The Hollywood Paradox@ Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 11:34:00 PM
Hollywood.
Picture our more luminous counterparts ambling down the red carpet, smiling, smiling, smiling - and click, click, click- the flashes go off, the film is developed, and prints of smiling celebrities is pasted all over the globe, to be collectively fawned over by fans all over the globe. Their faces are familiar to everyone, their names perpetually on the very edge of our tongues - yes, perhaps Hollywood should be credited for contributing to the common culture of our little blue-green globe.
Sure, Hollywood has given rise to numerous memes well known and well-loved through out the world, i.e. most people are familiar with the "screeching-violins" sound effect, which first originated from Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho", and the references to Gollum in Lord of the Rings with "My preciousssss!".
1. Sound sample of "shrieking-violins" theme from "Psycho":
2. Sound sample of Gollum's "My precioussss!":
So we can more or less be sure that Hollywood has given much output to the cause of globalization. But how about the opposite: how much input has Hollywood gained from globalization? One would assume that it is a system where the interaction goes both ways, or, to use an analogy, a two-way street; that Hollywood both contributes and receives from globalization. Yet the evidence more often than not proves the contrary.
Take for instance the portrayal of Asians in Hollywood. One might think that the diverse backgrounds of actors in the movies is a healthy sign of the ever increasing influence of globalization. However, more often than not these Asian characters are simply rehashed stereotypes: simply just think of Bruce Lee, the archetypal Asian martial arts stereotype, and them remember Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat. Recurrent stereotypes in Hollywood movies in fact show how resistant Hollywood is to the influence of globalization: despite the fact that the world gets to know more about Asia through culture diffusion, Hollywood is seemingly still unable to get pass the fact that there is more to Asia than Kung Fu.
And this is in fact detrimental to the cause of globalization. This is as globalization entails the exchange of cultures through out the globe. However, in the case of Hollywood, the exchange is one-sided, meaning that Hollywood influences, but is not influenced. Thus Hollywood in a sense does not really contribute to globalization at all, since the cultural content its movies reflect a purely static Hollywood view on the world. So instead of promoting the cause of globalization, Hollywood is in fact just promoting "Hollywoodization".
THE GLOBALISERS FIVE
of Temasek Academy.
Political Expert
Chuang Ying Xuan
Economic Expert
Lin Xiaowei
Technological Expert
Michelle Ng
Environmental & Health Expert
Ong Wei Xi Elysia
Cultural Expert
Tan Eelyn 2A/06, Group 5.
AWARDS;
7th April 2007:
Globalisation & the Environment
