Now I want to share a movie called Gua Sha (The Treatment), published in 2001. It is a cross-cultural movie directed by a Chinese director, Xiaolong Zheng, reflecting cultural conflicts between China and America. The story happens in St. Louis. The main character named Datong, Xu, who has lived in the United States for over eight years, has a good job and a happy family. He took his father who used to live in Beijing to move to his house in the United States. Unfortunately, Datong’s son, Dannis, had a fever along with a stomachache. Dannis’s grandfather (Datong’s father) who does not speak English could not understand the instructions on medicine. He decided to use Gua Sha therapy (a traditional Chinese healing technique to achieve better health). It is unexpected an accident exists, becoming firm evidence of child abuse. In the court, American judges have no knowledge of Gua sha. Datong is accused of child abuse, facing unexpected witnesses and testimonies. He does not know how to defend himself and to explain this Chinese caring method to judges. Datong was then deprived of custody and he was not allowed to see his son. There are conflicts and contradictions taking place, resulting in this happy family become fragmented.
This movie focuses on conflicts that cultural diversity brings. Based on Bhabha’s point, Datong and his family are people who belong to two cultures. In this movie, we can find that everyone is working to maintain a healthy, transparent, and democratic legal system. For example, the doctors and nurses came to the police, lawyers fight for the rights of children, and witnesses state what they saw. However, as they are encountering things that they do not understand or conflict with their knowledge, this western rigorous law becomes a weapon for them to stick to their paranoia. These people are placing themselves in their culture, instead of learning and understanding differences. Datong and his family are also considered as “others” to those American citizens.
