身份协商：分析《当幸福来敲门》中的跨文化现象

身份协商：分析《当幸福来敲门》中的跨文化现象［Abstract］Ting-Toomey’s Identity Negotiation Theory, comparatively new as it were, has not yet received enough attention from scholars at home, but it does provide us with a different perspective in the study of intercultural phenomena. As a new attempt, this paper tries to analyze the intercultural phenomena represented in The Pursuit of Happyness under the guidance of Identity Negotiation Theory. In the movie, Chris Gardener, a black American, manages to establish a satisfactory identity in the multicultural society by negotiating his identities on and on. Identity negotiation in the movie is studied from three perspectives as follows: security and vulnerability, inclusion and differentiation, and then connection and autonomy.

［Key words］intercultural communication,Identity Negotiation Theory,self-identification,negotiation

I. Introduction

It’s an “i” in “happiness”. There’s no “y” in “happiness”. It’s an “i”.(quoted from the movie The Pursuit of Happyness)

In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, the correction of the misspelling of “happiness” by the protagonist indicates the theme, namely, in the process of pursuing happiness there is no “why” (y), but “I” (i).

Who am I? Where am I from? Where can I reach? What should I do? As a black American, Chris Gardner, the protagonist who struggles on the bottom of the social pile, is seeking for his own identity all the way. His pursuit of happiness is virtually the pursuit of his self-identification. By negotiating his identity unceasingly, the black salesman finally works out who he is and what he can do for his family and himself.

Among the papers, the authorI has collected so far, none notices the essence of identity negotiation in this movie. Ting-Toomey’s Identity Negotiation Theory, comparatively new as it were, has not yet received enough attention from scholars at home, but it does provide us with a different perspective in the study of intercultural phenomena.

As a new attempt, this paper tries to analyze the intercultural phenomena represented in The Pursuit of Happyness under the guidance of Ting-Toomey’s Identity Negotiation Theory, which provides a new perspective for the study of intercultural communication. In the following parts, relative information about the theory will be introduced, and then some further analysis of identity negotiation in the movie will be made in light of the theory.

Ⅱ. About Identity Negotiation Theory

Identities provide expectations for behavior and motivate

individuals’behavior. (Ting-Toomey, 2007) Identity gives people a sense of who they are and to some extent satisfies a demand for some degree of stability and security. It is enacted in every human interaction.

The construction of identity is a dynamic process in which communicators continually negotiate with each other. (Zhang Xun, 2010) Stella Ting-Toomey, a well-known professor of Human Communication Studies at California State University, applied the concept of Identity Negotiation on the field of intercultural communication, and she argued that identity negotiation is the precondition for successful intercultural communication.

Identity Negotiation Theory emphasizes that identity is the explanatory mechanism for the intercultural communication process. Identity is viewed as “reflective self-images constructed, experienced, and communicated by the individuals within a culture and in a particular interaction s ituation”. (Ting-Toomey, 2007) And the concept negotiation refers to “a transactional interaction process whereby individuals in an intercultural situation attempt to assert, define, modify, challenge, and/or support their own and other’s desired self-imag es” (Ting-Toomey, 2007). That is to say, the communicators always attempt to evoke their own desired identities in the interaction; while at the same time, they also attempt to challenge or support the others’identities. Identity negotiation