Culture Shock and Its Impact on Lupita Nyongo

Overview of life and career of Lupita Nyongo

Culture shock explains the disoriented feeling of the people experienced after shifting to new places. The impact of culture shock can be measured to be quite serious even for celebrities. Culture shock can be divided into four stages, “The Honeymoon Stage”, “The Frustration Stage”, “The Adaptation Stage” and “The Acceptance Stage” (Raigón-Rodríguez, 2018). The unstable communication due to language differences plays a major role behind the individuals facing the impact of culture shock. The essay aims to contemplate the various aspects of culture shock experienced by Lupita Nyongo. The essay provides a significant understanding of the influence of culture shock and reveals different factors essential for getting accustomed to cultural differences.

Figure 1: Lupita Nyongo

(Source: Wood, 2018)

Overview of life and career of Lupita Nyongo

Lupita Nyongo is known to have been born in Mexico and raised in Kenya in a senate family. Studying in Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, she graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in film and African studies. Through her released works, Nyongo has vehemently highlighted the social injustices and indifferent treatment faced by the individuals (The East African, 2014). The portrayal of her characters has subsequently focused on bringing out the impending struggles and malpractices in contemporary society. Her acting career began with the feature film titled "12 Years a Slave" which made her an Oscar-winning actress for the category of the best-supporting actress. According to Tahir and Ertek (2018), besides acting and direction, she has also contributed to the industry as a voice and theatre artist. Despite such a brilliant career, Nyongo has been subjected to experience the negative influence of culture shock. Due to a certain unfortunate turn of events in her family, Lupita and her sister were sent to Mexico for further studies. Even though she was born in Mexico but she was brought back to Kenya as a toddler. As a result, it was challenging for her to adjust to the culture and atmosphere of Mexico since she remembered nothing about the place. Since they lived in a town of back people, they felt welcome in the locality (Wood, 2018).

Figure 2: A scene from 12 Years a Slave

(Source: Brockes, 2015)

Outlining the psychological and practical aspect of culture shock

The phenomenon of culture shock is considered to be quite common for individuals travelling to different places. Individuals gradually progress from each stage of the process to finally being accustomed to their surroundings. As suggested by Phillo and Susanto (2021), the psychological implications of the change of culture can begin with the experience of Culture "surprise". It directs to the earlier reactions of the people after stepping into a new culture. The initial reactions of Lupita after moving to Mexico can be regarded as a manifestation of the surprise (Brockes, 2015). Considering the diversity in her education, Lupita has managed to handle the challenging differences with charm. As argued by Orta, Murguia and Cruz (2019), the physical aspect of culture shock can be described through analysing the revealed information by Lupita. Even though she is regarded for such a promising career, she revealed her experiences of sexual harassment for adhering to the Eurocentric standards of beauty. Colourism is learnt to be a serious and prevailing issue in every corner of society despite the profession selected by individuals. Through the newly invested position in the media industry through her book, Lupita seeks to address social issues by changing the dynamics.

Outlining the psychological and practical aspect of culture shock

Figure 3: Lupita’s appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Maz Kanata

(Source: Schwarzbaum, 2014)

Impact of culture shock in Lupita Nyongo’s life

Lupita has been subjected to experience culture shock in her initial days out of Kenya which made the challenges difficult to overcome. With time, she has successively progressed towards redefying the outlines of the media industry (Schwarzbaum, 2014). Although she has gradually accepted the cultural difference, she has been vocal about the injustices she had to endure. Lupita has not only broken the barriers of Hollywood but also challenged the beauty standards of the media industry. Being victims of sexual harassment and colourism, establishing a successful acting career was a difficult journey. She has been subsequently teased and insulted for her skin colour which depressed her to pray for a lighter skin tone. Having darker skin became a nightmare in the path of her life (Brockes, 2015). However, with constant struggle and endurance, Lupita is recognised as the first black woman named as the brand ambassador for Lancôme. Lupita inspired the development of a diversified product line. Progressing ahead than being shoved down by these unconstructed social norms, Lupita has conquered big banners like the Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Wood, 2018). Lupita considers that Eurocentrism in her academic pursuit has been a major reason that has successively helped her to focus on the positive aspects.

Important factors for responding to culture adaptation challenges

The commonality of culture shock makes the overcoming phase achievable with consistent efforts. It is essential to understand that adjusting to a completely new environment is a gradual process. As suggested by Orta, Murguia and Cruz (2019), the best way to deal with the frustrating period of cultural shock is to meditate and consider the positive aspects of the cultures of the host nation. The rebellious nature of Lupita has been a blessing for her to sustain in places with different cultures. On the other hand, as argued by Phillo and Susanto (2021), since her teenage years, she has been standing against archaic rules against women in her schools and colleges. Lupita had identified make-up to be a source of empowerment to her identification of femininity. Factors that can generally be contributing to helping the people respond to the negative impact of the culture shock are being strong-headed for the certainty of cultural differences.

Conclusion                                                                                  

From the above analysis, it can be concluded that culture shock is the manifestation of the emotional turmoil experienced by people up on moving to places with different cultures. Most of the encounters of culture shock can be assessed from indifferent treatment faced by the new comers. It is a feeling which is not restricted to the commoners, in recent times several public figures have shared their encounters with culture shock. Analysing the life and experiences of Lupita Nyongo, the darker sides of cultural differences has been learnt. Through the assessment of her strong personality, feasible factors that can be considered essential for combating culture shock has also been identified.

References 

Brockes, E. (2015). Lupita Nyong’o: ‘Under the makeup, Star Wars is just human wants and desires’. the Guardian. Available from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/12/lupita-nyongo-interview-star-wars.

Orta, D., Murguia, E. and Cruz, C., 2019. From struggle to success via Latina sororities: Culture shock, marginalization, embracing ethnicity, and educational persistence through academic capital. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 18(1), pp.41-58.

Phillo, C. and Susanto, E.H., 2021, August. The Study of Culture Shock Phenomenon of Indonesian Students That Came Back After Living Abroad (A Case Study of Indonesian Students Studying in Taiwan). In International Conference on Economics, Business, Social, and Humanities (ICEBSH 2021) (pp. 742-747). Atlantis Press.

Raigón-Rodríguez, A., 2018. Analysing cultural aspects in EFL textbooks: A skill-based analysis. Journal of English Studies, 16, pp.281-300.

Schwarzbaum, L. (2014). Lupita Nyong'o: The Front Runner. Time. Available from https://time.com/8710/lupita-nyongo-the-front-runner/.

Tahir, R. and Ertek, G., 2018. Cross-cultural training: a crucial approach to improve the success of expatriate assignment in the United Arab Emirates. Middle East Journal of Management, 5(1), pp.50-74.

The East African (2014). The life and times of Hollywood ‘It’ girl Lupita Nyong’o. The East African. Available from https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/magazine/the-life-and-times-of-hollywood-it-girl-lupita-nyong-o--1322836.

Wood, J. (2018). Lupita Nyong’o and Her Path to Champion Women Around the World – The Hollywood Reporter. Hollywoodreporter.com. Available from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/lupita-nyongo-path-champion-women-world-entertainment-empowerment-1167196/.