In fact, after watching the movie "Don't Tell Her", I was puzzled. Who was this movie made for?
For Chinese audiences, the choice of protagonists of non-mainstream aesthetics, the excessively deliberate detail processing and the relatively distorted plot arrangement on this basis not only aroused the emotional resonance of most audiences, but also touched the inverse scales of other audiences: this way A film with a "stereotype" color cannot represent China.
For foreign audiences, the "labeled" content presentation is indeed more conducive to providing key points to assist the understanding of Stranger Things, but only through the "sinicization" of the heroine who represents the American mind to persuade and "don't treat grandma" To what extent can a narrative group like "Tell her Sick" can convey to foreign audiences the meaning of "Don't tell her" contained in Chinese culture, a high-context culture?
In my opinion, what the film wants to express can actually be very simple. The conflict between "don't tell grandma's illness" in this international family is on the surface, "you have to tell grandma" and "can't tell grandma" The conflict in the form of expression shows the conflict between values and ways of thinking. In fact, it is the conflict between different cultures. It is the mutual struggle between the ways of thinking and behavior paths that are deeply influenced by different cultural mechanisms and reflected through discourse.
But the root of this conflict is not opposition, but the same love for grandma that everyone shares.
Just like the protagonist Bille, the American thinking formed by immigrating to the United States as a child has made him the spokesperson of American culture in the film: "speak straight", "emotions are written on the face", "only think about myself", "this is a "It's illegal in the United States to conceal your medical condition", and she used her as a mouthpiece to ask "why is it like this" again and again, and the reply she received was: "You can't tell your grandma", "You can't show it." Come out and let grandma know", "this is a family affair", "this is a kind of white lie", "everyone in China does this, and grandma herself came here". But in the face of her grandmother's joy when she saw her sudden return, "I won't tell my grandma when I come back," she had no choice but to hold her grandmother and try to prevent her from seeing her sad expression in this way.
"Americans" like to express their thoughts and emotions in a direct way, and take care of the existence of life from an individual perspective, so they think "you should tell grandma, grandma has the right to know about her own situation"; "Chinese" are not good at direct ideas and Emotional expression, the value of life existence is established in the collective, so I will insist on "can't tell grandma". Language, as a way of cultural inheritance and communication, is represented in the film as a window that allows us to explore the cultural differences between China and the United States.
It is reflected in the difference between "tell" and "not tell" in the form of discourse expression, the difference in values and ways of thinking, and the difference in culture behind it. There is no high or low, and there is no right or wrong. points. They just convey their love for grandma in their own way. Peters once said in his book "The Helplessness of Communication" that "(the goal of communication) is not to reproduce the self as it is, but to let others be cared for." In the context of "Don't Tell Her", it is the same. reason.
Perhaps this can also answer the question I asked at the beginning. This film with an "unknown audience" is more about "what is love" in a cross-cultural context than a cross-cultural communication of meaning. Cultural reflection on expressions.
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