I refer to the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Premiered recently here to massive first day earnings
In particular, i want to shift the focus away from the actions to the jokes. Now in my opinion most of the humour in the movie is what i might call "dirty humor". Not that it uses "naughty" words but it banks on sexual references to draw a laugh out of the audience. An absolutely random scene, of two dogs having sex, thrown into the middle of a dialogue scene between the protagonist and his parents is just one example. Jokes are laden with sexual innuendo. Ranging from "fuel injection system" to a transformer's scrotum made up of wrecking balls. Aside from that, many of the in jokes are very deeply steeped in american culture.
Amazingly, the local audience were able to relate to those jokes and references to american colleges, the civil war and american military procedures even though we in singapore had never had first hand experience with those.
This seriously begs the question, "why do so many locals like, or can relate to, such foreign things?".Of course there are many factors but one important among them is due to the result of US cultural imperialism.
That is due to all the American TV programs that feature American life that we have been broadcasting over the years. Their culture is so familiar to us now, causing the ever present tension between our traditional Asian cultures and the "western" culture. Whats more, through movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, liberal American values are being spread worldwide. Soon every child would think that only sexual jokes are good jokes since people laugh along.
But all this begs one question. Is it because we are so westernized here in Singapore that we relate better to American movies, thus encouraging them to keep flooding local cinemas?? Or is it because we show so many American movies that we become westernized? Is this a vicious cycle then?
Actually, It is more our own fault. Our Asian movies just cannot match up to the sheer "power" of American movies. Over the years, American movies have always found a way to beat the Asian movies. If it was not in terms of storyline, it was due to the famous actors or the humongous budget and spectacular special effects.
I realize one thing about Singapore cinemas when it comes to non-USA films. Local cinemas tend to take in only the "cream of the crop". As in they do not just import any old foreign film, but only the best foreign films. Usually those that have won awards at film festivals or are highly regarded by critics.
Why is this treatment not given to American films then? Instead of just taking in almost every film produced in America, why do the local cinemas not just take in the best among them? And mind you, Transformers is far from being the "best".
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I thought the sexual jokes was just a very simple form of association used in Classical Conditioning (or basic teaching). Humans are naturally inclined to sexual knowledge, and Bay must have thought that it would be a nifty trick to up the enjoyment level by incorporating something we innately are congenial with to his movie.
ReplyDeleteWhile i don't particularly discriminate sexual innuendo because of their 'dirty' nature or ties to the American culture (its universal), i thought that it was very inappropriate thematically to incorporate such frivolous-ness into one of Transformers, where the concepts of technology, literature and philosophy (originally in the comics) lie supreme.
It would have worked on better on Meet the Fockers I guess, and I am sure any Transformer's enthusiast, let alone the fans would agree that frivolous sex would be one of the last few things they would want to be on the screen amidst the action.
I don't think we Singaporeans have an objectively better relation with American Films than Asian films. While it is admittable that most of the really good films come from the USA, we have yet to come to that stage where we ''stand in front of Cathay waiting for the next American Movie to be imported into the Cinema and disregarding any Asian Movie that is being played during the time being''.
There is an equal ratio of 2nd Grade American romance movie coming in from the US that won't get remembered in a year or two as an Asian production from Japan, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Then of course, when we are talking about the best, we just said that American Movies have an upper hand.
And then ''best'' is really subjective.
But one question before I leave the issue as it is, does the fact of us watching US made films because they are the ''best'' around naturally allude to the assumption that its because we are getting westernized? Then and again if we are, why is Chinese and Asian Talent shows and drama serials in the entertainment still getting the upper hand with our local audience than a US TV show?
Talent shows and drama serials utilise a different style of appeal as opposed to a US made movie would on a local audience. Talent shows tend to use a relational appeal; you can relate to the "typical normal person" image of the contestants that are featured on stage. American Tv series present a more "untouchable" life, since we asians being asians would relate better to asians. Also, availability contributes to the popularity of chinese programs. In Singapore, we have two free to air chinese channels, but only one english channel that runs mostly outdated TV series and shoddily produced local english dramas. Most of them are only available via cable TV with the more prestigious series usually on exclusive channels that come with higher monthly fee.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if the popularity of USA media is equal to asian media in singapore, it still speaks a lot about our westernisation on a whole. We are asians, why then are asian films not constantly topping the box office earnings in Singapore? Those that do usually fizzle out after the opening weekend and disappear into history. Or they are usually adapted from another popular media, like manga. In the latter case, it is not so much the quality of the movie that attracts the audience, but the appeal of the "brand name" of the manga from which the movie was adapted from.
