The Cultural Difference between a Film and its Remake - Essay Example

Analysis of Cultural Difference between a Film and its Remake University’s Name: Submitted by Names: Tutor: Date: Core cultural Difference between “Shall We Dansu” (1996) and “Shall We Dance” (2004) Hollywood is widely known to be one of leading film producers specializing remaking films from other parts of the world, especially films from Asian countries. One of the main reasons why it has succeeded in producing remakes is increased globalization, which has led to increased cultural exchange and cultural tolerance (Lee, 2011). The penetration of Asian films into Hollywood became intensive in the beginning of 21st century. The market potential of Asian films made Hollywood to see it as a threat to its international dominance because film making is profit oriented (Lee, 2011). Even though globalization has led to increased cultural penetration across different parts of the world, cultural difference between original films and their remakes is still evident in the film industry. Therefore, the main objective if this essay is to analyze cultural difference between Shall We Dansu of 1996 and its remake Shall We Dance of 2004. The essay starts by briefly looking at the plot summary of the two films before summarizing the cultural difference between the US and Japan, especially in family relationships. The essay then analyzes its main objective before ending in a short conclusion. Shall We Dansu? is a Japanese film that was produced in 1996 and it was directed by Masayuki Suo. The film was aimed at teaching Japanese about ballroom dance that was considered a taboo in Japan then. It tries to persuade Japanese not to perceive the dance as shameful, but as a way of one’s expression. The film, therefore, has a rich cultural theme because it revolves around a theme that is considered a taboo in Japan. The film starts by introducing Shohei Sugiyama, a middle aged entrepreneur living in the suburb with his wife Masako (Hideko Hara) and the daughter, Chikage. Every time Sugiyama goes home from one he sees a lady, Mai, staring out from the window of ballroom dance studio, which motivates him to enroll for ballroom dance class. The main intention of enrolling for the dance class is to meet Mai, even though he later gets obsessed with the ballroom classes. Mai notices Sugiyama’s interest in the dance and she volunteers to teach him for the competition. Masako feels that her husband has extramarital affairs and she hires a secret detective who reveals the truth. Sugiyama and his wife have an argument on the issue before he receives a letter from Mai for her farewell party because she is moving to England for further studies. Sugiyama reconciles with Masako before going for Mai’s farewell party and he takes the opportunity to dance with her, Mai. Shall We Dance? (2004), on the other hand, is an American remake of Shall We Dansu? (1996) and was directed by Peter Chelsom in 2004. Unlike the original film where ballroom dance is a taboo, ballroom dance is not considered to be one of the anti social behaviors in the US. It, therefore, focuses on ballroom dance to show emotions and romance are expressed through the dance. The film begins by introducing John Clark who has a white collar job, his wife Beverly and his two children, Evan and Jenna. Even though it is a happy family, they are too busy to have time together. John sees a beautiful lady, Paulina, staring out and showing a lot of expression from the window of ballroom dance studio. The lady attracts him and he enrolls for ballroom dance class to meet her. John gains a lot of interest in the dance and he starts to avoid his friends and family. Beverly becomes suspicious and she hires a secret detective to monitor him. John finally abandons his private interest and starts paying attention to his family. He expressed his love to her wife by buying her gift and taking dancing with Beverly in Paulina’s party. During Paulina’s party, couples take the opportunity to dance with their lifetime partners and showing each other a lot of love and affection. The two films, therefore, have the same storyline and they focuses on individual and group behaviors and the family relationship, especially among married couples. The films also express gender roles in the society and how men and women relates with one another in the within a family and society at large. The essay, therefore, narrows on core cultural difference between Japan and American societies in relationship to family relations, group dynamics, and gender difference. Japanese society has created a group dynamics that is promoted by Confucianism and strict social rules (Miura, 2008). Japanese are forced to conform to the societal norms and values any person who fails abide by societal demands face challenges in life because of isolation. However, there are some people who choose to go against the norms due to pressure to follow individual fulfillment. Contrary, the US cultures do not conform to group dynamics because it accepts diversity in life like as people have the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. American cultures embrace individualism, which is not common in Japan. For instance, Sugiyama is forced to conform to the societal demand, especially male chauvinism while Clark has the liberty to pursue personal interest. There is also a difference in culture when it comes to self actualization where a person wants to achieve his desired dreams (Xu, G. 2005). Clark tries to achieve his life expectation by being more independent and by breaking away from daily activities. He takes his ballroom dance lessons less seriously because to him it is part of recreation. However, because Japanese culture in based on strong social ties, Sugiyama takes his dance lessons more seriously because the dance involve a group of people, which make the dance more important and challenging. Therefore, self-actualization in America is more individualistic compared to Japan where group dynamic is important. Japan has strict behavioral codes that are enforced by both informal socialization and school systems that are put in place. There is a clear difference between male and female member in the society and every one obligation to comply (Antoniu, 2010). It is the responsibility male teacher and father to socialize young boys of societal norms and values, which they must strictly follow. For instance, in Japan, it is the responsibility of a man to provide to his family. Mothers also ensure that young girls understand what society requires of them. Because men are under pressure to provide to his family, the companies they work for have become their primary group and they do not spend much time with their family members. Men achieve much satisfaction when they see their companies succeed, but they pay less attention to