Hollywood is the new Bollywood?

Is it Chinese? Is it Indian? NO, it is simply the new American Hollywood film. Are we throwing the traditional movies in the bin, in order for McDonaldisation to take over? I hope not, but it does look like it.

Hollywood is becoming Asianized by actors like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as the world is getting smaller due to globalisation according to C. Klein (2004:362). Klein also says this is ‘the outcome of Hollywood earning most of their money outside the USA and executives now consider foreign audiences a primary’. (2004:364)

And the Asianization works. With the new income from Asian actors, their loyal followers and fans all over the World support the industry hiring them. ‘It’s a matter of seeing this talent that comes with a built-in audience which we are highly covetous of’. (an observer cited in Klein, 2004: p. 365).

Hollywood going Asian

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLeFL6030Vc)

On the other hand, Asian film industries are in turn becoming Hollywoodized. If they want to be on the American market, there are several rules and selling propositions the provider ads in order for the best sale. ‘Miramax often modifies them by dubbing them, editing them, altering dialogue, changing titles and creating new soundtracks’ (Alliance, n.d.; Dombrowski, cited in Klein, 2004: p. 372).

In order to achieve the global market, the films must be global too. An example could be ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, a film based on the novel ‘Q & A’ about two people, who fights for their love through their young life in the slum. The movie is western produced by Danny Boyle, but takes place in India and the cast are Indians as well.

Some call it a classical Hollywood Paradigm, but it also has a lot of Bollywood effects like dancing and singing by big crowds in colourful clothes. It is a big mixture of western and Indian outcomes which all come down to one thing, that every one can relate to: love.

The denationalisation of this movie lies in a grey zone:

• ·      Is it supposed to be an English movie? I this is the case; the language is used along an English/Indian as main character.
• ·      Is it an Indian movie? Well, it has several main characters who are Indian, they are speaking Indian and the film takes place in India.

As it looks to me now, the Hollywoodisation is real, and so is the Asianisation. And it is showing us different traditions – not erasing them.

Top 10 of actors in India - A little out of date maybe?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf6eGChwsb8)

Bib:

Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE SCREEN...

It is amazing how fast I can find information on a celeb – or even a normal ‘nobody’, living on the other site of the world. We are now used to this access and actually I feel we are demanding information online from companies and celebs. We have a requirement of transparency in order to be sure of good will and our own relation is not built on a lie. I simply get annoyed if I cannot find information on a person or a company online, if I need it.

Goodvertising and exposing ones private life is used in order to comply this need of snooping by fans or stakeholders. This completes both their own need of publicity and satisfies the penurious crowd. Actually I do not have to go as far as those relational levels to prove the need of showing your good site online – I can just log on to Facebook.

Look at your own account. You have chosen the best pictures and post things, that indicates who you want to be, or even think you are. We use social media as a reflection on our lives, to goodvertise our behaviour, travels, activities in order for people to stay interested and to like, tweet or share us.

P. Marshall draws an interesting and in my case surprisingly logic line between our use of a mirror and the social platforms: 

‘We are constantly placing ourselves as with the simple technology of the mirror, into the picture and into the screen’

 (2010,499). 

The weird part of the use of this mirror is that we intend to adjust our lives to an improved version! We have now the ability to choose what we share and we create our own persona online.

Actually this is not new. We change our behaviour in order to match personalities surrounding us all the time: If you talk to your mum, most people would not find it appropriate to use slang, as you use it associating with your friends. Our online profile is a version of you, adapted to your surrounding.

Facebookmirror

Bib:

Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6

A GLOBAL WORLD THROUGH THE WIRE

“Just when I thought I was out – they pulled me back in!” 

A famous quote from the movie God Farther III used as a commercial for the MMORPG WOW. I actually think this is true. You get addicted to the online community as you meet new friends, trade and live a life without judgement, as no one really know, what you look like AFK.

I have a friend, who is very introvert and has met a lot of his friends through this game. His best friend lives in Japan, due to a game designed in California.

TV ad for WOW

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXeyYdGoLCU)

Al Pacino in God Farther III

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU)

Blizzard, who made WOW, started out offering the game for free. Now people have to pay and in order to discover and buy new land possibilities and to stay online, which is two of the main ideas of the game.

Blizzard were sneaky and turned the ‘story’ of the game in a way that it made sense to buy different add-ons and extension packs. This was very clever, as people were addicted to the role-playing and needed teams in order to win some battles. You can still have a tryout for free, in order for them to ‘drag you in.’

Raasens (2005, 375) points out Rushkoff’s point: ‘‘… The better and more sophisticated the manipulation, the less aware of it we are’’. I think this saying inspired Blizzard, as they swooped in a need in people, without them noticing it. Plain Hegemony through coercion.

Even smarter is it, that the game is unisex. The characters look like weird monsters and you have no feminine powers if you choose a female character. The interpretation is individual and polysemic, which excludes a direct discrimination of a specific sex or look.

Many people fear this increasing second life, and I think it is because of their conviction of people not being able to tell the difference between online and AFK. Even the Danish queen mentioned her concern in the last New Year Speech.  Well if his or her interpretations are as every other normal human being, I do not fear for the players to see me as a weird looking monster.

Bib:

Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in.. (2008). Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in.. [Online Video]. 08 March. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU. [Accessed: 06 September 2013].

Raessens, J. 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass

Steve Van Sandt (Silvio) World of Warcraft Commercial TV Ad. (2008). Steve Van Sandt (Silvio) World of Warcraft Commercial TV Ad. [Online Video]. 20 November. Available from:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXeyYdGoLCU. [Accessed: 06 September 2013].