YEs, sexual jokes are universal, but for the case of Transformers those jokes are presented in an american made movie and within the context of the american culture shown, in this case, suburban and college life. It indirectly reflects the liberal mindset the majority of americans have, which conflicts with many of our traditional asian values. Presented in such a way, there is a risk that those american mindsets may supercede our asian ones, given how impressionable our youth are and the power of the media.
Could it be a simple question of expenses then? Since it costs much more to watch an american TV series on an exclusive channel, people would be satisfied to settle for a free to air channel that provides simple entertainment that they can relate to. When it comes to a movie, watching a high budgeted, largely publicized or critically hailed american movie would cost the same as watching a generally lower budgeted asian movie. Since one can watch asian programs for free, why settle for second best when going to watch a movie? Value for money then comes into play in deciding what film to watch.
I guess when people hear names of movies like "transformer" or "harry potter" they will most likely want to watch it. Why? because they have watched other movies in the series, and they probably would not mind watching one more to "complete the collection" unless the previous movie was really too badly done.
ReplyDeleteAmerican movies seem to have the promise of a heavy budget, which might be the deciding factor to why they are generally more accepted as compared to asian films.
Another reason is definitely the language. Many people people prefer to watch movies that are in english instead of foreign languages which they might not understand. after all, reading the subtitles can be quite a chore for some.
also, most locals do not watch movies because they want to watch them. youngsters probably watch all or most of the movies available at the cinema because they have not many alternatives of entertainment. I prefer to say that many people watch movies just for the sake of passing time. personally, I would go to the cinema and simply choose a movie from what's available. which simply brings me to another point. american movies, with all the usual romance, comedy, action and little jokes, have extremely predictable storylines that almost "never go wrong".
That is an interesting point there Selene. The purpose of watching movies. Yes the old sayings of "better safe than sorry" comes into play here. One would rather play it safe with their money and watch a rehashed and contrived American movie with a predictable plot as opposed to risking that money and time on a avant garde European film that one has little experience with watching.
ReplyDeleteI admit that I am one of those who find reading subtitles a chore. When I watch a movie, I want to "watch" a movie. I want to be absorbed in the setting, take in every action and follow every facial expression. The last thing i want to do is read subtitles.
Also, when it comes to films in a series and people wanting to watch the newest installment of the series, could a form of "selective memory" come into play? People might tend to remember only the good points of the movies in a series as opposed to the negative points. This raises the appeal of the series in their eyes and makes them want to go and watch the subsequent installments despite the flaws of the first movie in that series.
I feel that besides the reasons u have mentioned, people do not usually watch local movies because they perceive that it is boring?
ReplyDeleteThe acting, storyline and entertainment value cannot be matched to hollywood movies. For instance, i recently watched "The Wedding Game" which is a local production with famous local stars and was very disappointed. The movie's script was bland, the acting was horrendous and the storyline seemed to be taken from a hollywood movie. However this cannot be said for all local movies as i remember enjoying "The Leap Years" for its refreshing storyline.
Singaporeans are heavily influenced by the western culture and its culture has definitely seeped into us. If given a choice to watch a hollywood or local movie, my choice would be hollywood.
You mentioned:
ReplyDelete"Actually, It is more our own fault. Our Asian movies just cannot match up to the sheer "power" of American movies. Over the years, American movies have always found a way to beat the Asian movies."
Slumdog Millionaire is an obvious in-your-face exception. true, it's semi-western but essentially, the Asian flavour is prevalent.
You have to be realistic. (Even the biggest) Asian economies aren't reliant on entertainment. Hence the lack of publicity and budget, sans Hollywood cooperation.
A good movie need not be a highly budgeted movie. So i do not see how far budget can take a movie if its fundamental building blocks like story, artistic direction, filmatography and dialogue are terrible. Many films that are consider the greatest ever by worldwide critics such as "The Godfather", "Apocalypse now" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" all had unimpressive low budgets compared to today's summer blockbusters.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ on Slumdog millionaire. It is a British film directed by British director Danny Boyle. Just because it takes place in India, does not make it an Asian film.
Would you consider a movie like Rush Hour 2, which takes place in Hong Kong, an asian movie? Would you consider Forbidden Kingdom an asian movie? It is not the setting or the language of the movie that determines its country of origin, but who did the creative work. In Slumdog millionaire's case, the creative work was done by the british, making it a british film.
Asian economies are not reliant on entertainment but neither is America. American economy relies most on retail and wholesale trade and manufacturing. It is well know that some Asian countries make more films per year than Hollywood does per year. If countries like China and India have such a vibrant film industry, why would they not have the budget or publicity? Could it be due to their own inexperience in marketing movies that have kept their films from leaving their borders?
