The reflection of american values in one of the us all time favorite sitcoms friends

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION * * * PHÓ QUỲNH ANH THE REFLECTION OF AMERICAN VALUES IN ONE OF THE US ALL-TIME FAVORITE SITCOMS "FRIENDS” SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL) SUPERVISOR: PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYÊN, M.A - Ha Noi, May 2011 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Ms Phan Thi Van Quyen for her careful guidance and valuable advice For all her sympathy and patience during the time I carry out this study, I am truly grateful I would also take this opportunity to express my biggest thankfulness to all my classmates at E1K41, who have always been there for me, supporting me physically and mentally I want to say a special thank to Ms Pham Thi Thuy Linh who encouraged me to follow this subject and guided me with my first steps of doing the research; to Ms Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Ms Nguyen Vu Xuan Lan, Ms Nguyen Hong Ngoc, Ms Truong Hai Ha and Ms Vi Dieu Thuan for their constant support as well as cooperation in my data collecting procedure I would like to thank the informants, both Vietnamese and American, who were so generous and willing to help me with the questionnaire Had it not been for their generosity and concerns for the subject, the study could not be accomplished Above all, I would like to express my greatest love and gratitude to my parents and my two best friends Ms Nguyen Hoang Khanh Minh and Ms Dang Thi Nhu Y for their unconditional caring and thoughtfulness Without them, I would not have the strength and the will to go to the end of this long challenging road ii ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Phó Quỳnh Anh from group 071E1- Fast track program, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature iii ABSTRACT Based on the theoretical background of cross-cultural communication, this study aims at investigating the American values reflected in one of the US all-time favorite sitcoms ―Friends‖, and the differences in the perception of those values between Vietnamese viewers and American viewers The main instruments of data collection are observation and questionnaire To succeed in doing this research, the author of the study takes informants‘ social parameters such as age, living area, and knowledge of foreign language(s) into consideration Besides, their surveyed responses are carefully analyzed to build a general set of viewpoints of the audience on ―Friends‖ It is revealed in the study that ―Friends‖ expresses fully all American values listed in the foundation theory Furthermore, there are noticeable differences in the perception of those values between Vietnamese viewers and American viewers due to the gap of cultural knowledge iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES viii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION I Statement of Topic II Significance of the Study III Aims of Study and Research Questions IV Scope of the Study V Overview of the Research Paper CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW I II Culture and Cultural Values Definition of Culture Components of Culture Cultural Value American Cultural Values 10 III The sitcom ―Friends‖ 19 CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY 22 v I Participants 22 II Data collection instruments 23 Observation 23 Questionnaire 23 III Data collection procedure 24 IV Data analysis method 25 CHAPTER IV – RESULTS & ANALYSIS 27 Realization of American values reflected in ―Friends‖ 27 I Individual Freedom 27 Self-reliance 33 Equality of opportunity 36 Competition 40 Hard work 46 Material wealth 49 Directness, Openness and Honesty 51 Practicality and Efficiency 54 Change orientation 57 10 Informality 60 vi II 11 Future orientation 62 12 Time and its control 64 Vietnamese and American viewers‘ perception of the American values reflected in ―Friends‖ 65 Question 1: Do you find ―Friends‖: Extremely funny/Funny/Not funny? 66 Question 2: Do you have any difficulties while watching ―Friends‖? Language/Background knowledge/None? 67 Question 3: Among these listed American values, which one is reflected in ―Friends‖ according to your observation? 70 Question 4: Among the values you recognize, which one is the most obviously seen? Which one is the least obviously seen? 77 CHAPTER V – CONCLUSION 80 I Summary 80 II Implication 81 III Limitation of the study 82 IV Suggestion for further research 83 REFERENCE 84 APPENDICES 86 vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures Figure 1& 2: The level of hilarity of ―Friends‖ in the view of Page 73 Vietnamese and American audience Figure 3: Difficulties of Vietnamese and American viewers while 74 watching ―Friends‖ Figure 4: American values reflected in ―Friends‖ according to Vietnamese and American viewers Figure 5: The most obviously seen American value according to 77 84 Vietnamese and American viewers Figure 6: The least obviously seen American value according to 85 Vietnamese and American viewers viii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION I Statement of Topic [The gang is hanging out in the coffee shop] Phoebe: I'm going to get a coffee Anybody want anything? Monica: I'll have a latte Ross: I'll have a blueberry muffin, with a decaf Chandler: I'll have a bagel with a little [Interrupted by Phoebe] Phoebe: You know, I was just being polite I am not giving you just a random funny story; it is one of the daily conversations