摘要

情景喜剧在全世界广受欢迎，比如中国的《武林外传》和美国的《老友记》作为两国情景喜剧的典范之作一直受到观众的热捧，可谓影响深远。同时这两部电视剧也是两部充分展现中美文化的情景喜剧。本文中，作者运用文化对比以及电视剧文化的理论知识，对《老友记》和《武林外传》中所蕴含的中美文化进行比较研究,从而分析两部电视剧所体现出的中美国文化差异。不同文化背景的人们在跨文化交际与合作中常常会产生文化冲突，这大多是由于不同文化之间的差异所造成的。本文论述了中美文化的主要差异，分析了导致中美文化差异的渊源。通过对两部电视剧的剧情，布景，主题，表现技巧，人物刻画，以及台词的分析比较，发现了两部电视剧主要体现了中美文化在价值观，等级观以及时间观上的文化差异。每一个民族都有自己的文化,没有哪个民族的文化一定优于另一个民族的文化。在各国进行跨文化交流日益普遍的当下,了解各国的文化,更能体会和包容他国的文化,更能接受别国的文化,从而创造一个更和平、更和谐的地球村。

关键词：《老友记》,《武林外传》, 文化差异, 中国文化, 美国文化

ABSTRACT

The sitcoms are worldwide popular nowadays, such as China's “My Own Swordsman” and the "Friends" in America, which altogether have attracted billion of audiences. The two influential TV series also have reflected the two countries’ culture. On the theoretical foundations of cross-cultural comparison and contrast, Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory and TV culture theories, the author in this thesis tries to compare the culture of two countries, which is embodied from the two most popular and typical situation comedies: My Own Swordsman and Friends. The people with different cultural backgrounds will definitely meet a lot of conflicts in cross-cultural communication, which are mostly due to the cultural differences. The author in this thesis tries to compare the culture between China and America, and discussing the reasons that lead to those differences. Through the comparison of the two TV series’ plot, setting, theme, acting skills, the portraying of the characters and the transcript, the author fulfills the goal of revealing the culture differences between China and America at the three levels-- the first level: philosophy of life and values, the rank awareness and the view on time. Every nation has its own culture; and there is no certain type of culture that is better than the others. Nowadays, within the increasing cross-cultural exchange between countries, getting more information about other countries’ culture and being more adaptable to other countries’ culture will definitely enable us to create a more peaceful and harmonious world.

Key Words: Friends, My own Swordsman, Cultural differences, Chinese culture, American culture