Film Assignment: ‘outsourced’ Course: LSS 2113 - Intercultural Studies Prepared by: Meera Ahmed Student ID: H00300335 Section: 04B4CIA21

Observation 1 Time interval: 00:11:54 - 00:12:20 Scene description: Puro tells Todd that he wants him to stay at Aunt Ji’s guesthouse rather than the hotel Todd was supposed to stay at because he thinks he’ll get lonely there. Todd initially declines the offer by saying he wants to go to the hotel but Puro insist on taking him to Aunt Ji’s, which he eventually does. Cultural Dimension Reflected: Individualism vs Collectivism Scores: USA: 91 India: 48 Explanation: Todd comes from an individualist society, a society where a person only looks after and cares for oneself and ones direct family. Puro, on the other hand, comes from a collectivist society where people care for each other and feel a sense of responsibility towards one another. This is shown when Peru expresses his concern that Todd would feel lonely if he were to stay at a hotel, and so he offers to take him to Aunt Ji’s guesthouse providing him with a less lonely atmosphere. Even though Todd ends up staying at the guesthouse, we can tell by his expressions that he would much rather stay at the hotel, where he would have had more privacy and would have been more comfortable.

Observation 2 Time interval: 00:13:40 - 00:14:15 Scene description: Aunt Ji welcomes Todd into her guesthouse and begins asking him the following questions: What does your father do? What is your salary? Are you married? To which Todd just answers “No, I’m not married”. Aunt Ji gets surprised when she finds out that Todd doesn’t have kids nor is he in a relationship, because she think’s he’s old enough to be a grandfather. This scene reflects USA’s low context culture in contrast to India's high context culture. Explanation: In a high context society such as India, a person’s place in society is determined by different factors such as his/her job, relatives, marital status, etc. Aunt Ji asks Todd these questions in an attempt to understand Todd’s position. In the scene, you can tell that Todd wasn’t comfortable with these questions as he comes from a low context culture where personal privacy is respected and valued. Eventually he only answers the one concerning his marital status, saying he is not married because he’s not ready to start a family, which also reflects the ‘individual freedom’ people from low context societies posses.

Observation 3 Time interval: 00:45:45 - 00:00:00 / 01:08:35 - 01:08:55 Scene description: In the first scene, Todd tells Puro he only sees his parents a few times a year even though they live 2 hours away from him. Puro is genuinely shocked by this and says he doesn’t understand the ‘American life’ and finds it strange. In the second scene, Todd asks Asha if she ever thought about living in the US, to which she replies “I would miss my parents. It would be too hard”. Cultural Dimension Reflected: Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) Scores: USA: 91 India: 48 This scene also reflects USA’s low context culture in contrast to India's high context culture. Explanation: In a high context and collectivist society such as India, they like to maintain close personal relationships and they have a strong sense of family to whom they are attached to, as opposed to the US’s individualist low context culture. This is proven when Peru was shocked to hear the fact that Todd rarely visits his parents back in the US, and when Asha said it would be hard for her to live abroad because she would miss her parents.

Observation 3 Time interval: 00:30:36 - 00:31:20 / 00:36:10 – 00:36:55 Scene description: In the first scene, Todd greets his boss on the phone by saying “Hi, Dave” then they continue to talk about work, and at some point Todd tell his boss “Dave, you’re a corporate slime-ball”. In the second scene, it shows how Puro keeps addressing Todd by ‘sir’ whenever he is speaking to him. Cultural Dimension reflected: Power Distance Scores: USA: 40 India: 77 This scene also reflects USA’s low context culture in contrast to India's high context culture. Explanation: The power distance index basically expresses how people in a society would respond to or approach their superiors. People from countries who score low in ‘Power Distance’, such as the US, don’t care much about the social hierarchy and would challenge those above them. This is shown by Todd’s tone when he talks to his boss, as mentioned in the scene description. The contrast between the US’s informal approach and India’s formal approach to their superiors is clearly shown when Todd addresses his boss by his first name and Puro (and the rest of the employees in India) address Todd by Sir or Mr. Todd.

Observation 4 Time interval: 01:09:20 - 01:10:00 Scene description: Todd tell Asha that she’s a free woman who should be able to speak the way she wants to speaks, and he wonders why she cares so much what people think of her behavior. Asha responds by telling him it’s because she’s engaged to be married, and clarifies that it’s an arrangement made by her parents since she was 4 years old. Reflects India’s high context culture in contrast to USA's high context culture. Explanation: In a high context culture such as India, the elders’ wishes are respected because they’re the ones in control, where as in a low context culture such as the US a people are usually in control of themselves (individual freedom). This is shown when Asha explains that her parents arranged her engagement since she was little and that she must accept it. Todd, on the other hand, questions this ‘arranged marriage’ because he believes it goes against Asha’s personal freedom to wed whoever she chooses.

References The United States in Comparison with India, The Hofstede Centre: http://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html High Context and Low Context Cultures: http://www.culture-at-work.com/highlow.html