As was explained in my previous blog post, love is different across cultures. An independent-based culture (e.g. the United States) expresses this emotion significantly different than an interdependent culture, such as Mexico. Furthermore, there exists variations in expression within the same culture as well. This is dependent on the severity of the culture. For example, based on Professor Geert Hofstede’s effective and proven framework, Poland has a score of 60 on the individualism scale compared to Italy with a score of 76.1 Though both are individualistic societies, Italy contains the more extreme form compared to the former.
As is exemplified by the numerical differences, comparing the two cultures could be used to shed light into discrepancies of the same emotion within a similar culture. To make these comparisons, two popular love songs from each culture—Italian and Polish—were chosen to be used in subsequent analysis. The Italian song “Torna a Surriento” by Giuseppe Di Stefano was chosen along with the Polish song “Most Dwojg a Serc” by Piotr Rubik and Marta Moszcynska.
First, the Italian song was originally composed by Ernesto De Curtis but later sung by Di Stefano. The English translated titled “Come Back to Sorrento” is hypothesized to refer Sorrento city citizen’s plea for Prime Minister Giuseppe Zanardelli to keep his promise by helping restore the city’s beauty by installing a sewage system.2 To entice the prime minister to return, Curtis explains the beauty of the city with emphasis on sensory experience. For example, the sight of the ocean and scent of the garden are considered so beautiful that it causes an individual to “dream while they are still awake.”2 Regardless, the unspecified audience—presumed to be the prime minister—of the song (“you”) completely disregards this element by saying, “I am leaving, goodbye.”2 He is further explained to “have the heart to not come back,” thus suggesting he or she feels little remorse for the effects of their actions on others. This emphasizes how an independent culture is led by strictly individualistic experiences. The audience is merely working out of the interest of themselves without taking into account another’s pain. The speaker feels immense pain and even pleads that they return to Sorrento, but that is irrelevant to the unidentified audience. Based on these factors, it is clear how this song was the product of an independent culture because it focuses on individualistic wants.
Additionally, a large emphasis is placed on the beauty of the landscape, thus showing how the speaker values outward appearances. The classical, jazz genre and soothing melody of this song further elucidate this claim because it, much like the garden, is pleasing to the senses. However, due to discrepancy in beliefs, the unidentified audience had no qualms with not returning. Beauty, to them, is irrelevant. Due to that disagreement, the speaker most likely felt discomfort, which could be why they derogate the communicator, saying, “And you have the heart to not come back.”
Secondly, the Polish song “Most Dwojga Serc” also portrays an independent culture but to a lesser degree.3 The title is translated to “Bridge Between Two Hearts.” Both hearts are in different spheres, or are independent from each other, yet are bridged by love. This slight shift in focus explains why Poland’s culture is less independent-based than Italy. Compared to the rather harsh demand in the title of the Italian song (“Come Back to Sorrento”), this is more light-hearted. Regardless, the lyrics are still highly evident of an independent-based culture. The first few lines are as follows: “I know you can’t belong to anybody/I know desire is killing you/I know but still I don’t get it.”4 The speaker’s claim that they know what they other individual wants is characteristic of independent values. It does not account for another’s feelings, thus not embodying the relational construal of the self.
Additionally, because this song was written much later, better technology allowed for a music video to be produced. This, then, can be utilized for further portraying cultural embodiments that lyrics alone do not present. For the first forty-five seconds of the video, a couple dance together until the man picks up a phone, which causes the woman to walk away from him. Her walking away shows how independent cultures focus on creating an individual’s own path without the influence of others. However, the two are eventually reunited when he runs after her later in the video, thus emphasizing the title how love bridges two worlds. This idea is further developed in the portrayal of another couple throughout the music video. At first, the two are separate and seem to be coming from opposite directions (Figure 1) until they are united at the end of the video (Figure 2). The harsher Italian culture was unable to overcome discrepancy in beliefs, but this Polish culture did not allow for discrepancies to become problematic by reacting differently. Here, beliefs were changed.
Even when independent cultures seem to be strictly oriented around the self, love is the driving factor that universally connects. Families that were once strangers become connected when their respective individuals join in marriage. Two separate worlds become intertwined in a harmonious fashion, which is reminiscent of the yin yang symbol. Regardless of the level of independence or interdependence, love requires a balancing act of differing values between previously autonomous people. Pop culture (the music video) and language (the song lyrics) greatly impact and reflect the culture itself, so analysis of favored songs in different cultures sheds light on culturally specific emics within the universal emotion of love.
Works Cited:
1 Country Comparison. Hofstede Insights, www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/poland/.
2 “Torna a Surriento.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torna_a_Surriento..
3 Lorenzo, Navarro. “Giuseppe di Stefano. Torna a Surriento. De Curtis.” YouTube. 18 Nov. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIO92LgMevc.
4 “Piotr Rubik – Most Dwojga Serc Lyrics English Translation.” Piotr Rubik – Most Dwojga Serc Lyrics English Translation, https://lyricstranslate.com/en/most-dwojga-serc-bridge-between-two-hearts.html.
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