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Copyright by Yu Zhong 2019 The Thesis Committee for Yu Zhong Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Thesis: Causes, Effects, and Countermeasures? A Qualitative Research on the Relationship between Cultural Discount and Film Stories in the Cross-cultural Communication APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Joseph D. Straubhaar, Supervisor Kathy Fuller-Seeley Causes, Effects, and Countermeasures? A Qualitative Research on the Relationship between Cultural Discount and Film Stories in the Cross-cultural Communication by Yu Zhong Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2019 Dedication To my family, for their love, support, and encouragement Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Professor Joseph D. Straubhaar, the advisor of my thesis committee, for very useful critique and suggestions for ways to improve the research project throughout the process. I am grateful for his patience, support, and encouragement. The guidance he gave me not only improved my research but also provided many inspirations for my future study and work. At the same time, I would like to thank Professor Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, my second reader of the thesis and the advisor of my program. She is always enthusiastic about helping me and inspiring me to try new challenges. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the faculties and staffs in the department of Radio-Television-Film. Their guidance and help during the past two years have been the driving force for my continuous progress. To my cohort, the M.A. class of 2017, and all graduate students in my department, thank them for their friendship, assistance, and support. They have left me many joy and wonderful memories in Austin. Of course, I am so grateful to my family members, who have always supported me in everything I have done. I am who I am because of their thoughtful care and love. v Abstract Causes, Effects, and Countermeasures? A Qualitative Research on the Relationship between Cultural Discount and Film Stories in the Cross-cultural Communication Yu Zhong, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 Supervisor: Joseph D. Straubhaar In 2017, the Chinese film box office surpassed $86 billion, making it the second largest film market just behind the United States. However, a series of data show that the international competitiveness of the Chinese film industry is still very low, which has limited its potential to influence Chinese culture more broadly. This dilemma could be accounted for by both economic and cultural reasons. The special cultural properties of the films provide a new perspective, the cultural discount, for the research of international competitiveness of the film industry. Although the influence of the overseas audience’s reception of the film by the cultural discount has been confirmed, how the cultural discount affects the international competitiveness of the film industry, or what roles the cultural factor plays in the film industry, provide more diversified perspectives for this study to research on this topic. This research mainly focuses on the relationship between the cultural discount and the international competitiveness of the film story. Based on Story approach, concepts of vi narratology, cultural geography, cultural distance, and linguistic affinity are applied to analyze how is culture encoded in the film story to produce the cultural discount. In different story elements such as structure, setting, characters, genres and meaning, the reasons that may cause cultural discounts in the process of film production are found and analyzed respectively. The function mode of the cultural discount in the cross-cultural communication between films and the foreign audiences is also concluded by utilizing Encoding/decoding theory. Three American films have been taken as a case study to explore their methods of reducing the cultural discount from the angle of narrative transparency. Using clear narrative structure to promote the audience's understanding of the film plot, applying the prototype story and universal life experience to shape the film characters, and exploring the common feelings in different cultures to convey the meaning and guide the audience to correctly accept, are the successful approaches to reduce cultural discount in cross-cultural communication. In combination with the current situation of Chinese films, the internationalization of Chinese stories is discussed as a practical application of the research conclusion. vii Table of Contents List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................1 Research Context ........................................................................................................1 Research Statement .....................................................................................................2 Research Significance .................................................................................................3 Literature Review .......................................................................................................4 The International Competitiveness of the Film Industry ................................4 Cultural Discount Research ............................................................................6 The Methodological Approach .......................................................................9 Conclusion ....................................................................................................11 Methodology .............................................................................................................12 How is culture encoded in the film story to produce the cultural discount? .................................................................................................13 How do American films tend to solve the culture discount problem in the film story production to improve their international competitiveness? .....................................................................................16 Research Limitations ................................................................................................22 Chapter 2 The Cultural Discount in the Film Production ..................................................24 The Story Is the Cultural Soul of the Film................................................................28 The Meaning of the Story .............................................................................28 The Story Is the Narrative Core of the Film .................................................28 The Story Is the Carrier of the Film Meaning...............................................29 The Story is the Channel of Empathy for the Audience ...............................30 viii Analysis of the Story Elements from the Perspective of the Cultural Discount .......31 What is Story? The Overview of the Story Theory ......................................31 The Cultural Discount in the Story Structure ...............................................31 The Cultural Discount in the Story Setting ...................................................36 The Cultural Discount in the Story Genre ....................................................40 The Cultural Discount in the Story Character...............................................42 The Cultural Discount in the Story Meaning ................................................46 Chapter 3 The Impact of the Cultural Discount on the International Competitiveness of the Film Story ..........................................................................................................52 Theoretical Overview of the Two Mechanisms ........................................................53 The Encoding/Decoding Mechanism ............................................................53 The Audience Empathy Mechanism .............................................................54 Joint Function Mode of Two Mechanisms ...............................................................55 The Impact on the Story Structure ................................................................56 The Impact on the Story Setting ...................................................................56 The Impact on the Story Genre .....................................................................57 The Impact on the Story Character ...............................................................57 The Impact on the Story Meaning ................................................................57 Chapter 4 How to Eliminate the Cultural Discount in the Film Story—A Case Study of Three American Films .............................................................................................59 Narrative Transparency Approach ............................................................................59 Zootopia ....................................................................................................................62 The Story Structure of Zootopia ...................................................................63 The Character of Zootopia ............................................................................66