Asian Culture and Cultural Variations - Essay Example

Asian Culture Introduction: The term ‘Asian culture’ is an umbrella term that encompasses a host of culture varieties within the larger Asian Diaspora. It is a conglomeration of various customs, traditions, behaviour and practices. Within the Asian continent lies a wide variety of distinct cultural subcontinents and sub-regions. The characteristic amalgamation of cultural potpourri is a feature special to the overall Asian people and community. This paper will briefly address the aspect of cultural distinctiveness in the Asian continent in terms of its socio-cultural point of view. The discussion will be based on the analysis of a number of films being produced in the region. The films chosen for the analysis are: Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, Hanabi by Takeshi Kitano, Apur Sansar by Satyajit Ray, Salaam Bombay! by Mira Nair, Red Sorghum by Zhang Yimou, and Chungking Express by Wong Kar-Wai. The paper will examine how the variations of Asian culture are presented in these films. Before going into any further discussion on the nuances of Asian culture, it is important to understand what culture means. A general definition of culture argues that the concept of culture can be best described as “a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behaviour. It is an abstract ‘mental blueprint’ or ‘mental code’.” Concepts and ideas of culture can be studied by means of exploring behaviour, customs, material culture (artefacts, tools, and technology), language, etc. of a particular community or region. So to say, culture is a learning process through which a community or society can be studied both at individual and collective levels. This process of learning one’s culture can be labelled as enculturation. One of the characteristic features of culture studies is that there is nothing like a ‘culture of one’, it is a collective possession shared by all the members of a society. Commonness in behaviour, customs and other traditional practices can be achieved by mutual construction of a culture by means of a constant process of social interaction. Besides, culture, language and thought are based on symbols and symbolic meanings. Apart from this symbolic nature, the definition of culture features arbitrariness and habitualness as culture is internalized and created by humans. Cultural variations in Asia: Coming to the more specific discussion of the Asian culture, it is characterized by the concept of cultural variation. Some of the most important ingredients of Asian culture are: Asian art, music, cuisine, literature, and even films. Diversified cultural hues of the region are displayed with the most aesthetic sensibilities in the films of several renowned filmmakers from the continent. For instance, when it comes to describing the culture of Japan, some of the most popular cultural connotations include Shodo (or Japanese calligraphy), Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arrangement), Sushi (popular Japanese cuisine), Kimono (traditional Japanese dress), and so on. The enigma of Japanese geishas still infatuates enthusiasts to know their history. Sumo wrestlers and the traditional Samurais (the warrior lot) are other topics of interest. All these connotations together represent a perfect picture of Japan’s cultural canvas to the world outside. Talking about film making in association with cultural representation, Akira Kurosawa, Japan’s film forte has most successfully carved out the cultural genre. The Seven Samurai (1954) by Akira Kurosawa is the best Japanese film ever made and is also one of the best world films of all time. Being a characteristically samurai movie, Seven Samurai in its epic storyline describes the heroic samurai tradition anchored in ancient Japanese culture and tradition. A significant aspect of Japanese film culture is the kaleidoscopic narration of violence, physical and bloody violence. The series of personal tragedies leading to brutal violence take the best place in Hanabi (1997) by Takeshi Kitano. But most importantly, the movie is well-known for its filming techniques. The film adopts the minimalist approach, a cinematic style Kitano is more famous for. Technically speaking, the minimalist features used in the film are: Kitano’s deadpan demeanour, the lengthy takes, and then the sudden brutal violence at the time when the audience least expects it. What makes the film more special and unique is the fact that it characterizes two very strong but contradictory qualities - stark and abrupt violence to the extent of complete bloody violence, and the feelings of deep melancholy and tenderness. In short, the demonstration of violence and sadness in parallel is done with cinematic justice to the point of perfection in Kitano’s film, undoubtedly making him one of the foremost filmmakers in Japan. An interesting and distinctive cultural potpourri exists in the Indian subcontinent. The exclusiveness lies in its unique ‘diversified yet united’ identity. There is a wide range of cultural identities coexisting in different regions, communities found across the Indian Diaspora. Satyajit Ray, the Indian stalwart and one of the great masters of world cinema has created some of the most simplistic and humanistic films describing the Bengali Indian cultural nuances. Apur Sansar (1959) by Satyajit Ray is a wonderful cinematic narration of the childhood and early adulthood of a young Bengali boy. The simplicity and universality in the story, narrated in the typical Ray style, has made it one of the greatest world films of all time. Going by the storyline, the film depicts the simple early adulthood of a Bengali boy and eventually his accidental wedding. The wedding between Apu the protagonist and Aparna is a story adoringly told about the conventional Indian weddings. Although not directly an arranged marriage, theirs is still considered one. The film echoes the nuances of conventional Indian weddings that start with awkwardness and nervousness of the bride and groom, and eventually develop quiet closeness between the two. Arranged marriages are very much common in Indian culture. The turning of marital bliss into unconditional love is a gradual process here. There are several small scenes where this development is being