ReplyDeleteLocal movies tend to attract an audience only because it is locally made. The audience can have a sense of national pride watching such movies. If one were to take apart and objectively analyze most local movies, one would find contrived plots, cheap humour, uninteresting camera work and flat dialogue.
Interesting that you brought up movies like Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Those movies did not have much publicity worldwide when their were first released. Yet they still managed to win the favor of worldwide movie critics and go on top video sales charts for years to come.
The issue about American cultural imperialism can be side-stepped by saying that anything that is entertaining sells. Perhaps it is because of the big budget that American movie producers can afford, due to a much bigger and dominating economy, that their movie products can swarm the Asian markets and consequently bringing with them the liberal American values and other influences. I'm thinking, however, that audiences relate to movies such as Transformers also because such movies are seen to have that entertaining value because of its contents. By this I mean that sex and violence often portroyed in movies do "sell", no matter whether the movie is made in US, Hong Kong, or even locally in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it is a question of affording the production of a film as much as it is one of "willingness to invest" in a film. If enough Chinese investors got together to finance a film, they could accumulate a budget to rival most Hollywood productions. The John Woo movie "Red Cliff" is a good example.
ReplyDeleteI think it is due to a lack of confidence that investors have in their own local film products. Naturally, no savvy investor would want to risk an investment in something that may not be a success.
Whats up with you people? Transformers was an awesome movie. Just leave your brain at home, sit back and enjoy the action. The jokes were funny and added some spice to the movie. A movie with only action can get boring after a while. And whats this about asian films? Asian films are no where near as awesome as American films. If an asian country had made Transformers, it would have tanked. It would have looked like something out of Power Rangers. Transformers is not meant to be analyzed. It is meant to be enjoyed. You don't analyze a roller coaster ride do you?
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ, that Transformers is an awesome movie hahahah.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I think that why most locals do not support local movies is because local movies tend to tilt too much into what they perceive as what we locals want in a local movie production rather than what we really want? And thus losing locals as an audience then, whereas the Americans know what to touch on that audiences from around the world can relate to.
And I agree with Parvin that not all local productions are bad as "The Leap Years" was definitely one of the better local movies I have seen so far. Local drama shows are becoming too predictable with the same storyline just twisted abit. With such predictable shows, local audiences would think the same for movies. Boring and predictable. While American movies have interesting storylines backed with amazing digital effects and stunts. Budget definitely is one of the reasons why American movies are able to do so much. While for local movies, having a trend of bland storylines, no sponsors would want to sponsor them and without a good budget sum there's a limit to what they can and can not do.
Let’s face it. Sex and mindless violence equal big box office takings. It just makes good business sense for the powers-that-be in the movie making world to create themes that entice your ‘average Joe’ to the movies. Note the number of men interviewed on TV for their take on ‘Transformers’ who sighed “Megan Fox”; you can almost see them salivating! As if that’s all they remember from the movie (maybe that’s really all they remember!). Have our moral values deteriorated to the point that sex and violence have become normalized and thus the source of entertainment? Ultimately it boils down to demand and supply. The general audience demands it and the movie moguls supply what they want. Everyone’s happy… Be afraid. Be very afraid!
ReplyDeletehonestly, i would prefer to watch movies not produced locally. And as discussed above, movies such as Transformers and Harry Potter are well loved by its audiences or people who have followed the series or reading the Harry Potter book. And for some of us, watching HArry Potter becomes a tradition each time the movie comes out, and it becomes a social occasion, at least for me. Local movies just have not reached that standard yet, where they are able to reach a larger audience and in my opinion sometimes it is because of too much heavy chinese cultural influence in them.
ReplyDelete"why do so many locals like, or can relate to, such foreign things?".Of course there are many factors but one important among them is due to the result of US cultural imperialism.
ReplyDeleteThis is true, but also because Singapore doesn't have any indigenous culture of its own. Detractors will point to food and shopping, other than that we don't celebrate anything cultural in our arts or otherwise.
"Transformers" may be a good or bad movie, but film distributors will always be bound to distribute films like this which are loud, action-packed, use more money (read CGI) and appeal to the adrenaline (rather like a good jog) rather than subtler stuffs.
Another factor is that local films are really not up the mark yet. The only people we have in the film industry are John Neo and the arthouse lot over at Zhao Wei (Royston Tan and Eric Khoo). As for Mediacorp Raintree Pictures, we should probably wait for them to stop ripping overseas drama before they can script a good movie
I do not like transformers. analyse it or not, i just cannot seem to like it. i mean sure it has really good effects and everything but common on a moive with so much similarity to its first it not all that great. AND, we should not compare asian movies to western movies. they are not even worth comparing with each other. they each have their own flavour which we all digest in different ways. so in my opinion, do not compare western movies to asian movies, it is just not worth comparing.=)
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