In the film, two distinctions in material culture, including possession of mechanics, gemstones and the role of women in society, is evident in Vietnam and Tennessee.
Women cannot accumulate wealth in Vietnamese society. This is against the ethos of Tennessee, where money is all right. This is why the family of Heidi hopes to save them from poverty. The brother of Heidi insisted that their elderly mother should take care of the financial responsibility on Heidi's shoulder. She felt she was "a baby of the family" when she came home (Luke 1). In Tennessee culture, women can possess jewelry or buy furniture after marriage whereas Vietnamese culture forbids such action.
Heidi was allowed to take a little bit of food and not serve herself in Vietnam.
However, in Tennessee culture, women are not restricted to food. The way food is served in both cultures reveals that Vietnam lacks modernity. Vietnamese life depends on the nuclear and extended family whereas Tennessee focuses on both family and friends. As such, the quality of life is high in Tennessee since they do not have many dependents. Heidi alludes that "her Vietnamese family far is too difficult to handle" (Luke 1). That is, it is not easy to fulfill the requirement of a nuclear and extended family.
Heidi experiences two incidences of cultural shock.
The first one is where she is shown affection and gets touches from friends in Tennessee. Vietnamese culture does not allow anyone to display affection or touch people of the opposite sex publicly. The other cultural shock is observing her mother wash and laundry outside the house in a basin using a bar soap. Heidi expected her mother to wash clothes in a washing machine using detergents instead of a bar soap.
The opposing sides in the video are the Vietnamese and Tennessee's values.
Vietnamese oppose values such as blame video games and punish nonconformity. On the other hand, Tennessee promotes values such as individualism and encourages responsibility. I support Tennessee values since they support individual progress and material comfort. My values such as practicability and freedom help me view the disagreement in the film regarding values as factors, which enable people to unite by solving their differences.
Work Cited
Luke, Lucky. Daughter from Danang. YouTube, 10 November 2013