among friends in the all-time favorite sitcom series ―Friends‖ If you watch the scene, it will be more vivid and hilarious In the series, there are tons of situations where you can laugh at, have some fun and enjoy your time; many people agree with that But there are more than jokes and laughter in the series Viewers can see friendship being honored; learn lessons about dealing with situations in life, etc And in the eyes of a young researcher, there are American values reflected in the series As for the example above, we can see not only politeness (the reason for Phoebe asking if anyone needs anything), but also directness (Phoebe directly says that she was just being polite to her friends) and the self-help spirit (Phoebe expects that her friends should get their own drinks and cake) Many people I know watch ―Friends‖ and conclude: ―Yes, it‘s funny Then what?‖ or ―The series is just about six people in New York, what‘s the big deal?‖ It seems to me that the sitcom has been seriously misunderstood as some cheap normal sitcom, in which there are some silly situations and jokes There must be a reason why ―Friends‖ is a huge success of American sitcom industry, is warmly welcomed and eagerly expected for ten years of its broadcast, from 1994-2004, besides the jokes and funny situations The Los Angeles Times called it "flat-out the best comedy series of the new season", even a British website http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/friends.htm assured that ―Friends‖ is ―one of the last great television phenomenon‘s of the last century‖ and ―has become the "Must" in "Must-See TV" for the NBC network in the USA‖ ―Friends‖ is a sitcom series about six friends in their twenties, with their own troubles, living in New York, where the daily situations in life bring about the lessons and gradually transform them into grownups Each character carries in themselves the characters of New Yorkers and lives up to their principles which are the manifestations of the American values In the period of 10 years, the sitcom reflects closely the New York society and its changes over time: jobs are being more important, single life is popular, sexuality is openly discussed, etc To some extent, ―Friends‖ is one of the valuable sources to study New Yorkers‘ behavior, hence the values they live by Therefore, ―Friends‖ is the target of my research not for its being funny, but because of its richness in American values that viewers can find in each conversation or action of every episode Figure 6: The least obviously seen American value according to Vietnamese and American viewers We can clearly see the difference in perspective of Vietnamese viewers and American viewers To Vietnamese viewers, it is time and its control that is least obviously seen, while to American viewers, it is hard work This result also corresponds to the contrast mentioned above in question This is caused by the different level of understanding Americans and American values between the natives and Vietnamese viewers 79 CHAPTER V – CONCLUSION I Summary After a period of time observing the subject – ―Friends‖, and collecting data from volunteers, the researcher has found the answers for her questions There are currently twelve American values The reason for the word ―currently‖ is that as stated in chapter II, cultural values originally were created by the people in previous generations, then passed on to each individual of that particular society, and gradually spread onto bigger regions But because it is created by the people, it is subjected to change as the people evolve That is why from the first six traditional values, America now has twelve Maybe in the future, there will be changes This hypothesis is quite possible since one of the current values is change orientation In the sitcom ―Friends‖, there are also twelve values corresponding to the ones mentioned in chapter II The values are reflected in the characters‘ traits, behaviors and in the situations they are put in Viewers of the show fully realize these values as well Individual freedom is the most obviously seen value However, with the least obviously seen value, there is a difference between the perceptions of Vietnamese viewers and American viewers While hard work is the least obvious to American people, it is time and its control to 80 Vietnamese viewers The difference is caused by the difference in the level of understanding America and American values II Implication From the result of the study, the researcher has high hope of using the sitcom ―Friends‖ as an authentic teaching material for the two subjects: American studies and Cross-cultural communication for the following reasons:  The richness in American values of the sitcom: in the textbook for American studies, students are taught the six traditional values of America If used, this sitcom will be a lively and authentic example for student to study The values are put into situation, into daily life; they are not abstract matters anymore Moreover, the students can identify the values more easily if they happen to be in the same situation They can learn how to react to each situation, which is also the aim of teaching cross-cultural communication  The reality of the sitcom: the sitcom received many awards for being one of the best sitcoms in US of all time It is praised for its realness and true to real life Hence, there students can get closer to reality by watching the sitcom instead of learning from some set-up, inauthentic clips  