CTHD and noitions of

Stephen Cremin asianfilmlibrary
Fri Feb 23 10:43:09 EST 2001


Reading reference: Jonathan Rosenbaum's FILM WARS.  Subtitled something
like: how big film companies and media have restricted he range of movies
one can see.

Sample chapter available online at http://www.chireader.com/

Stephen

(Who's off to see ROCKY & BULLWINKLE tomorrow but is fielding no questions.)

----------
>From: Jasper Sharp <j.sharp at publitec.vnu.com>
>To: "'KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu'" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>Subject: RE: CTHD and noitions of ?dross?
>Date: Fri, Feb 23, 2001 13:33
>

>>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.




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