Wedding Banquet is a film based on the Chinese and Western culture, telling a story that Gao Weitong’s parents travel all the way from Taiwan to the United States to participate in the wedding of their son Wei Tong。 Having participated in Western-style wedding, then they help their son hold Chinese-style wedding, but do not know their son has already had a gay lover called Simon for many years and Wei Wei is a false daughter-in-law。

The contradictions and conflicts in the whole movie stem from the differences between the two different cultures, each of which has a different face view。 The main characters in the film are influenced by different cultures, so they have perse ways in dealing with the relationship such as love, ethics, family and friendship。 Nevertheless, the final reunion of the film shows that the understanding and tolerance of different cultures can help people resolve the contradictions and succeed in completing cross-cultural communication。论文网

This paper analyzes the differences of face view between Chinese and Western cultures from the perspectives of exchanging calligraphy and painting, sending gifts and holding  weddings, and toasting, meanwhile, it is aimed at discussing how face view originates from and what causes the differences of face view between Chinese and the Western, Which provide communicators with the cross-cultural Communication strategy。 The communicators should tolerate each other's principles of face on the basis of their cultural differences and have a positive attitude towards the face culture of other countries and eventually find the best way to reduce this difference, so that they can promote cultural exchanges。

2。 Literature Review

2。1 Face view of the West

The concept of face view is first described by Chinese anthropologist Hu Hsien Chin and then, it is introduced to the West。 Later, the American sociologist Erving Goffman does a detailed study of this concept based on the Western culture and raises the "face" problem from the perspective of sociology in the 1950s。

Goffman defines that face is Face is a typical multi-dimensional concept。 The basic classification originates from Goffman, according to the different points of face, it is pided into self-face and other-face, and this corresponds to the defensive face behavior and protective face behavior。 (Goffman 5) He defines face as “a person’s positive social value”。 “Everyone is a social person living in social groups and people inevitably want to communicate。 When they  communicate with each other, face is the inpidual social image of someone and it is a guideline that inpidual should follow in the process of communicating。” (Zhai 1-2) After that, Brown and Levison, who are the British scholars, define face as “a social image of the public that each member of society want to earn”, and it is pided into positive face and negative face。 Positive face, that is, the positive image of the inpidual and someone expects to be recognized or praised。 What is most typical is the “praise culture” of the Western, such as “you are beautiful today”, however, negative face means that inpiduals have the freedom of action and the right to not to be interfered, so that let others choose and decide on their own。 On the one hand, the behavior that transgresses the freedom of desire of the communicator is a violation of the negative face of the communicator, on the other hand, the face itself is a contradictory body, which requires communicators to word carefully in the process of communication, and it is necessary to not only maintain a positive face, but also to take care of the negative face, only this way can show due respect for each other’s feelings。

2。2 Face view of Chinese文献综述

Chinese anthropologist Hu Xianjin supposes that “face” represents a reputation that the society pays more attention to。 It is a kind of reputation that forms by succeeding in the life experience or boasting others and it also represents a reputation that accumulated through personal efforts and wisdom。 The “face” of Chinese contains two main meanings: one is honor and prestige; the other is self-esteem and dignity and this is the most important thing that Chinese people try to maintain at any time and at any cost。 Chinese people in social occasions tend to pay attention to “face”, try to avoid “losing face”, and to “care for the face”。 In addition, Chinese people always belittle themselves to raise others and show their humble integrity everywhere。 Even though they have to criticize others, they always eliminate first and then exalt。 It seems that they are accustomed to affirming others first and then pointing out the drawbacks, just manage to maintain the “face” of others。 In fact, such “face” is a person’s status in the society, a recognition in the group and his own image in the eyes of others。 Objectively speaking, comparing with the inpidualism and independent values of the West, Chinese people lay more emphasis on the collectivist。