Good Example Of Understanding The Cultural Differences In Margaret Nagle’s “The Good Lie”: Film Analysis Based On Schwartz’s Cultural Taxonomy Movie Review

Margaret Nagle’s “The Good Lie” focuses on the experiences of a group of Sudanese refugees, namely Mamere (Arnold Oceng), Paul (Emmanuel Jar), Jeremiah (Ger Duany) and Abital (Kuoth Wiel) as they try to adapt to life in the United States of America. The film is extremely interesting because it is divided in 2 parts, the first part tracking the characters’ childhood struggle for survival during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and life in the Refugee Camp, while the second part focuses on the problems of adapting to an entirely new culture, with different values and worldview. The strong contrast between the different worlds in which the action takes place helps viewers to understand the characters’ amazement and sources of anxiety as they reach their new home. The extreme cultural differences between the two environments cannot be overcome by the cultural awareness classes that the refugees took before leaving the camp, and nothing could prepare them for the strong cultural shock they experience in this new world. Using Schwartz’s cultural taxonomy, it is possible to understand the source of the characters’ problems of adaptation, and their confusion during their first months in the United States.
The Sudanese culture is very different than American culture, and this is visible in the way in which the individual understand his or her relationship with other people, and with the community. This relationship can be understood using the first dimension of Schwartz’s cultural taxonomy, Embeddedness vs. Autonomy. Embeddedness refers to the society’s focus on preserving traditions, avoiding change and respecting expected group norms. In the film, it is obvious that the Sudanese culture emphasizes tradition and group norms are very important. From the beginning of the film, the narrator recounts that the village had been there for thousands of years. The past is very important for the community. The game played by Mamere and Theo is based on reciting the names of their ancestors. Traditions are very important for the members of this village and group norms are transmitted from one generation of the other. For example, as the chief title passes from the death father to Theo, he decides that his sister Abital will cook, thus reinforcing the gender division of labor. On the other hand, the American society reinforces autonomy, by emphasizing the individual freedom and disregards the role of tradition. As compared to the Sudanese, Americans live in large cities, and they are surrounded by people who do not share the same values and worldviews. Consequently, individuals are much more isolated within their living environments, and cannot rely on each other to uphold traditions and norms.
The film also illustrates the differences between the ways in which Americans and the Sudanese understand success and their role in the world. From the perspective of Schwartz’ Cultural taxonomy, this is illustrated by the concepts of Mastery vs. Harmony. Mastery means personal pursuit of success, which is clearly illustrated by the American culture. Americans try their best to advance in their careers and are very individualistic, competing against each other for better jobs and positions. In the film, Carrie Davies has a difficult time finding jobs for them, because they are unable to compete with other candidates, who have more skills and experience. In the scene at the fast-food restaurant, when Carrie compares Memere, Paul and Jeremiah with the White counters, it is clear that the Sudanese are disadvantaged as compared to the White employees. On the contrary, the Sudanese culture emphasizes harmony, which means that the members of the group are preoccupied with group success, more than individual success. In the film, the group of Sudanese characters does not manifest ambition in their jobs, and only try to do their best, without correlating this with the potential benefits for their careers. For example, Paul has native talent for assembling the parts of the products he is working on, but he is easily convinced to work more slowly in order not to make others look bad. Mamere is the only one o who manifests the ambition, to be a doctor, but he only wants to do that in order to help others.
This leads to the final dimension analyzed here, which illustrates the way in which people report to others in the society. This corresponds to Schwartz’s third pair, hierarchy vs. egalitarianism. The Sudanese society is egalitarian because everyone shows concern for others. The kindness of the Sudanese characters is often emphasized in the film as Theo and then Mamere carries the younger boys on their back, and Abital shares her scarce food with an unknown man who sits by the tree. The conflict between the values expressed by the harmonious way of life of the Sudanese and the Hierarchical social structure of the Americans is best illustrated in the scene in which Jeremiah opposes his boss at the store. He directly opposes his boss when he is caught offering some expired food to a poor woman, and quits his job because he refuses to obey his employer. On this occasion, Carrie gives him a lecture, trying to explain to him that one has to follow the orders of the boss, even when they do not agree to them, because they need the money that the job provides. Therefore, the hierarchical structure of the American society is based on economic dependency. This causes Paul to state that in America, they are nothing. The characters feel that they are at the bottom of the hierarchy.
As shown throughout this work, the cultural shock that Memere, Jeremiah, Paul and Abital experience as they adapt to the American culture is caused by the different values and worldviews which separate the two societies. As the characters learn to adapt to their new home, they have to adjust to these values, and learn to be more flexible, thus understanding the value of a ‘good lie’. Schwartz’s cultural taxonomy is very useful in analyzing and explaining these cultural differences.