Gung Ho film analysis
RESPONSE ARTICLE 4
By: Venny Christayani R. (112012006)
Intercultural Encounter in a Working Place
Living together with people from different cultural context will expose us to the differences of the culture clearer rather than its similarities (Pattiwael, 2015). This kind of situation is faced by the Americans and the Japanese people who have experienced an intercultural encounter in the movie of “Gung Ho”. Gung Ho is a movie that tells about the clash of cultures after a certain group of Japanese work together with American in order to reopen a car factory in a small town of Pennsylvania, America. The movie basically tells about the negative stereotypes and rivalry that are existed between those two groups while they are working together. In this paper, I want to address the issues on Gung Ho’s movie about the stereotypes and power distance that are shown, and then compare it with my own experiences that are related to the issues.
First, according to Lippmann (1922), stereotype is “the typical picture that comes to mind when thinking about a particular social group”. Stereotyping happen when someone claims a notion about a particular member of group, such as a member’s behaviors or appearances, which then often leads to a situation where one group often feels superior and then underestimate the other. These kinds of stereotypes are shown in the movie when the American tends to mock everything that the Japanese people do, such as swimming in the cold river, work out in the morning, and the way Japanese people eat using chopsticks. Halliday et.al. (2004) has said that this situation is called a racial stereotype where people stereotypes others by their nationality and race. There are also other stereotypes in the movie that Halliday has defined as profession stereotype where people stereotypes others based on their jobs. It is shown in the movie when the Americans assume that all Japanese people, especially the men workers are a strict, discipline, workaholic,
By: Venny Christayani R. (112012006)
Intercultural Encounter in a Working Place
Living together with people from different cultural context will expose us to the differences of the culture clearer rather than its similarities (Pattiwael, 2015). This kind of situation is faced by the Americans and the Japanese people who have experienced an intercultural encounter in the movie of “Gung Ho”. Gung Ho is a movie that tells about the clash of cultures after a certain group of Japanese work together with American in order to reopen a car factory in a small town of Pennsylvania, America. The movie basically tells about the negative stereotypes and rivalry that are existed between those two groups while they are working together. In this paper, I want to address the issues on Gung Ho’s movie about the stereotypes and power distance that are shown, and then compare it with my own experiences that are related to the issues.
First, according to Lippmann (1922), stereotype is “the typical picture that comes to mind when thinking about a particular social group”. Stereotyping happen when someone claims a notion about a particular member of group, such as a member’s behaviors or appearances, which then often leads to a situation where one group often feels superior and then underestimate the other. These kinds of stereotypes are shown in the movie when the American tends to mock everything that the Japanese people do, such as swimming in the cold river, work out in the morning, and the way Japanese people eat using chopsticks. Halliday et.al. (2004) has said that this situation is called a racial stereotype where people stereotypes others by their nationality and race. There are also other stereotypes in the movie that Halliday has defined as profession stereotype where people stereotypes others based on their jobs. It is shown in the movie when the Americans assume that all Japanese people, especially the men workers are a strict, discipline, workaholic,
References: Halliday, A., Hyde, M., and Kullman, J. (2004). Intercultural communication. New York: Routledge. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Second edition. Sage Publications. Lippmann, Walter. ([1922] 1965). Public Opinion. New York: Free Press. Pattiwael, A. (2015). Stereotyping and Otherization. Salatiga: Satya Wacana Christian University.