AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND IDENTITY IN

“FRESH OFF THE BOAT” SEASON 1 (2015)

Task: Intra/cross/Intercultural material analysis (1200-1500 words)

a. Choose one source of communication.

b. Analyze the materials using the concepts obtained from the course.
c. Use at least 2-4 concepts. Give brief literature introduction with proper reference of the
concepts for the purpose of analysis.
d. Indicate any implications for intra-, cross-, inter-cultural communication drawn from the
analysis.

It is no doubt that communication has been of significant importance in human’s life from the very
beginning. In modern society in which globalization has been proceeding rapidly, people are
inclined to interact more with others having diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences in
virtually all aspects of their life. Therefore, acquisition of considerable knowledge about
intercultural communication is the fundamental ingredient for success in any business. In order for
learners to easily understand communication concepts and their flexible applications in particular
circumstances, various illustrations such as movies, pictures, advertisements etc. are utilized. This
essay will interpret several concepts embracing cultural adaptation and identity, and analyze their
implications in season 1 of a movie series named “Fresh off the boat”, thereby providing profound
insights into life of Asian American people.

The series “Fresh off the boat” based on a true story of a Taiwanese family who has just moved
from Chinatown in Washington D.C to Orlando. Throughout the movie, Huang family has
experienced cultural differences between American and Chinese, and acculturated to American
lifestyle. Eddie Huang has struggled to integrate into new school, and his mother, Jessica Huang
has attempted to fit in new neighbors and have a job. On the contrary, his father, Louis Huang and
his two brothers seem to adjust themselves more quickly and easily. At the end of season 1, despite
having encountered with many difficulties, the family could preserve their cultural identity.

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First and foremost, “Fresh off the boat” vividly demonstrates the cultural adaptation process
happening with Huang family. Theoretically, Lustig and Koester (2010) interpreted adaptation as
one’s physical, biological, psychological and social adjustments in order to fit in a new cultural
environment. The adaptation process is illustrated by the U- and W-curve model which were
designed and developed respectively by Oberg in 1960, and Gullahorn and Gullahorn in 1963
(AFS Intercultural Programs, 2013). According to Oberg (1960, cited in AFS Intercultural
Programs, 2013), cultural adaptation progresses corresponding to one’s emotional responses
through four stages including honeymoon, crisis (culture shock), recovery and adjustment. The W-
curve hypothesis formulated by merely adding another U to the U-curve model additionally depicts
the adaptation process of a person on returning to his original culture (AFS Intercultural Programs,
2013). In season 1 of the movie, U-curve model is applied to explain the cultural adaptation process
of Huang family. It is evident that among six members, Jessica and Eddie Huang have been
significantly affected by changing cultural context and have undergone three phases of cultural
adaptation excluding “honeymoon”. Initially, they experience culture shock upon their first days
in a new environment. Eddie appears to be bewildered and shamefaced about dissimilarities
between American children’s lunch and his homemade Chinese noodles on his first school day
(Episode 1, 07:36 – 9:13). Besides, his mother, Jessica definitely suffers more from culture shock
than Eddie since she becomes extremely frustrated by problems related to adaptation such as her
missing family and friends in Washington, Eddie’s difficulties at school, Louis’s stagnant business
etc. (Episode 1, 16:00 – 17:05). Gradually, Eddie and Jessica enter the following U-curve’s phase
in which they deliberately modify their established practices and adopt new American ones with a
view to living harmoniously with the new environment. Having been humiliated for his Chinese
food by his counterparts, Eddie convinces his parents to “change the rules” and convert his Chinese
lunch into American one (Episode 1, 13:14 – 15:34). Similar to Eddie, despite her aversion, Jessica
has to go roller skating and watch the movie “Melrose Place” in an endeavor to “fit in” with her
neighborhood women (Episode 1, 9:17 – 10:29). Throughout the movie, she is likely to
progressively become less critical of the new cultural context and less constrained to integrate into
it. Finally, after a long period of cultural exposure and adjustment, Eddie and Jessica become
successfully habituated to new environment. Eddie could develop harmonious relationship with
his friends and neighbors, and eventually become the school president while Jessica succeeded in
her appropriate occupation and genuinely fit in with the neighborhood women (Episode 13, 00:00
– 01:14). In contrast, obviously, other family members are more quickly and well adjusted to the

