The complex of the story is like this. Todd, the head of the telephone acquiring business, was forced to become the trainer of the company's outsourcing project in India. He flew from the modern American metropolis to the original ecological nation of India and began a magical experience. Jumping off buildings, jumping on trains, eating shaved ice that causes diarrhea, staying in private hotels, dancing Indian dances, begging children to cheat mobile phones, celebrating Holi Festival, and falling in love with Indian girls, and finally effectively improving the company's performance through the difficult integration period with Indian employees. ...
The whole story is full of comedy, but the director skillfully triggered the audience's further thinking in laughter.
This film captures the current hot spots-globalization and outsourcing. Since the 20th century, globalization has become a strong trend. With the invention and improvement of transportation and the rapid development of communication technology, the distance around the world has been shortened, the tentacles of trade have extended to every corner, and people's communication has reached unprecedented convenience and speed. In this film, the telephone business company keenly follows the trend of the times. In order to maximize the company's profits, it outsources the telephone business in the United States to India, where the per capita wage is much lower. At the end of the film, it makes another decision to subcontract the business to China, where the cost is lower. We will marvel at the shrewdness of American businessmen and do whatever it takes to improve their own interests. At the same time, we will feel the inevitable friction and conflict between different civilizations in the process of globalization, which is like a wonderful chemical reaction.
As far as the whole film is concerned, what impressed me the most was the love element in the film. I simply divide love into three categories.
Typical Indian marriage
This kind of marriage in the movie is also the marriage between Todd's subordinate Roger and his goddess Vimy. When Todd first met Rogoff, Rogoff said he was lucky to get the job. The resulting high income of 500,000 rubles a year is the key factor in his marriage. With this, Rogoff can gain the appreciation of Vimy's parents and be allowed to win a bride with good horoscope. In fact, modern India still practices arranged marriages, and attaches great importance to the matching of class, caste, suitable family and date of birth. This is unimaginable for Todd who grew up in a country of free love. At the same time, the superstitious color of modern India can be seen.
Let love ride the wings of the telephone.
There is also an interesting episode in this film, that is, Manny's successful customers fall in love over the phone and finally decide to stay together for life. This ingenious pen adds a lot of color to the film. Globalization flattens the world and makes all kinds of love possible. This reminds me of today's online dating. With the development of information technology and the prosperity of social networks, people can express their feelings and exchange feelings through technology.
(3) When India meets the United States
Let's focus on the love story between Todd and Elsa. This cross-border love has many memorable places. In the story, Elsa's wisdom and elegance deeply touched Todd, and Todd's respect and appreciation for Elsa was unprecedented for Elsa. The conflict between the two people's views on love focuses on the 70 minutes of the film. What surprised Todd most was that Elsa had been engaged to Yashuo since she was four years old, and he had to accept his parents' orders and spend his life with a man he didn't know very well. Todd thinks that this kind of arranged marriage seriously violates the right of free choice, while Elsa thinks it is beyond reproach. She will learn to love her future husband, because generations have come this way, and she will not and will not be a woman who violates traditional family values. Here, I really want to talk about the status of Indian women. In fact, even in India today, women are still troubled by religion, dowry, caste and other issues. Because India has been a religious country since ancient times, there are many clauses about the inequality between men and women in its religious classics, which all embody such a theme: women are a kind of property and are always attached to men. The bad habits that affect women's social status in India include child marriage and dowry system. Women not only have to obey family arrangements, but also have no right to choose marriage. In their marriage, they were beaten and abused by their husbands many times, and even set themselves on fire after their husbands died. (1) is such a humble female identity that Elsa was deeply moved when she got Todd's favor, so she was willing to let Todd be her secret crush before marriage. However, the deep-rooted traditional ideas forced her to give in to the established fate even though she loved Todd deeply. In the film, when Elsa talks about her engagement and is doomed to be unable to be with Todd, she looks calm, and there is no sign that she wants to fight against her fate to fight for her rights. This shows the low status of women in Indian society and the difficulty of improving this situation. For Todd, an American, freedom of love and marriage is normal, and there is no interference from parents. From the perspective of deep culture, freedom and equality have always been the goal pursued by the American people. They were written into the Declaration of Independence with the establishment of the United States, and they are as important as the air that everyone lives on. In this country, the rights and values of individuals are greatly respected and protected.
I also want to make a bold assumption here, that is, if Elsa is not engaged and still free, is it possible for her and Todd to spend their lives together? This question is very imaginative, and I want to analyze it from a cross-cultural perspective. First, Todd was sent to India to carry out orders. As long as the local business in India meets the standards, he can go back to the United States. So if their love is going to continue, either Todd will stay in India for a long time, or Elsa will leave her hometown for America. What are the chances that Todd will stay in India? Although he has gradually adapted to Indian culture, how can a person with strong personal consciousness like Todd give up the free, equal, open and rich United States and stay in relatively conservative and backward India? Simple and kind Indians, magical and long-standing Indian traditional culture and beautiful and intelligent girl Elsa have great attraction to Todd, but this is destined to be temporary, just the freshness of going to a strange country. For Elsa, she loves Todd, but if she is required to go abroad for her lover, leave the traditional culture that nourishes her and endure the pain of being separated from her family, then for Elsa, who has strong family values and is relatively risk-averse, it is better to find an Indian man to spend the rest of her life safely. Secondly, even if Todd chooses to stay in India because of his deep love, or Elsa decides to go to the United States to try her luck in love, and they get married, when the passion fades away, great differences between customs and religious beliefs will inevitably appear. Even if Elsa is clever enough to solve these conflicts, the completely different cultural concepts of parents will definitely lead to friction, which is the reason why many transnational marriages fail.
Having said that, we can't help thinking that since the trend of globalization has come, it is inevitable that people from different cultures will fall in love. How can we have a beautiful transnational marriage? According to public information, in recent years, the number of transnational marriage registrations in China has increased year by year, involving 53 countries and regions. But at the same time, the divorce rate of this kind of marriage is increasing day by day, and it is obviously higher than the growth rate of marriage. Due to the differences in cultural background, historical tradition and family concept in different countries, both husband and wife in transnational marriage must have more concerns and risks than domestic couples. I think to have a healthy transnational marriage, we need to do the following.
(1) First of all, we should have a correct attitude towards cross-border marriage advertisements. In the face of cultural differences or conflicts, we should face them with an optimistic, positive and open mind. Simple avoidance, rude rejection or negative depression can't solve the problem. We should take the initiative to communicate our differences with our spouses.
(2) Maintain full respect and understanding of different cultures. In view of the inevitability of cultural differences in transnational marriage, we should strengthen empathy, consider problems from each other's standpoint and take more appropriate actions or words.
(3) Overcome cultural egoism and enhance the awareness of cultural reflection. Different cultural differences are just differences, and there is no question of right or wrong. Don't jump to conclusions and judgments easily, don't just regard yourself as a single person, but also understand yourself as a cultural existence, so as to objectively evaluate the communication object and evaluate yourself.