Asian and US Cultures both influencing film industries

Hollywood has had a huge influence on the global film industry with many different countries remaking and distributing American and western culture films. This weeks reading 'Martial arts and the globalistion of US and Asian film industries' looks at the influence of Asian culture in Hollywood films and American culture in Asian films. 

Klein argues that “these industries are becoming more closely integrated with one another both materially and aesthetically, and that in turn is leading to denationalisation of individual films and film industries both side of the pacific” (Klein, 2004).

When thinking about Asian influenced films within Hollywood the thought of martial arts comes in mind. Famous Asian actors such as Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee have made it big time from low-budget martial arts films to big block busters being distributed all over the globe, this is because Hollywood is “including the growth of hollywood’s Asian markets” (Klein, 2004). Martial arts is an ancient technique of fighting that many western countries relate to Asian culture, it has been used in many Hollywood films in all different genres according to Klein, it has been featured in action films, science fiction, video games, drama, comedy and childrens films. 

The remake of The Karate Kid in 2010 combined American Culture with Chinese Culture as the character ‘Dre Parker’ played by Jayden Smith moves to China because of a career change by his mother. He is then pushed into chinese culture and learns kung-fu with Mr.Han his instructor played by Jackie Chan.
This movie see’s both cultures playing a diverse role within the film with asianisation and culture embracing a big Hollywood film.

However, Hollywood has also had a huge influence on Asian film industries and companies producing remakes of block buster films distributed from western countries and films produced in english.  

The 2004 hollywood hit ‘Cellular’ was remade in China and renamed as ‘Connected’ produced by chinese film director Benny Chan. Disney also jumped in on the bandwagon with “releasing a Chinese-language version of its High School Musical franchise, in a coproduction with two local partners” (Total Film, 2008) in China, complete with Chinese characters depicting the American characters.

Chinese version of High School Musical

With both western culture and Asian culture having a large influence on each others film industries, Klein states “one factor that deserves particular attention is the globalistion of the world’s film industries” (Klein, 2004). This quote remains very true as we see many cultures feature in different films throughout the world. 

References:

Klein, C 'Martial arts and the globalisation of US and Asian film industries', Comparative American Studies, SAGE Publications, London, 2004.

Image: http://i.yai.bz/Assets/86/771/l_p0013377186.jpg (Google Images).

Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SmmxvHLsKk, 2010.

Total Film, 2008. <http://www.totalfilm.com/news/china-remakes-cellular> retrieved September 24, 2013.

Social Media and Celebrities

We all have social media or have been associated with it in some way or another. The reality of it all is that we rely on social media to portray an image of ourselves that we want our ‘followers’ and ‘subscribers’ to see.

Celebrities use many different forms of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to connect with their mass audience of fans. 

Social media can be seen as one of the easiest mediums for celebrities to get their views, opinions and stories out to the wider public.  This weeks reading on the Specular economy draws on the idea that the public presentation of self can be seen through the term ‘specular’ which can be described as “a two-way mirror of projection on to the screen and the circulation of and interaction with those images and texts into the wider world” (Marshall, 2010).
Marshall discusses how the specular economy “foundations are derived from the much longer tradition of celebrity culture and whose repercussions relate to an emerging comfortability with a society of surveillance” (Marshall, 2010).

The reality of it all means that celebrities cannot hide from social media, once they are involved social media becomes a form of surveillance on their lives, with billions of people being able to access information and share information about these people.

A prime example would be he demise of Tiger Woods and his image which had huge repercussions on his life, losing his sponsors and creating a terrible image within the public. This was played continuously through societies eye after tiger crashed his SUV in 2009 in his own front yard.
Marshall writes that Tiger Woods’s perfect sporting image was tarnished through “new technologies and their capacity to capture proof” (Marshall, 2010). This allowed capture images of Tiger crashing his SUV in 2009 to be circulated through social media and websites sending his once perfect sporting image into a media frenzy.
Social media can taint celebrities images, or improve them. However, once involved with these mediums it should be definitely used wisely!.

 References:

David Marshall, P, ‘The Specular Economy’, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.

Image: http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/tigerapology.jpg (Google Images).

Image: http://digitalsherpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/social-media-marketing2.jpg (Google Images).

Image: http://media.salon.com/2010/11/prepare_yourselves_for_a_day_without_celeb_tweets-460x307.jpg (Google Images).