captured minutely by Ray. For instance, stealing each other’s glances is playfully yet gracefully directed by Ray. Having developed the feeling of closeness and a bonding of love between the newly wed couple, the film then takes a sudden turn from the newly acquired happiness of the protagonist to a shock of loss as his wife succumbs to her first delivery. This further involves the protagonist’s wanderings at his loss of love. From being a careless father to a practical responsible doting father, Apu’s journey of transitions has been well-documented by Ray in the film. What the filmmaker wishes to show through the events is the narration of an ordinary Bengali boy, his journey containing various glimpses of curiosity, conventionality, growing maturity, happiness, sudden loss of love, weakness, and practical sense of fatherly responsibility. Apart from the exquisiteness of the traditional Indian weddings, one of the most significant cultural anecdotes is the wasted childhood of street children, especially in the urban and metropolitan cities of India. This is one of the topics taken up in so many cinematic projects by various Indian filmmakers. One of the earliest and most successful attempts was made by Salaam Bombay! (1988), a film by Mira Nair that describes the day-to-day life of the children living on the streets of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). The film skilfully portrays some raw and harsh yet realistic images lifted out straight from the streets of Mumbai. The city of dreams has hundreds of thousands of dreamers rushing to its mundane reality only to find a few dreams come true and the rest shattered in the endless slums and streets. The life of the street children is another harsh reality the city cannot avoid. Their lives crush under the dingy practicality of the dark world of drug-peddlers, drug-pushers, pimps, and prostitutes. Many a dreams get shattered under it. Nair captures the real image of the poorest lot in the metro, an image that had not been emphasized with so much focus before Nair. The innocence of childhood is a mere joke around the streets of Mumbai where the street kids have to fight it out everyday to make a little earning. Nair’s protagonist also has a dream when he came to Mumbai - to earn Rs. 500/- for his mother and to return his home. But the dream gets distanced every time he finds himself in the series of events in the streets of the city. The film has an overall tone of harsh realism and, lost innocence and wasted childhood crushed under it, an unavoidable question that still frightens the metro cities of India with its realistic testimony. The description of Asian culture will be incomplete without the inclusion of Chinese culture. Red Sorghum (1988) by Zhang Yimou, one of the finest Chinese filmmakers, is a superb narration of Chinese winery tradition and its surrounding culture. Told in flashbacks from the point of view of a man recalling his grandparents’ lives from the 1920s, the film is based on rural Chinese life of people working in a distillery. The storyline comprises a lush as well as lusty portrayal of the simple peasant life. The rich cinematography imbibed in the use of intense colour garners the beauty of peasantry in its simple complexities. Apart from the lifestyle of peasantry, the film challenges the issue of repressive traditions in Chinese culture such as the subjugation of women. The treatment of violence among villagers, their symbolic melodrama, and the scenic background are all very typical of a Chinese folktale. Talking from the technical point of view, the film can be best described as the forerunner of the ‘new wave’ movement of Chinese filmmaking. In other words, Yimou’s film is considered as the first modern Chinese film to be released commercially in China. The simple storyline of Chinese peasant life along with fairy-tale like images and the suddenness of violence makes Red Sorghum a memorable cinematic narration in Chinese Cinema of all time. The treatment of violence is a common cinematic pattern found in oriental culture. A relatively important Asian sub-culture is the Hong Kong culture, which also glorifies typical oriental action in its films. However, violence is not the only shade in Hong Kong culture; it also contains much wider speculation on human relationships. Chungking Express (1994) by Wong Kar-Wai is a great example of exploring the similarities as well as differences in the ways human beings communicate in the Hong Kong culture. In other words, the exquisiteness of the film lies in its treatment of subject (on human relationships rather than violence-based action). The film depicts two stories with the common and principal theme of love and loss in relationships. Gender difference is shown here in a different way. While the film is quite vocal about the loneliness of the male protagonists, it playfully describes the female protagonists strongly seduced by the lure of American culture. Overall, the film touches upon the different strokes of relationships that make it one of the most memorable Hong Kong film. Conclusion: While reordering words for a more general definition of Asian culture, it would be appropriate to state that the Asian culture is the unique amalgamation of a cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies and ethnic groups in the continent that also includes the variations of Japanese, Indian and Chinese cultures. Grouping the term more specifically, we can also argue that the varieties of these three cultures can be labelled under the umbrella term of Southeast Asian culture. The most significant points being touched upon in the films analyzed in this paper include cultural themes as varied as ancient traditional practices, the role of violence in society, values of conventionality, sadness and loneliness in relationships, sharp contrast of social hierarchical system in urban areas, harsh realism affecting childhood innocence due to utter poverty, and different shades of peasant life. All these factors are essential ingredients of the cultures of Japan, India and China as described in the films here. More specifically, these key points are significant parts of the larger Asian culture that lives up to its uniqueness and authenticity. Reference: http://www2.eou.edu/~kdahl/cultdef.html Read More