their families. Contrary to Japanese men, women are socialized to be wives and to be mother to the children due to male chauvinism in Japan (Meyer, 2009). The Japanese culture that demand that male must produce, even beyond their capacity is affecting their relationship with their close family members, especially their wives and children (Antoniu, 2010). In most case, these men work overtime for them to be seen to be doing their best. They have no time to spend with their family because of that pressure. Any man who is not producing as expected is regarded as a failure and may feel humiliated and isolated in the society. Even though American men also have the responsibility of providing for their families, they are not so much attached to the companies they work for. Bu instead, American men value their profession and expertise even though they also value masculinity. American women have more freedom compared to their counterparts in Japan because they can engage in formal work, make a choice of whether to have children or get married (Ziman, 2013). The two films, therefore, show cultural difference in America and Japan through their characters. Sugiyama has no time for his family after coming home from work. When he come home from work, he head strait to his bed to sleep without even talking to his family member, his wife and the daughter. The wife and the daughter are no bothered by his behavior and they continue with whatever they are doing despite the fact that Sugiyama seems to be avoiding them. Japanese culture expects him to be devoted to his work and co-workers and not family remembers. Therefore, the behavior is normal in Japan. This Japanese culture, however, is not normal in America as show in the remake. Clark spends more time with his family and he shows much love to his wife and the two children (Miura, 2008). He plays with his children when he returns home from work and even buys his wife gifts. The American culture expects a man to be not only concerned about aspect of the family, but he should also show family members love and affection. The remake, therefore, is tailor-made to the American society. There is also cultural difference on how Americans and Japanese show their emotional feelings to the people they love or closely relate to. Americans openly show their thoughts, affective and love to their family members while the Japanese do not openly show their emotions and affection to the people they are intimate or closely relate with (Miura, 2008). Japanese have restrained habit of communicating to their family members, which has helped in shaping marriage culture in Japan. Americans believe that marriage should be based on mutual love between a wife and a husband, which they believe should be the primary reason why people get married. They, therefore, use gifts and free communication signs of commitment to their marriage. In the remake film, John realizes that he has hurt his wife and he begins to feel sorry and apologetic to her. He is trying his best to show his commitment and love to the wife through open communication and emotions. He opts to share Paulina’s letter with Beverly and even promises his wife that he has quit ballroom dancing. He goes a step further to buy a present, rose flower, to his wife just to make sure that Beverly forgives him. It shows their marriage is built on love and they do everything to maintain it. However, in a Japanese culture marriage is taken to be a social institution for reproduction (Meyer, 2009). Consequently, marriages are less romantic and there is little affection taking place within the families. The Japanese culture expects couple to be parents, which is regarded as the primary role of the family. Even though the Japanese couple loves one another, Confucianism and religious practices make them to express emotional feelings inwardly instead of making them open. Therefore, terms like love, sweetheart or darling is not common among lovers in Japan. The society expects couples to maintain a silent spiritual bond with one another. According to Japanese culture, the man is always right in whatever he is doing. Sugiyama does not even make an attempt of apologizing to his wife after cheating on her. He is not interested in taking care of emotional challenge he cause the wife (Miura, 2008). He decides to keep silent with his feelings despite hurting other people’s feelings. According to Japanese culture, men are not supposed to show that they are weak physically and emotionally. They are not to show their weakness in front of women and men are striving to keep this norm. Japanese norm rely less on wordless communication, unlike Americans who like verbal communication. Japanese husband’s behavior towards his family is shaped by mass ideology. Japanese husband perceive his home as a place where he should just eat, sleep, and take shower, and not a social place (Miura, 2008). Consequently, he spends significant part of his time working and socializing so that he can arrive home late. His primary role is to provide for economic need of the family while the mother place social need. Japanese do no perceive this as neglect because it is enshrined in their culture. The wife is also expected to obey and tolerate husband behaviors religiously. However, in America, this is perceived as neglect, tyranny, and male chauvinism, which is likely to be condemned by many Americans (Miura, 2008). Therefore, the remakes must change the theme and setting to conform to the expectations if the film is to be accepted by viewers. Divorce is also a controversial issue in Japan. A family may face turbulent challenges that make it unsustainable, but couples choose to stay together due to societal expectations. This has made wives to tolerate behaviors of their husband, even when they are unfaithful to them as in the case of Sugiyama and his wife. Masako take the position of ideal mother as per Japanese marriage culture. She takes her daughter as her best family friend and not the husband. She dedicates her time to raise her daughter and to take care of family needs. When she suspects that her husband is engaging in extramarital affair with another lady, she employs a detective to monitor the husband (Miura, 2008). But because of male chauvinism in Japan, she does not confront her husband. The Japanese culture is not strict on husbands who engage in extramarital affairs, even though it condemns it. Contrary, American marriage is based on mutual interdependency, even though this only changed after women’s liberation. Both husband and wives view themselves as equal partners in marriage where they should equally contribute towards the social and economic welfare of the family (Ziman, 2013). Both men and women seek gainful employment while at the same time they take care of children together despite the fact that they may play different