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new culture setting, which is conceptualized as “intercultural brotherhood” by Kim. This
terminology indicates the process by which “individuals move beyond the thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors of their initial cultural framework to incorporate other cultural realities” (Kim, 1988,
cited in Lustig and Koester, 2010). In the movie, whilst Eddie has to wrestles with troubles at his
new school, his two brothers, Evan and Emery clearly get on well with their new friends, and
Emery even has a girlfriend on their first school day (Episode 1, 10:30 – 10:43). Louis tends to
promptly and appropriately respond to the changing environment, which is primarily illustrated in
his strategies to develop his business at the restaurant. For instance, while Jessica is perplexed
about the “unique traditional party” of the neighborhood, Louis avails himself of it to advertise
their restaurant (Episode 2, 2:15 – 2:46 and 4:10 – 4:20). On the whole, although each family
member is inclined to have different reactions to the new cultural context, they eventually manage
to integrate into it and live harmoniously with their new lifestyle.

Another concept which is clearly represented in the movie is cultural identity. According to Lustig
and Koester (2010), cultural identity “refers to one’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or
ethnic group” and “results from membership in a particular culture”. In the movie, there are several
distinctions between Eddie’s parents and him in the way they perceive their sense of belonging
because of the environment where they were born and nurtured. Louis and Jessica were born in
Taiwan and then immigrated to America while their children are native-born American.
Nonetheless, there are stark contrasts between Eddie and his brothers. Owing to their age and
personal identity, his small brothers tend to develop in the way shaped by their parents, yet Eddie
develops a distinctive personality and claims himself as “the black sheep of the family” (Episode
1). With respect to the level of adherence to Chinese culture, Jessica and Louis are definitely at
higher level than their children because they have been constantly influenced by Chinese culture
since they were small and after they resided in Washington D.C. Therefore, they have to struggle
more than other members in terms of adaptation to American culture. Particularly, Jessica has such
a high sense of belonging to her original culture that she is the only person to be afraid of being
assimilated (Episode 13). Realizing that her children are incapable of using Chinese and the family
are accustomed to eating American food, she becomes panicked (Episode 13, 6:40 – 7:20). In an
attempt to prevent her children from “forgetting their heritage”, she wears traditional Chinese
costumes, forces them to learn Chinese, asks for Eddie to be assigned China on his school project
etc. (Episode 13, 7:22 – 8:30). In contrast, only after proceeding through three phrases of cultural
identity formation does Eddie develop awareness of the significance of his cultural identity.

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According to the formation theory which was formulated by Phinney in 1990, these phases
involved unexamined cultural identity, cultural identity search and cultural identity achievement
(Lustig and Koester, 2010). Firstly, addition to his Chinese culture background and living
environment in Chinatown, Eddie is also influenced by American cultural elements such as rap
music and basketball. He is at the first stage because he takes his cultural characteristics for granted
and lacks a perception of cultural dissimilarities. Moving to the new environment, Eddie starts to
be conscious of the characteristics distinguishing himself from Native American. Moreover, his
mother’s attempt to make him retain to his Chinese origin exerts profound impacts on him. This is
“cultural identity search” stage when Eddie possibly explores more things about China such as the
Great Wall of China, China’s history and even kinds of goods manufactured in China besides
panda, soy sauce and pottery (Episode 13, 18:11 – 19:31). Finally, Eddie enters the stage of
“cultural identity achievement” in which he is completely proud of China and aware of protecting
his nation’s dignity when his American peers taunt about it. In short, although each member adjusts
differently to changing culture setting, the Huang family is definitely maintains faithful adherence
to their culture-of-origin as Eddie says “No matter what, we will never leave our heritage behind”
(Episode 13, 21:12 – 21:20).

In conclusion, by vividly portraying the life of typical Asian American newcomers, “Fresh off the
boat” serves an excellent illustration of two cultural concepts which are adaptation and cultural
identity. Even though living in a new community in which American culture dominates, Huang
family successfully acculturates without losing their Taiwanese identity. It is probably concluded
from this movie that not all immigrant could be assimilated into the American melting pot provided
that they do not forget their original culture.

(Words count: 1466)

REFERENCES

AFS Intercultural Programs. (2013). Cultural Adaptation Models. Retrieved from AFS:
http://icllibrary.afs.org/cms/media/com_form2content/documents/c3/a592/f21/Cultural%
20Adaptation%20Models%20...for%20friends%20of%20AFS%20(2013).pdf
Khan, N. (Director). (2015). Fresh off the boat (season 1) [Motion Picture].

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Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J. (2010). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication
across cultures (6th edition). Pearson/A and B.