RE: CTHD and noitions of “dross”

[Jasper Sharp]

>Jasper, I hate to bring this up, but it seems that in every mail you write 
>(recently anyway), you manage to work in some disparaging comment about 
>"Hollywood dross" in one way or another.  Please excuse me if I'm 
>misinterpreting what you're saying, but it sounds as if you are a bit 
>preoccupied with this.  

Am I really that bad? I thought it was only my last posting. Sorry?
Much as I realise such comments lay me open to criticisms of cultural
snobbery, I think some distinction should be drawn between Hollywood films
and American films (for example, BOYS DON?T CRY was one of the strongest
films I?ve seen in a long while). Believe me, I didn?t intend to make any
comment as to the cultural value of an entire nation. 
I?m quite happy to admit that some of the greatest films of all time have
come out of Hollywood, and you just have to flip back 25 years to see the
likes of APOCALYPSE NOW, JAWS, MEAN STREETS et al gracing the worlds screens
to see how far things have declined. At the moment Hollywood seem quite
content to churn out vapid formulaic high-concept, high-budget potboilers
and glossy remakes of past golden moments. For every AMERICAN BEAUTY or
FIGHT CLUB, there?s a million BEDAZZLEDs, CON AIRs and CHARLIES ANGELs.
There?s little inventiveness at all nowadays.More money is being poured
into them and less time on things like script development.
Obviously people go to the cinema for a variety of different reasons, and
notions of quality are best summed up by how well a film succeeds in its
intentions. For an evening of pure entertainment, I enjoyed MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE 2 a lot more than most people, though personally this isn?t my
preferred choice of viewing. (And I have to admit a soft spot for Italian
zombie films too ? indefensible with respect to any objective notions of
quality).

> Does the fact that a film doesn't come with a Made In America stamp
somehow 
> make it more worthy?

Well, what annoys me, is that especially over the past decade, Hollywood has
increased its grip on the global market to such an extent that their control
over factors such as publicity, marketing and distribution does amount to
what can only be described as a complete monopoly. I don?t know what the
situation is like in the US, but I know that in the UK, outside of London,
the amount of films made outside of American or the UK which actually get a
decent theatrical release is negligible, and not down to the intrinsic
notions of quality at all- it?s a marketing stranglehold. When I was living
in London, the only video shop within walking distance from me was
Blockbusters, featuring shelf-loads of copies of TITANIC or whatever, and a
tiny shelf labeled ?World Cinema?, which ironically was where they kept
all their Ken Loach and Mike Leigh films amongst a handful of French titles.
On UK TV, very few foreign language films get shown nowadays either. The
simple fact is that fewer films made outside the US are getting released in
the UK than ever before. There is no choice. The Made in America stamp is no
indication of quality, but it has a large impact on how many people get to
see it or hear about it.

>I've seen plenty of Asian cinema in the last twelve months that would
easily fall into
> that category. 

Ditto. And plenty from France, Japan and Italy and England too.I have to
confess I haven?t seen SPACE TRAVELLERS, but by all accounts its hardly
great art.
 
>I think your statement about English and Americans sticking 
>their noses up at foreign language cinema is a rash generalisation.  

It is based on personal experience. In London, any subtitled screenings
could be guaranteed to be virtually empty. This isn?t so surprising because
most British people would rather watch a film that they understand and why
go through the bother of reading subtitles or learning another language when
the whole world speaks English? 
I don?t think it?s a generalisation to say that since moving to Holland,
I?ve noticed that in the Arthouse cinemas here I have seen more people
sitting in watching an Iranian film, for example, than I did in London. As
nothing gets dubbed in Holland, people have always been brought up watching
TV and films with subtitles, thus making for a very different viewing
climate then in the UK. The situation in Germany, Italy and France, where
films are dubbed, is very different too. In England, virtually every program
on TV is either British or American. In Holland, we also get access to
Germany and French programs. Whatever the reasons for this, it makes for a
climate where people are more receptive and habituated to hearing foreign
languages. There?s still plenty of people who go and watch sub-titled films
in the UK, but there is a definite line in peoples mind between watching a
film in ones native language and watching a subtitled film which doesn?t
exist in Holland, for this very reason.

There?s plenty of good films coming out of America and the UK. There?s
also plenty of good films coming out of Iran, France, Korea, Japan and
plenty of other places. Unfortunately, for the mostpart you?ll have to live
in these countries if you want to get to see them.
I hope that clarifies my position a little.