Throughout today’s society, we are living
in a technology driven modern era, where human culture is often being dominated
by a significant amount of art and media movements, regardless of whether we
notice it or not. An example of a movement that has contributed significantly
to our technology driven era is the ever-growing television and film industry.
Specifically, the Hollywood film industry in particular has always had a
dominant presence in the production worldwide films.
It is often argued that Hollywood plays an
extremely significant role in the development of global uniformity, by
instilling the Western values and ways of life into other cultured films. Klein
(2004), made comments regarding Hollywood’s fascination with Asian cinema,
stating that this is ‘seen evidently throughout a number of great Hollywood
films, with actors such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li appearing regularly in
Hollywood martial arts films that are all influenced by Asian cinema and its
creators.’ Klein also states that the Hollywoodisation of Jackie Chan is
‘undeniable’ as he has been ‘squeezed, patted, nipped and tucked in order to
fit into a different culture history’ (2004, pg. 365)
In terms of the statement that Klein has
made in regards to this, I feel that Jackie Chan would appear differently
within his own cultural framework, as he has been under the influence of
Hollywood cinema for the most part of his filmmaking career.
Image source: aintitcool.com
‘Asianisation’ is defined by Klein (2004)
as the ‘transnationalisation of the Hollywood film industry’. In stating this,
Klein is arguing that Hollywood films are clearly defined in their own
stereotypical representation of the Asian genre and culture. The concept of
Hollywoodisation, on the other hand, is one that greatly intrigues me. Every
country in the world is full of filmmakers, and a film culture, yet one
industry has managed to take control of the entire world’s film industry. The
film industry today is dominated by Hollywood’s ideas, values, culture and
humour.
Sources:
Klein, Christina
2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’,
Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable and neat encapsulation of how Hollywood and Asian cinema feed off each other in an unequal but nonetheless symbiotic relationship. I would have enjoyed learning more about the Asianisation of Hollywood, and the features and evidences of such. Beyond academic references, and also probably because of my poor knowledge of popular culture, I'm almost entirely ignorant of any Asian influence in the blockbusters these days - I would love to learn such.
Interesting use of words to describe Jackie Chan there - 'nipped and tucked'. I believe that's a reference to the rumoured surgery he underwent in the 70's to have his eyelids 'tucked' to make him appear more Western. Presumably to make him more accessible to Hollywood.
That probably says all that needs to be said about how much Hollywood (and by extension, the Western world) likes the idea of consciously being influenced by other cultures: at one point apparently Asians were considered "too Asian" to play Asians on our television screens.
Good heavens.
Ryan