hope I’ve been a good father to you.
And Stevens, who is always dignified and unemotional, changes the subject:
STEVENS
I’m glad you’re feeling better. I have to go down now. A lot to see to.
The father tries again.
FATHER
I’m proud of you. I hope I’ve been a good father to you.
Stevens ignores the subject again.
STEVENS
I have so much to do, Father, but we’ll talk again in the morning.
Then the father decides to tell him another truth – about the mother.
FATHER
I fell out of love with your mother. Your mother was a bitch. I loved her once but love went out of me when I found out what a bitch she was. Your mother was a bitch.
Once more, Stevens ignores the emotional truth.
STEVENS
I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Even when Miss Kenton informs Mr. Stevens that his father passed away, all Stevens can say is: “Oh, I see.”
CULTURAL SUBTEXT
Those of us who travel to other countries often notice that sometimes we simply don’t know what’s going on. This confusion might not be because we don’t know the language, but because we don’t know cultural meanings that are hidden to someone of another culture. Physical proximity changes from one culture to another. We might not know how to interpret the person standing very near to us – attraction? Is the person a pickpocket? A sex pervert? Or, is this nearness part of a culture that is simply used to people standing close to each other?
Some cultures don’t like to say “no.” After I had been invited to give a seminar in Japan, I didn’t hear from my host for many weeks. Believing this lack of response might be cultural, and that he might not be able to do the seminar, I read a book about Americans doing business with Japan and discovered that the Japanese don’t like to say “no,” so they often find other ways to say “no” without ever saying it, such as by not responding. After reading the book, I was even more confused, because I had no idea whether my host was trying to say “no,” or whether something else was wrong. Was there subtext, or not? Since there had been no reply to my emails, I finally faxed him. I received a fax back saying he had changed his email address and still wanted me to come.
A friend who just returned from Taiwan said he had to learn not to complain, even when he was served “old” tea that tasted terrible. He learned that complaining was not appropriate in that culture because it was taken as an insult.
Some cultures have subtext around gift-giving, or around hospitality. In Ecuador, it’s considered polite to have a drink with whomever you’re meeting, even if you just stopped to ask directions to the nearest village or volcano. Typically the drink is locally brewed alcohol so you have to watch it, lest you won’t be able to wobble down the street and actually make it to your destination. The subtext seems to be about accepting people and their hospitality; to refuse would be a social snub and a personal slight.
In the Philippines, you have to be careful about saying you admire something. Typically your host or friends will simply give it to you or buy it for you. That idea can work very nicely when you’re on the receiving end, but it works both ways. There can be a tendency to ask you for favors and things you might not be comfortable doing, parting with, or buying. If you don’t understand the subtext, you won’t understand what you’re supposed to do in return.
Cultures vary in terms of what is acceptable with nudity. Some tourists go to beaches in foreign countries and their eyes pop out, as they notice naked men and women on the beach. No big deal! In other cultures, exposing the neck, ankles, arms, or knees is not acceptable. The subtext comes through the reactions of others. Wearing a sleeveless blouse in some Middle Eastern cultures that frown on such exposure might seem fine because it’s warm, but the looks and frowns from others may soon alert you that it’s time to go back to the hotel and change. This tradition can also hold in Muslim countries, such as some parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, where spare sarongs at the entrance to temples indicate that any females in shorts or slacks should use one to cover up while in the temple. They can also be used as a shawl to cover bare shoulders. It’s similar to the up-scale restaurant that supplies suit jackets and ties for men who don’t seem to know how to dress appropriately.
In The Old West, asking a man where he came from was not appropriate. The past was private. You didn’t ask personal questions. In the film Shane (1953), we never know where Shane comes from, or where he is going to, but the audience knows that something is hidden and secret in his past. Nothing needs to be said – it’s clear.
Hollywood has its own cultural context. If someone says to you, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you!” and you wait by the phone for weeks, you clearly didn’t understand the subtext, which was, in most cases, “Not interested.” If a producer says, “Love the script, babe. Do you want to stop over at my house tonight to discuss it?” chances are, it’s not the script he’s interested in.
If someone in Hollywood tells you “the check is in the mail,” don’t start paying your bills, expecting to get the check within the week. I had a client who took that promise seriously, not understanding the subtext. He paid all his bills, sent them out in the mail, and continued to wait for the check, which he thought would come any day to cover his debts. Out of angst over the checks that would surely bounce within a week, he decided to rob a bank and ask for exactly the amount of money he needed to pay his bills – no more, no less. The bank was on the second floor of a building, which gave the manager and police enough time to prevent his exit. He was quickly arrested and served a year in prison.
No one ever explained the subtext to him, but it would have helped if he had understood it.
On the other hand, he went on to get several writing assignments and even got a movie made – which was what he wanted in the first place. Cultural subtext can be confusing, because we don’t know what something means, and often don’t know enough about the culture to know whether the subtext even exists. We see how this clash of cultures can lead to misinterpretation and confusion in such films as Dances with Wolves (1990), Witness (1985), and Whale Rider (2002). Sometimes people living in a culture don’t even recognize their own subtext and don’t understand your inappropriate actions. Sometimes there is subtext, and sometimes there isn’t.
Norms relate not only to international cultures and the film culture, but also to socioeconomics and class cultures. For instance, someone might not be aware that it is inappropriate to curl up in a chair or lie down on a sofa in a corporate lounge, or to wear tattered jeans or short skirts to most job interviews. The reactions, and the fact you didn’t get the job, might give you a clue.
An attorney recounted the story of a young woman who came to a job interview in a very short skirt. They sat at a glass table and he found it was difficult to concentrate on her qualifications, considering the circumstances. He realized that someone who didn’t understand appropriate attire for a job interview may not understand other aspects of corporate culture. Perhaps she was turned down for the job for other reasons as well, but this reason certainly came into play. She may not know why she didn’t get the job, and it may be that the attorney would not find it appropriate to discuss this detail, but the result was
