Cultural globalization and the dominance of the American film industry: cultural policies, national film industries, and transnational film

Abstract

The global film market is a strategic site for examining the global influence of American media culture. Using a database compiled by the European Audiovisual Observatory, I show that the global film market consists of 34 countries that produce over 25 films per year. Thirty-two countries produce less than 26 films. The countries that produce over 25 films per year were categorized as Super Producers (four countries), Major Producers (seven countries), Medium Producers (11 countries), and Minor Producers (12 countries). Lists of top 10 films in these countries show that US films dominate, followed by local films. A discussion of national cultural policies shows that film policy contributes to the success of national film industries but does not enable them to challenge US dominance. Hollywood’s need for global box office receipts has led to changes in the content of Hollywood film toward deculturized, transnational films, a trend that is also evident in other countries.

Keywords:

• American film industry
• global film market
• cultural policy
• transnational film

Notes

1. The cultural imperialism thesis originally referred to the imposition of political ideologies. The later version, media imperialism, attributes the source of hegemonic dominance to media conglomerates, based in a few western countries, that control production, program content and worldwide distribution in the television, film, music, and publishing industries (Kellner 999, p. 243). This system affects the survival of national cultural industries in smaller, weaker countries whose cultural goods are often unable to compete in their own countries with those that are distributed by international media conglomerates. TNCs can eliminate or decrease opportunities for the expression of indigenous cultures by substituting western media culture.

2. Statistics on imports of feature films by country (UNESCO 2000, table 4) demonstrate the global dominance of American film in the 1990s. In 86% of the 73 countries for which data is available, the USA was the major country of origin for imported films in 1994–1998. In 68 of these countries, the average percentage of imported films (out of the total number of films distributed in 1994–1998) was 86%.

3. The major conglomerates include: 20th Century Fox (owned by NewsCorp), Sony Pictures Entertainment (owned by Sony), NBC Universal (owned by General Electric), Warner Bros. (owned by Time-Warner), Paramount Pictures, and Walt Disney (Brunet and Gornostaeva 2006).

4. For example, the budget for the film, Avatar, one of the most successful recent films, was $237 million plus $150 million for promotion (Cieply 2009).

5. An alternative approach to film production is that of ‘Nollywood’, Nigeria’s video-based film industry which produces up to 1000 films per year with average budgets of $5000–$10,000 (European Audiovisual Observatory 2010, p. 61). The films are distributed widely via VHS, DVD, and TV networks. Many other African countries have similar industries.

6. The number of US films released per year fluctuates. Between 2005 and 2008, the figures varied as follows: 2005: 507; 2006: 594; 2007: 609; 2008: 633 (European Audiovisual Observatory 2010, p. 42).

7. 149 states signed the UNESCO Convention (Jin 2008, p. 11).

8. Under the quota system, movie theatres were required to screen Korean films for 146 days of the year (Jin 2008). Korean film quotas, which were introduced in 1967, were under attack by the USA in the 1980s and 1990s. They were the source of enormous controversy and massive demonstrations by members of the film industry in the 1990s. For a history of cultural policy for the Korean film industry in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, see Jin (2006).

9. In France, the quotas are for broadcasting films on television.

10. For example, the Philippine government instituted a 30% tax on gross revenues of its film industry in the 1990s, in addition to a 12% value-added tax, leading to a decline of 50% in the number of films that were produced (Whaley 2012).

11. For a review of recent literature on reception studies, see Lee (2006).

12. Pang (2005) provides a detailed analysis of Quentin Tarantino’s film, Kill Bill (2003), in which he shows that Kill Bill appropriated specific elements from Asian cinema.

13. Recent small-budget films for women include Juno (2007), a story about an unwed pregnancy, Away from Her (2006), a story about an elderly woman with Alzheimers, and The Kids are Alright (2010), a film about a lesbian family.

14. The number of American films made for female audiences is much smaller than those made for male audiences. Only 10% of Hollywood screenwriters are women. Only 6% of Hollywood films are directed by women (Goodwin 2008; see also Bielby and Bielby 1996).

15. Black Hawk Dawn (2001)\ and We Were Soldiers (2002).