Hollywood takes flight

Of all the major Americanisms to spread their wings and leave US shores, it is fair to say Hollywood, or more specifically the Hollywood culture, has been the one to have the greatest global impact. And yet, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that film cultures from across the world have indeed had a profound impact on American society and Hollywood filmmaking.
This to-and-fro effect is an example of hybridity, whereby cultures influence others until the point of forming a new and unique culture.
In recent times we have seen more and more international actors winning the big awards such as a Golden Globe for Marion Cotillard or an Academy award for Jean Dujardin. However, actors, like people in all professions, are prone to travel, and what is really worth examining is the degree to which the spread of cinematic cultures outside of the United States has influenced Hollywood and American filmmakers.
I have previously discussed the works of Quentin Tarantino in this blog, and his filmmaking influences are well documented elsewhere. But outside of Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen are just two directors who have been inspired by foreign cinematic methods. On top of this, the influence that Italian culture in particular has had over Scorsese is often revealed in his films.
While not always a direct result of hybridity, the recent increase in success that Hollywood has seen globally owes much to transnationalisation and the ever increasing stream of American films being distributed overseas. Randolph Bourne (1916) wrote as far back as the first World War that America is ‘coming to be, not a nationality, but a transnationality, a weaving back and forth, with other lands, of many threads of all sizes and colours,’ and nearly a century on, this is still ringing true.
But just as equally, many countries apart from the United States are becoming more transnationalised, and, as discussed, just as foreign film cultures have captured the imagination of Hollywood, so too has the Hollywoodisation of those countries’ film industries seen a transnational effect take place there as well.

References
Bourne, R 1916, Trans-National America, Swarthmore College, retrieved 25 September 2013, ‹http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AIH19th/Bourne.html›

Mirror, mirror

The ever increasing presence of online social media profiles amongst both younger and older generations has had a profound impact on the building and maintenance of individuals’ own public identities. It is no longer enough to simply have a collective group of friends that may number between 10 and 20 in the real world, but seemingly it is rather a necessity to count as your friend every person you have ever come into contact with.
The growth of Facebook and Instagram in particular has seen individuals begin to create a space where they are able to portray themselves in whichever light they choose, via the use of varying forms of information. Indeed, Marshall (2010) writes that ‘through new media forms, greater portions of the populace are now constructing online public personas,’ validating this assertion.
The varying types of material provided on these pages form what Marshall (2010) declares as an ‘entire new industry – an economy of circulating images, information, text, conversation and interpersonal exchanges – (which) has been built to service the now more pervasive and oddly democratic construction of public identities.’
An example of this construction of self is the profile picture a person chooses on Facebook. Often these are not a photo of them at all, but instead an image of someone they may idolise, a place they’ve been, a team they support, or a political party they follow. In selecting one of these an individual is able to express themselves in a way they otherwise might not have been able to if meeting a friend for a coffee for example.
Marshall (2010) gives strength to this claim, stating that as we move into the ‘specular economy’, collectively we ‘are becoming more conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us.’ In turn, this mirror approach to how individuals observe and portray themselves only fuels the already heightened awareness they have of their own and others’ activities.

References
Marshall, P 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502

Game, game, go away

The dominant effect that gaming has had on society in recent years is due largely to the speed at which technological advances have been made around the world. Men and women, and boys and girls, are now joining forces with fellow gamers in different time zones to compete with one another for lengthy periods of time. This, combined with the increase and proliferation of fast food chains across so many countries, has seen sports participation amongst teenagers decrease and weight levels reach all-time highs.
There are many positive aspects of globalisation, but clearly this is an area that is alarming given the associated health ramifications of such trends. Appadurai (2001, p.1) writes that globalisation is ‘certainly a source of anxiety in the U.S. academic world,’ and while he continues to discuss the impact it has on the economy, it cannot be disputed that these health issues would also concern academics.
Another troubling matter concerning gaming is the often undiscussed nature of marketing conducted by game producers. Given the large number of hours that players spend playing games right across the planet, one must surely wonder whether these tactics show any sign of being based around a foundation of strong ethics. While it is reasonable to suggest that players know the dangers of spending significant amounts of time in playing mode, their level of awareness surely also diminishes as each hour passes, decreasing their levels of judgment in the process.
Rushkoff (1999, p.3) observes that ‘it’s not always easy to determine when we have surrendered our judgment to someone else. The better and more sophisticated the manipulation, the less aware of it we are,’ perhaps providing an insight into why marketers’ methods are not questioned as rigorously as they otherwise ought to be.
While there is no doubt that games can have a positive impact on those who play them, their addictive nature, which has led to a considerable number of deaths as a direct result of people playing games for absurd amounts of time, points to the conclusion that gaming is not necessarily the healthiest pastime one can enjoy. And at a time when childhood obesity, in fact obesity in general, is more common place than ever, that is a point well worth consuming.

Reference List
Appadurai, A 2001, ‘Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination’, in A Appadurai, Globalization, Duke University Press, London, pp. 1 – 21
Rushkoff, D 1999, Coercion: Why we listen to what ‘they’ say, Riverhead Books, New York

The pros and cons (umption) of it all

I recall an evening as a young boy when my family and I went out to a restaurant that had recently been opened not too far from where we lived. Having not experienced this kind of thing all that often, I began to ask my parents a few questions about what I should expect when we were out.
They told me that there would be waiters – people who came to our table and asked what we wanted, and then would bring it to us when it was ready – and that it was important to remember to use my manners as I would normally. So it was admittedly quite surprising when, upon arrival at this new American diner trading as Sizzler, I could not see any such people inside the restaurant.
This would be my first taste of life as a prosumer, a term conceived by Alvin Toffler, who defined prosumers as ‘people who produce some of the goods and services entering their own consumption’ (Kotler, 1986). Not only were there no waiters, the tables had no plates, no cutlery, no glasses and no napkins. All of the food was in the middle of the restaurant, and I had to work out for myself how much of each item I wanted, for how long I would leave my meat on the grill, at what point to stop filling my cup, and just how much ice-cream I would be able to fit in my bowl without being told off!
While this is not necessarily what my parents had in mind, as Ritzer and Jugenson (2010) observe, ‘the fact is that many people seem to prefer and to enjoy prosuming, even in the cases in which they are forced into this position.’ It is true that the concept of prosumption was at first challenging, but there is now evidence of such activities occurring all over the world within many industries. I will now gladly opt to avoid long queues at Coles and go through the self-checkout, an alternative means of paying for goods without the aid of a store employee.
Prosumption was once considered the way of the future, and despite the misgivings of some major retailers abroad, it is now clearly the method of the present.

Reference List
Kotler, P 1986, ‘The Prosumer Movement: a New Challenge for Marketers’, Advances in Consumer Research, vol.13, pp. 510 – 513.
Ritzer, G & Jurgenson, N 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol.10, no.1, pp. 13 – 36.