The flexibility of the sitcom: the nature of a sitcom is that each episode is quite separate from the others Therefore, it is quite flexible and easy to ―cut-paste‖ the needed scenes or episodes for teaching without damaging the plot or distorting the story Even 81 with a scene for 30 seconds can already reflect some values naturally and thoroughly  Last but not least, its sense of humor: the sitcom is witty and clever with hilarious situations Students would feel relaxed and enjoyable while watching the sitcom, and yet they are still able to learn something Understanding that there is time limitation in each lesson, the idea of watching ―Friends‖ in class is not feasible Therefore, the researcher suggests using ―Friends‖ as an assignment at home or supplementary After a lesson about the values, lecturers can edit the suggested episodes in this research to his or her requirement, and then send them to the students The task of the students is to watch the clip and write a reflection and send back to the lecturers for assessment III Limitation of the study Firstly, with ten seasons, and 236 episodes in total, ―Friends‖ is a huge source of American values for the researcher to explore Moreover, due to time limitation, the researcher cannot analyze the collected data thoroughly and fully What the researcher presents in this study are only a few examples out of hundreds meaningful and useful others Secondly, the number of informants is not big enough to make a firm statement of the findings In addition, the questionnaire only collects the most general ideas while in fact, there are still contradict opinions on some aspects of this subject Should the researcher be more 82 prepared and have more time, she would have chosen more informants to interview instead of only two Lastly, since there is not much previous research on this topic, the foundation theories are not sufficient Without a firm base, the research cannot stand tall and strong IV Suggestion for further research With all the limitations above, the researcher only hopes that this study can be an inspiration for later studies From the researcher‘s experience, ―Friends‖ truly is a wonderful source for studying about American people: their characteristics, culture and lifestyle Moreover, it can be of much assistance to studying the two basic skills: listening and speaking ―Friends‖ can be use as an authentic material for students to practice listening and speaking However, lecturers should choose the episode or scene which is suitable to students‘ language level ―Friends‖ is best used for intermediate and advanced level Despite her best effort, the researcher is fully aware of the inevitability of the short-comings and mistakes in the study She takes full responsibility for those weaknesses and welcomes any comments and suggestions May this study set the first brick on this subject and be the reference for similar studies 83 REFERENCES Althen, G., Doran, A.R., Szmania, S.J (2003) American ways: a guide for foreigners in the United States Intercultural Press p.27 Friends Retrieved on February 18th, 2011 from the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends#Impact Gerstle, G (2001) American Crucible; Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century, Princeton University Press Hofstede, G (1991) Cultures and organizations London: McGraw-Hill Kluckhohn, C (1951) Values and value-orientations in the theory of action: An exploration in definition and classification Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Kohls, L.R (1984) The values American live by Retrieved February 18th, 2011 from the website http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/alee/extra/American_ values.html Kroeber, A & Kluckhohn, C (1952) Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions New York: Vintage Books Levin, D.R & Adelman, M.B (1993) Beyond language- intercultural Mackey, A & Gass, S M (2005) Second Language Research: Methodology and Design New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 84 Nguyen, Q (1998) Intercultural communication HULIS – VNU communication for English as a second language Prentice Hall, Inc Rokeach, M (1979) Understanding human values individual and social New York: The Free Press Television Heaven Friends Retrieved on December, 10th 2010 from the World Wide Web http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/friends.htm Value (personal and cultural) Retrieved on February 18th, 2011 from the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values#cite_ref-Santrock_0-0 Vu, T.T.H (2009) A Vietnamese-American Cross-cultural Study on Cultural Reflection of Television Advertisements HULIS - VNU Wardhaugh, R (1993) Investigating Language: Central Problems in Linguistics Lightning Source Inc 85 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Vietnamese and American viewers QUESTIONNAIRE My name is Pho Quynh Anh from E1K41 – University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) I am doing a research on ―The American Values Reflected in One of US All-time Favorite Sitcoms „Friends‟.