roles in bringing up their children. A husband who forces his wife to do something against her will is considered to be abusive. The society allows divorce on unstable or abusive marriages, which is not common in Japan. Consequently, American culture has empowered women and it has led to their freedom. Even though Beverly also play an active role in handling household chores, she has the freedom to engage in other economic activities and she shows open love to her husband John. Like Masako, she also respects her husband and does not choose to directly confront the husband, but instead she hires a secret detective to monitor John’s movement. But unlike Masako, American culture has empowered Beverly to openly discuss family issue with her husband. Beverly seems to be an equal partner in their marriage because she has delegated some duties to John like checking their daughter’s get-together (Miura, 2008). The previous parts of the essay show that Japan is aligned toward group dynamic while America is more of an individual identity where everyone pursues his or her own interest. Both Americans and Japanese are under societal pressure to conform to the cultures even though they may not like the norms and values. Because of globalization, some of the extreme cultures are fading as people try to find middle grounds where they can balance the societal demands and their individual interests. However the change is always gradual and it always comes with internal and external resistance. In trying to find a middle ground, the characters in the films feel less satisfied with the extreme cultures. Japanese culture expects men to pledge their allegiance to the company they are working for. Even though the majority of men follow the tradition, some feel intimidates and frustrated. Sugiyama has bought a house through the assistance of the company he works for (Miura, 2008). His friends envy him because they believe he is a successful man who caters for the needs of his family. Even though he appears happy in front of his friends and family, inwardly he is a frustrated man. Sugiyama is not satisfied with life because he lives as per the expectation of the society and not his own desires. Consequently, this affects his relationship with his friends and family members because he ignores them. He chooses to engage in ballroom dance, which is regarded as a taboo in Japan. He is among the Japanese rebelling against their own culture by choosing to fulfill their own interest. Clark is also affected by the American culture that gives everyone the freedom to pursue their own individual interest. In American culture, the wife has the freedom to choose what she wants with her life and the man cannot force her to follow his way. This culture leave Clark unsatisfied man despite the fact that he has economic wealth. Even though they live a happy and romantic family, everyone in the family is busy and they rarely spend time together (Miura, 2008). Beverly is employed and she works until late while the children are busy with their education. Therefore, even after Clark abandons his initial interest of acquiring wealth to spend more time with the family, he hardly finds someone to interact with at home. The individualistic culture in America is also not satisfying the desire of some of the Americans. Therefore, no culture appears to be perfect because the same people who should follow them are not satisfied with them. A culture may fit a large number of the society members, but I can hardly satisfy the needs of every person with the same culture. Therefore, people tend to defy various cultures meant for them by emulating other foreign cultures that are more fulfilling. Remakes, therefore, tries to bridge the gap. The two movies have cultural influence have influence in both Japan and America. In Japanese culture, family structure is still traditional and men are expected in their work and women to attend to household needs and the needs of the husbands. The major influence of Shall We Dansu is its significant impact on ballroom dance, which was initially regarded as a taboo in Japan. However, there is still stigma attached to it because it requires close physical contacts, which is not popular with Japanese. It has also changed dance culture in Japan because people can now dance freely in public, even with people of opposite sex. The dance studio business is also glowing because more people are embracing public dance and there is increase dance competition in Japan. It has, therefore, changed dance culture in Japan.Ballroom dance can be traced in the UK, but because of globalization it can now be found in different parts of the world including Japan and America. The remake also has changed the common culture where everyone is free to pursue his or her dreams. America is known as the land of opportunity and every person strives to develop economically. Consequently, they always ignore social life like family time. However, from the remake, Clark has all that he needs in life but still he is not happy because all his family members are out following their dreams in life. The culture is likely to change this culture in the US and people will start to balance all aspects of life like social, political, and economic for real happiness. In conclusion, there is a clear cultural difference between the original “Shall We Dance” and its remake, which was meant for American society. Japanese society practice group dynamics while the America is more of an individualistic society. Japanese men spend most of their time working in various companies and socializing with their workmates and they spend less time with their families. Japan is more of a male chauvinism society where men are perceived to be superior to women. America, on the other hand, is more of egalitarian where both men and women have equal say in the society. Family members spent much of their time together where they show each other love and affection. However, none of the cultures satisfy all the people in the society, which has made a section of the society to defy them. Reference List Antoniu, E. 2010. Comparative Analysis of Cultural Dimension in The Management of Japan and Romania. Anale. Seria Ştiinţe Economice. Timişoara, (XVI), 239-245. Lee, V. P. 2011. East Asian cinemas: regional flows and global transformations. Palgrave Macmillan. Meyer, U. 2009. In the Name of Identity: Teaching cultural awareness in the intercultural classroom. Journal of Intercultural Communication, (19). Miura, S. 2008. A comparative analysis of a Japanese film and its American remake. Xu, G. 2005. Remaking East Asia, Outsourcing Hollywood. Retrieved from http://sensesofcinema.com/2005/feature-articles/remaking_east_asia/ Ziman, R. L. 2013. Women in the Workforce: An In-Depth Analysis of Gender Roles and Compensation Inequity in the Modern Workplace. Read More

