Angalyse Keyock
Dr. Yan
Intercultural Communication
15 December 2017
Culture Shock
Introduction
Seven Years in Tibet is a movie created from the experience about Tibet between the years 1944 and 1951 of WWII. It shows how the Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded the Tibet in 1950. This paper will analyze the movie on the experience at the Tibet. The movie was composed by John Williams and was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. The starring of the movie is Brad Pitt and David Thewlis but also features Yo-Yo Ma. The movie entails the experience in Tibet where Pitt leaves his expectant wife behind so that he can aim glory from his country. However, being an egoist and a loner he does not get along with his colleagues. Explaining the experience, Oberg’s cultural shock model will be applicable in the movie. The experience that one encounters after moving to a new environment is mainly known as culture shock. One experience is the excitement which happens when in a new situation. This paper will look into the impact of a culture shock to individuals in the movie and how one can overcome the trauma; and how culture shock can make one stronger in the new environment if they survive. This paper will also describe the Oberg’s cultural shock model about the Seven Years in Tibet movie. It will bring out the connection between the movie and the experiences revealed in the movie. Using the movie, it will make one understand the theory of Oberg’s cultural shock model. This, it will provide some instances revealed in the movie that explain the model.
Analysis
Seven Years in Tibet is a movie where one of the actors, an Australian mountaineer Heinrich and his colleague Peter Aufschnaiter aims to climb one of the highest peaks, Nanga Parbat so that they can gain fame in their country. Having moved from their country to British India (currently Pakistan), they are arrested by the authorities and taken to prison. In prison, they try to escape and crossing through Tibet. This experience makes them have a cultural shock since they are in a different environment from their own country. Their main reason for escaping from the prison is because of the isolation and rejection they received. At long last, they escaped from prison, and moved to the Tibetan capital Lhasa. In this city, they are strange visitors in a peculiar land that they have never visited. While in the new environment, Heinrich is being befriended by a young woman, Dalai Lama who then asks him to be a tutor of the religious leader so that he can teach him about English, Geography, and the ways of the Western World which make him devote seven years in Tibet. Throughout this time, it is the period where there is a tremendous political heat in the country. Both Heinrich and Peter experience cultural shock for being outside their home country. According to Oberg’s cultural shock model, Oberg sees cultural shock as entering into a group that has been programmed differently. He treats shock as a “malady” saying that people lose familiar signs and symbols of sexual intercourse. He adds that one usually feels like a fish out of water. Being an anthropologist, Oberg says that being in a culture shock can be described as a state of anxiety and frustration that comes with one being immersed in a different culture. Heinrich and Peter were in Tibet, a different culture from theirs in Australia. Thus, being in a different culture makes one have some exertion to adjust to the newfangled culture due to the incapability to comprehend, deduce, and translate cultural practice.
Oberg comes up with the stages of cultural shock which includes honeymoon phase, crisis phase, recovery phase, and adjustment phase. The honeymoon phase is the period when one arrives into a new culture for the first time (Zhou et al. 65). In this phase, the traveler is usually fascinated with the sights, sounds, and taste of the new culture accompanied by some sense of unreality. Harrier and Peter after reaching Tibet they traversed the high plateau and welcomed into the city of Lhasa. The second phase is the crisis phase where one now changes the perception to a negative one (Zhou et al. 66). The traveler now sees the hosting culture to be hostile. They now face unresolvable problems that are difficult to manage. While in their new culture, the two were imprisoned by the British in a POW camp. In this phase, one feels stressed and frustrated making them having some urge to withdraw from the hostile culture. While being prisoned at the camp, they were looking for means that they can use to escape from the prison. Furthermore, they were much stressed and frustrated, and they wanted to flee over the Himalayas to the Tibetan city of Lhasa. The next phase is the recovery phase where Oberg says that the traveler learns how to be independent so that one may increase competency to the learned social behavior in the new culture. In this phase, one finds a problem-solving skill and conflict resolution mechanism so that confidence can be increased in the hostile environment. This is seen by Peter when she marries off one of the women in the host culture so that they may be served with food and shelter and Heinrich befriending Dalai Lama. To overcome the trauma that is usually associated with culture shock, this phase is necessary for one to reduce the anxiety and stress associated with it. The other critical phase that can help one recover from the shock is the final phase. This is an adjustment phase, where one accepts what the new culture has to offer (Zhou et al. 66). Thus, in this phase, one has some low anxiety but on the other end have the ability to interact with the host culture through the building of social relations. As indicated above, they have found the need of associating with the host culture by befriending some of the residents. Through this phase, one will have some sense of satisfaction enabling one to grow while overcoming the shock culture personally. Interacting with the host culture can be the solution to the stress and anxiety that travelers do face and overcoming the culture shock.
Conclusion
The paper has discussed the culture shock that has been experienced in the Movie Seven Years in Tibet. It has used the Oberg’s cultural shock model to explain the four phases that are seen when one is in a new cultural environment. Through the four phases, they have been able to come up with the solution to people that are experiencing culture shock. Culture shock has some negative impact on people that are introduced to e new culture. However, it is up to these people to interact with the host culture so that they can build their social relationship. The adjustment phase is crucial to these people. Through this phase, if well-implemented one will have to embrace what the new culture has to offer. The travelers will well adapt to the new environment making them survive on it.
Works Cited
Zhou, Yuefang, Divya Jindal-Snape, Keith Topping, and John Todman. "Theoretical Models of Culture Shock and Adaptation in International Students in Higher Education." Studies in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 1, 2008, pp. 63-75.