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Running Head: 7 YEARS IN TIBET

7 Years in Tibet
Kierstyn Hintz
Marian University

7 Years in Tibet
7 years in Tibet is a movie about a young man, Heinrich Harrer, and his companion, Peter
Aufschnaiter, who rely on each other during a long journey to Tibet. They encounter many
barriers during this journey in which they are forced to rely on each other to make it to the end
safely. Each of the characters grows widely in their cultural acceptance and understanding.
There are a number of barriers to intercultural communication that are shown in the
movie 7 years in Tibet. The three barriers that are shown in this film are anxiety, assuming
similarities instead of differences, and ethnocentrism. Anxiety is when a person feels a sense of
discomfort because they do not know what to expect. Assuming similarities is a barrier because
when you assume similarities between cultures, you can miss important differences, which can
lead to miscommunication. Ethnocentrism is negatively judging parts of another persons culture
without understanding their culture.

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Heinrich exhibits many of the different barriers to intercultural communication

throughout the film. The first barrier is anxiety. Heinrich exhibits anxiety towards his friend
Peter when they are climbing the mountain and attempting to escape from prison together.
Heinrich is a very self-centered, selfish person. For this reason, he has a difficult time working
together in a team. This makes Heinrich go against the wishes of his friends, putting both their
lives in danger and his own. Heinrich is afraid of working in a team and doesnt understand how
to because he has never been put in this situation before. Anxiety is a contributing factor to this.
Heinrich also deals with anxiety when he is first introduced to the Dalai Lama. Although he is
excited for this introduction, he does not know what to expect, causing anxiety. The people of
Tibet begin telling Heinrich how to interact with the Dalai Lama, which is different than
Heinrich, is used to, causing increased anxiety.
The other character that experiences anxiety during the film is Peter Aufschaiter.
Although Peter is more culturally competent and open to new experiences than Harrer is, he is
still encounters barriers to intercultural communication. An example of when Peter encounters
anxiety with different cultures is when Peter and Heinrich come in contact with two men on
horses from Tibet that try to scare them away from coming into their holy land. Foreigners are
not allowed in the sacred city, so the men were attempting to scare these foreigners away from
their land to protect it. This did not work because Peter and Heinrich did not understand the
reason for the obscene gestures. Peter had anxiety and fear about the two men. Meanwhile
Heinrich began mimicking the two men and gesturing obscenities at them, eventually scaring
them off.
Another barrier to intercultural communication is by assuming similarities among
cultures. This is experienced by both Heinrich and Peter. One example of this type of barrier is
when Heinrich and Peter meet Pema Lhaki, the woman that will lead them on many of their

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adventures to come. Peter and Heinrich both fight for Pemas attention. In American culture,
this is done so that the man can get a date with the woman. I do not think that Pema knew this
was their motive. I think Pema thought this interest in the Tibetan culture was only to learn more
about the cultures. Although this is the case, Peter marries Pema by the end of the film, when he
has reached peak cultural competence, or adaption. Another time that Peter and Heinrich
experience a barrier to intercultural competence is when Peter and Heinrich accompany Pema to
the market in hopes to buy ice skates. The Tibetan people believe that ice skates are used for
chopping meat with their feet. This is obviously not the correct way to use ice skates. Peter and
Heinrich show the people of Tibet how to use ice skates on the ice, increasing their cultural
competence.
The last barrier to intercultural competence that Peter and Heinrich experience is
ethnocentrism. Peter does not exhibit strong actions of ethnocentrism. Peter is not rude or
objecting of other cultures, he just has a misunderstanding of other cultures since he has never
had experience with the Tibetan culture. Heinrich expresses signs of ethnocentrism. Heinrich
expresses signs of ethnocentrism with his friend Peter when he first met him. When Peter and
Heinrich were climbing the mountain they were partners. Although the intention of this was to
keep each other safe, Heinrich only cared about himself and neglected to tell his partner about
his injury. This put both Heinrich and Peter at risk for harm while climbing the mountain. Also,
when Heinrich and a group of men escaped from the prison, Heinrich decided that he would
complete the trip to Tibet by himself. Heinrich was selfish and did not think that he needed
anyone to help him complete the journey, although he would not have been able to complete the
journey himself. A main point of ethnocentrism is that the person believes their culture is better
than anyone elses culture. This closely resembles Heinrichs my way or the highway motto.