dy attracts him and he enrolls for ballroom dance class to meet her. John gains a lot of interest in the dance and he starts to avoid his friends and family. Beverly becomes suspicious and she hires a secret detective to monitor him. John finally abandons his private interest and starts paying attention to his family. He expressed his love to her wife by buying her gift and taking dancing with Beverly in Paulina’s party. During Paulina’s party, couples take the opportunity to dance with their lifetime partners and showing each other a lot of love and affection.

The two films, therefore, have the same storyline and they focuses on individual and group behaviors and the family relationship, especially among married couples. The films also express gender roles in the society and how men and women relates with one another in the within a family and society at large. The essay, therefore, narrows on core cultural difference between Japan and American societies in relationship to family relations, group dynamics, and gender difference. Japanese society has created a group dynamics that is promoted by Confucianism and strict social rules (Miura, 2008).

Japanese are forced to conform to the societal norms and values any person who fails abide by societal demands face challenges in life because of isolation. However, there are some people who choose to go against the norms due to pressure to follow individual fulfillment. Contrary, the US cultures do not conform to group dynamics because it accepts diversity in life like as people have the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives. American cultures embrace individualism, which is not common in Japan.

For instance, Sugiyama is forced to conform to the societal demand, especially male chauvinism while Clark has the liberty to pursue personal interest. There is also a difference in culture when it comes to self actualization where a person wants to achieve his desired dreams (Xu, G. 2005). Clark tries to achieve his life expectation by being more independent and by breaking away from daily activities. He takes his ballroom dance lessons less seriously because to him it is part of recreation.

However, because Japanese culture in based on strong social ties, Sugiyama takes his dance lessons more seriously because the dance involve a group of people, which make the dance more important and challenging. Therefore, self-actualization in America is more individualistic compared to Japan where group dynamic is important. Japan has strict behavioral codes that are enforced by both informal socialization and school systems that are put in place. There is a clear difference between male and female member in the society and every one obligation to comply (Antoniu, 2010).

It is the responsibility male teacher and father to socialize young boys of societal norms and values, which they must strictly follow. For instance, in Japan, it is the responsibility of a man to provide to his family. Mothers also ensure that young girls understand what society requires of them. Because men are under pressure to provide to his family, the companies they work for have become their primary group and they do not spend much time with their family members. Men achieve much satisfaction when they see their companies succeed, but they pay less attention to their families.

Contrary to Japanese men, women are socialized to be wives and to be mother to the children due to male chauvinism in Japan (Meyer, 2009). The Japanese culture that demand that male must produce, even beyond their capacity is affecting their relationship with their close family members, especially their wives and children (Antoniu, 2010). In most case, these men work overtime for them to be seen to be doing their best. They have no time to spend with their family because of that pressure. Any man who is not producing as expected is regarded as a failure and may feel humiliated and isolated in the society.

Even though American men also have the responsibility of providing for their families, they are not so much attached to the companies they work for.

Read More