culture, making people present at the court feel so astonished.
As we all know, the curt is a sacred place and no one should be led by his own emotion and behave rudely to the judge, as this is an offense to sobriety of the law and the legal system. Complex as the scene may appear to be, what causes Datong’s deeds can be carefully reasoned:
Here again come the cultural clashes: American culture is so different from ours that they may not be able to correctly comprehend and decode our culture; this has caused the person who has said something bad about Chinese culture at the court misperceive our culture, which is a sad truth. When somebody misunderstands your motherland, what will you do? Of course we’ll fight back and defend our country, wherever and whenever. And this, is the very answer to Datong’s deeds at the court.
Cultural Conflicts and Its Causation
We should admit the fact that this is a movie full of cultural conflicts, among which the different opinions towards Gua Sha and the unhappy life of Datong’s father in America should be the most serious two. Gua Sha, along with the life experience of Datong’s father, can be taken as the two significant factors when we are studying the clue of this movie.
Scene Three: Dennis is taken away from Datong’s family because of the seemingly painful-looking marks left by the treatment Gua Sha.
Here the mark is taken for the testimony that Datong’s family has abused the child; however, Chinese people, as the inventor and practitioner of this traditional treatment, will never come to the conclusion that this is harmful to the patients. Unfortunately, probably no Chinese has thought of the problem that Americans don’t make sense of this treatment; and also, probably no Americans have realized that Gua Sha is not a punishment or abuse but a way to heal people’s illness.
Misconceptions from both sides has jointly led to the cultural conflicts, both sides need to retrospect themselves and communicate with each other, which in the movie we can hardly see. And the movie is the reflection of the reality, though a little unwilling to accept the fact, we have no choice but to face this serious problem: lack of understanding and interaction between different cultures.
Scene Four: Datong’s father, finding it extremely difficult to live in a totally different environment and feeling a sense of loneliness, finally leaves for China.
The life of an old person living in a foreign country is always a heated topic to be discussed. Today I’ll focus on the conflicts part:
The grandfather, symbol of the Chinese traditional culture and the Chinese past, is confronted with modern America and the contemporary American mainstream culture. It is obvious that these two differ in lots of aspects, and of course so many differences are to cause cultural conflicts, in which the Datong’s father is too weak to fight back and have no choice but to return to its own culture.
What has made a Chinese old man face those cultural conflicts? The reasons are as follows: living environment, language, worldview and values, etc. And in all those elements, I think the unfamiliarity of an unacquainted culture should be the most striking one.

Conclusion Part:
American Dream? So Hard to Achieve for a Chinese Immigrant
  Do you still remember the words said by Datong Xu at the start of the movie when he is addressing his prize-winning speech? In his speech he says that if he can keep working hard he will one day become a real, successful American, American as he has thought of is a country full of opportunities and he is the lively example, and at last he says he loves America and that’s his American Dream.
  Sarcastically, the start of the movie turns out to be Datong’s peak, and then both his career and his life have become worse and worse. It is certain that the family is reunited and things begin to become better, but you can’t deny the fact that Datong’s American Dream is actually ruined and disillusioned, maybe through time he will soon “recover”, but the pain left by the tragic memory of this incident is sure to last long.
  In his famous novel The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald wrote the famous sentence: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past (Fitzgerald, page 224). American Dream is far away from those immigrants, the famous Chinese writer Zhu Ziqing has once said: “but the happiness is theirs, I have nothing.” And this theory can also be adapted here: the American dream is American’s, they immigrants have nothing. Even Americans themselves can’t easily realize their dream, how about immigrants?
  And what has made this? Of course the difference of culture and value systems! To solve this problem, we still have a long way to go.

  The name Datong means great harmony, I guess it is not only the ultimate goal of the director but also the ultimate goal of people all around the world. It comes as no surprise that it is of vital importance to realize this goal, but there still exist a great number of obstacles, especially in the aspect of culture and communication. What should we do? Just keep walking, keep fighting and trying hard to build bridges between different cultures and help them understand each other to fulfill our dreams.
  If one day the great harmony arrives, the world will take on a new look and the earth will make a true global village.

基本上，剧情不太合理。梁家辉作为一个到美国生活了这么长时间的人，连不能够打孩子这么一点基本意识都没有吗？到了法庭上，本来几个词可以说清楚的事情，Chinese alternative therapy/massage，就是不说，光知道发脾气。如果不是有一个超级负责人的法官，这局面怎么收拾得了。要表现文化冲突也要合理一点才好啊。