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Heinrich manages to make it through the entire cultural competence continuum. He

begins at the denial stage, being a selfish man who has no experience or respect for different
cultures, to a man who has a deep understanding of cultural differences based on his own
experiences. The denial phase is explained as a cultural understanding that does not understand
the deeper pieces of culture, but only the superficial characteristics like food preferences. The
denial phase also does not recognize cultural differences, either by choice or by inexperience.
Heinrich starts out at this stage on the cultural continuum. An example of when Heinrich
expresses his denial phase is when he begins to mock the Tibetan culture. When Heinrich enters
the holy city that is forbidden, two men on horses begin shouting at the men telling them to leave
their city. This message is not understood by Heinrich and Peter because it is in the Tibetan
native language, not English. Heinrich also begins mocking the natives and impersonating their
hand gestures and nonverbal cues expressing their dislike towards the foreigners.
It is important to understand that although Heinrich begins at denial, he has a long
journey ahead of him that allows him to reach adaptation on the cultural continuum. Heinrich
begins at denial due to the fact that he has had little experiences with different cultures before
these experiences. He also has always been a selfish man that only thinks of himself. He
exhibits this in the beginning of the movie when he leaves his pregnant wife behind after he
chooses to climb a mountain, even though his wife expresses her concern and need for him to
stay close to home. Through his time in Tibet, Heinrich meets new people and learns how to
interact with different cultures.
The next phase that Heinrich goes through in the cultural continuum is polarization.
Polarization is a type of judgment that sees cultural differences in terms of us and them.
This is a barrier to intercultural competence because it focuses on what cultures have different
than we have without learning about the basis of their culture. Heinrich exhibits this when Peter

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and he enter the holy city in Tibet. The natives begin throwing rocks and yelling at Peter and
Heinrich. The motive for this behavior is to rid their town from the negative spirits, or the
foreign men in their country. Heinrich does not understand this behavior, but he does not mock
them or throw rocks back at them. Although he does not understand the behavior, he does not
act out at the Tibetans. This proves an increase in cultural competence. Previously, while
Heinrich was in the denial phase of the cultural continuum, he acted out against the native people
and mocked them. This change in behavior proves an improvement in his level of cultural
competence.
Heinrich continues on the cultural continuum into the minimization category. This level
on the cultural continuum is explained as a level of understanding that understands universal
values and principles of culture and allows the person to recognize and identify cultural
differences. Heinrich exhibits this level of cultural competence when he offers a card with a
picture of the Dalai Lama on it. The Natives took this as a sign of disrespect. The card was dirty
and Heinrich was careless with the card. This did not go over well with the Natives, leading to
Heinrich and Peters removal from the city two days later. Heinrichs competence has increased
into this section because Heinrich is more aware of the cultural differences around him. By
spending more time in a different culture that is drastically different from his own, Heinrich is
learning new cultural differences from being surrounded by a different culture. He is also more
interested in learning about different cultures, rather than being against this new culture. This is
an improvement for Heinrich. Now Heinrich is offering gifts to the Natives in order to earn their
trust and acceptance, unlike before where he was mocking the Natives.
The next stage in the cultural continuum that Heinrich reaches is acceptance. Acceptance
is where the person understands and recognizes cultural differences between people, but does not
have a complete understanding of cultural differences. The person also does not introduce these

