Cultural Differences: A Reflection of the Film Gods Must Be Crazy
Overview
This paper analyzes cultural differences portrayed in the film Gods Must Be Crazy through the clash between the San tribe of the Kalahari Desert and Western civilization. It examines contrasting cultural patterns in property ownership, dress, and transportation, and explores instances of verbal and non-verbal intercultural communication that highlight fundamental misunderstandings between the two societies.
What this reflection paper covers
- Introduction to cultural diversity and the film's premise featuring the San tribe's encounter with a Coca-Cola bottle
- Analysis of contrasting cultural patterns including property ownership, clothing, and transportation between San and civilized cultures
- Examination of intercultural communication dimensions including language barriers, non-verbal communication, and the role of cultural mediators
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Cultural Differences: A Reflection of the Film "Gods Must Be Crazy"
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Cultural Differences: A Reflection of the Film "Gods Must Be Crazy"
Cultures are diverse and have different beliefs that put them on opposing scales. This can be in language, food, property ownership, and clothing (Stahl et al., 2017). The film "Gods Must Be Crazy" presents a plot of a cultural clash. The cultural identities and beliefs are different, creating a conflict due to misunderstanding. This paper presents the cultural differences and patterns in the film.
The film "Gods Must Be Crazy" is set in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, where a tribe called San lives. It features Xi (Nǃxau ǂToma), a hunter and gatherer whose community lives away from industrial civilization in the desert. They have strong cultural beliefs, including that God provides everything. According to the community, animals, plants, and other things come directly from God, and the community owns them collectively. One day, a bottle dropped from a plane, and the community believed that it was God-given until bad things began to happen. This culture is acutely different from the civilized world.
The San tribe's cultural identity is primarily based on the uncivilization in the region, a contrasting fact to the culture that Xi meets when he sets out to return the bottle to the "owner." Andrew Steyn and Kate Thompson represent the civilized culture.