THE REFLECTION OF AMERICAN VALUES IN ONE OF THE US ALL-TIME FAVORITE SITCOMS "FRIENDS”.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the theoretical background of cross-cultural communication, this study aims at investigating the American values reflected in one of the US all-time favorite sitcoms “Friends”, and the differences in the perception of those values between Vietnamese viewers and American viewers. The main instruments of data collection are observation and questionnaire. To succeed in doing this research, the author of the study takes informants’ social parameters such as age, living area, and knowledge of foreign language(s) into consideration. Besides, their surveyed responses are carefully analyzed to build a general set of viewpoints of the audience on “Friends”. It is revealed in the study that “Friends” expresses fully all American values listed in the foundation theory. Furthermore, there are noticeable differences in the perception of those values between Vietnamese viewers and American viewers due to the gap of cultural knowledge.