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cultural differences into their own life. Heinrich begins interacting with the Dalai Lama. He is
supposed to be teaching the Dalai Lama about the differences between Eastern culture and
Western culture. These cultural differences are drastic and hard to understand if someone has not
experienced these cultural differences. Heinrich exhibits the stage of acceptance when he talks to
the Dalai Lama at the end of the film. Heinrich tells the Dalai Lama that he views himself as a
father figure to the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama disagrees and tells Heinrich that he is too
impersonal and too improper with him to be his father. This is due to cultural differences. In
western culture, where Heinrich has grown up, a father-like figure is someone that is intimate
with their child and expresses love and compassion. The western culture, where the Dalai Lama
is from, sees a father-like figure different. Respect to elders and people higher in the hierarchy
are vital to their views on respect. For this reason, Heinrich and the Dalai Lamas views on how
they were interacting are drastically different.
This example shows that Heinrich has reached the acceptance stage of the cultural
continuum because Heinrich is doing everything he can to be a culturally competent individual.
He is putting forth effort to be accepted in Tibet, because he sees this as his new home. This is
important to understand. Although Heinrich has not reached full adaption on the cultural
continuum, he is making a conscious effort to reach adaption. Heinrich is making progress on
the cultural continuum by placing himself in the heart of the Tibet culture. Heinrich is spending
time with the Dalai Lama and asking questions to learn more about their culture. This initiation
shows a great increase in Heinrichs attitude and views on other cultures than from where he
started in the beginning of the film.
At the end of the film, Heinrich reaches the final stage of the cultural continuum,
adaption. Adaption is when the culturally competent individual is able to fully understand and
recognize cultural differences and shift from their own culture to others cultures. The person is

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able to take pieces of other cultures and integrate them into their own practices in order to enrich
their life and cultural practices. This is the sought after goal in the cultural continuum. Heinrich
exhibits this at the end of the film when he joins the ceremony where the Dalai Lama is speaking
to his people about the war. The Dalai Lama tells his people that he is going to stand by them as
their leader, although they are at war. Heinrich comes to the ceremony in the traditional dress
and prays with the people in front of the Dalai Lama. This is a great change from where he
started in the beginning of the film. Heinrich has become a very important part of the Tibet
culture. He is respected by the Natives and has become a close companion to the Dalai Lama; a
very influential piece of Tibet culture. Heinrich flows between adaption and acceptance at the
end of the film. An example of acceptance, as explained before, is when Heinrich compared
himself to a father to the Dalai Lama. It is a normal expectation to flow between two close stages
on the cultural continuum. Heinrich has increased his cultural competence due to spending seven
years in Tibet. He considers Tibet his home, even though this is not the country he was born
into. By taking part in Tibetan culture, establishing relationships, and learning more about
culture, Heinrich has evolved into a better, more culturally competent person. This is important
to understand. It is not easy to climb the cultural continuum, and it will not happen over a short
period of time, but it is possible if a person chooses to be open to learning about different
cultures. Heinrich was able to experience this by spending time in Tibet with people of different
cultures.
I really enjoyed watching this film and I believe that it has made me more culturally
aware. I found it fascinating how someone can be engulfed in a completely different culture than
their own and adapt to their surroundings. The quote from this film that stuck out to me the most
is when Heinrich is witnessing the war in Tibet. Heinrich states that more or less that he is hurt
to see such peaceful, loving people fight and lose for their country. Heinrich was previously an

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ally of the war, and took part in the war, but after spending time in Tibet and seeing this
massacre, his viewpoint changed dramatically. This meant a lot to me. It showed that although
someone may be set in their ways, people can always change, for the better. A common quote
that is heard is you cant teach an old dog new tricks but this is false. Heinrich is a prime
example of this. He started at the end of the continuum in denial and worked his way to
adaptation by the end of his time in Tibet. I know that by the end of this class I will not be at
adaptation on the cultural continuum, but I do hope to follow in Heinrichs footsteps and make
progress in the correct direction on the continuum in understanding cultural differences.

References
Harrer, H. (1997). Seven years in Tibet. New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.
Intercultural Development Institute. (2011). Intercultural development inventory: Education
individual profile report. (V3). Berlin, Maryland: M, Hammer.

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