‖ I would like to have your opinion on this subject Your answers are of great account to the success of the research and your cooperation is highly appreciated A ABOUT INFORMANT (Your personal information is for the research and further interview if necessary Other than that, it is kept perfectly private) Your name:……………………………………………………… Email:……………………………………………………………… Age:……… Your nationality: Vietnamese American Education level: High school Undergraduate Postgraduate Can you speak any foreign language(s)? :……………………… If YES, what is the level of that foreign language(s) Beginner Intermediate Advanced 86 B QUESTIONS Do you find ―Friends‖: Extremely funny Funny Not funny at all Do you have any difficulties watching ―Friends‖? (you can choose more than one) Language (slang, vocabulary, etc) Background knowledge (lifestyle, culture, etc) None Do you find any of the following American values while watching ―Friends‖? Tick on the left if you Please give specific examples for such values (From which character? In which situation?) √ American values Example Individual Freedom / Individualism Self-reliance Equality of Opportunity Competition Hard work Material wealth 87 Change orientation Future orientation Practicality and Efficiency 10.Informality 11.Directness, Openness and Honesty 12.Time and its control 13.Other (please be specific): Among your choices of these American values, which one is the most obviously expressed/seen in the sitcom? ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Which one is the least obviously expressed/seen? ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ************** Thank you very much for your cooperation! 88 Appendix 2: Guiding questions for interview Do you enjoy watching ―Friends‖? Do you know about American values? Why you choose (X) the most/least obviously seen value? 89 Appendix 3: Interview’s transcript with the selected American viewer  Time: April 13th, 2011  Place: French Department  Interviewee: American viewer X Q: Good morning, thank you for coming here today and help me out A: You‘re welcome Q: Ok, so you have seen all 10 seasons of ―Friends‖ right? A: Yes I have Oh I love it so much Back in the States, I often waited for Thursday It‘s ―Friends‖‘ night you know Q: Oh great! Now, why you like it so much? A: It‘s very hilarious You have a good laugh watching ―Friends‖, you know They are all funny I like Chandler the most because he often tells jokes Q: So besides all the good laugh and jokes, you see any American values in the sitcom? Well, you are American so you know what your values are right? They are already listed in the questionnaire I gave you the other day A: Uhm, yes But I need to look at it because there are like 10 or more than 10 values right? Q: Sure A: Ok, I remember them Yup, they are pretty much the values we live up to 90 Q: Why you say ―pretty‖ much? A: Because you know not everyone values the same thing I would say that generally, theses 12 values are live up to in America But it doesn‘t necessarily mean that all the values are taken into consideration at the same level Personally I really appreciate individual freedom and self-reliance, but I not care about material wealth very much I mean of course I dream to have a house of my own, but it doesn‘t need to be fancy, you know? Q: I see your point So you say you see hard work the least obvious in the sitcom Why is that? A: I don‘t think they mention much about hard work The hard work in the sitcom is only touched upon Yes, they mention the characters‘ jobs, but they merely show any effort of the characters in their process of working Q: So you mean there need to be more situations where the characters have trouble at work and try to find the solution to get the job done? A: Yes yes, exactly Hard work, you gotta sweat a little, right? Q: You bet Thank you very much for coming again Your information will help me a lot A: Don‘t mention it Q: Good bye! A; Bye! 91 Appendix 4: Interview’s transcript with the selected Vietnamese viewer  Time: April 14th, 2011  Place: French Department  Interviewee: Vietnamese viewer Y Q: Chào ấy, cám ơn đến nhá Mình bắt đầu vấn A: Ok Q: Ấy xem đủ 10 seasons phim ―Friends‖ không? A: Uh, xem xem lại Q: Tốt quá! Thế thấy ―Friends‖ nào? Trong questionnaire tớ thấy trả lời Extremely funny A: Uh, tớ thấy hài Mà kiểu hài thông minh ý Xem thấy thích, bị vào phim nhân vật Q: Uhm, tớ thấy Thế xem ―Friends‖, ngồi việc thấy hay hài hước, có thấy giá trị người Mỹ không? Kiểu phẩm chất, đạo đức mà họ tôn trọng sống theo phẩm chất ý? A: Có, tớ trả lời questionnaire mà Tớ thấy gần giá trị mà liệt kê nhận diện ―Friends‖ À có Equality of opportunity tớ thấy bị chệch hướng Tớ xem phim khơng thấy equal Rachel xinh đẹp hay dùng mỹ nhân kế để leo thang nghiệp nhá Ở Ralph Lauren đến Louis Vuitoon qua giúp đỡ anh 92 Mark Joey có ―năng lực‖ để tham gia vài số phim Cịn Phoebe lại gặp xui xẻo Tớ thấy chẳng equal Q: Uh rồi, đồng ý Thế nghĩ hard work? Có thể rõ khơng? A: Cũng Thấy họ tồn nói chuyện cơng việc suốt mà Hoặc sau lần ngồi tán gẫu Central Perk, thường có người đứng dạy nói ―I have to go to work‖, or ―I‘m late for work‖ Tớ nghĩ họ phải quan tâm đến cơng việc nói câu Q: Uhm, good point Thế Tớ cần thêm thơng tin giải thích cậu cho lựa chọn thơi Thế đủ Cám ơn cậu nhá A: Có đâu Cùng fan mà Bye cậu Q: Bye cậu 93 ... at finding out the values of Americans in general reflected in the sitcom ? ?Friends? ??, and investigating the perceptions of Vietnamese viewers of the American values reflected in the sitcom The. .. Study In this study, generally, the researcher aims at the values of the American even though the setting of the sitcom is in New York and the main characters are New Yorkers Therefore, only the American. .. find all the other five people being by their sides, supporting them, sharing with them the good and the bad Although full of laughter and jokes, the sitcom shines with the loyalty and the sincerity