Influence Of Hollywood Movie Into Local Culture
Globalization is a formidable aspect that guides to important changes of trends and patterns in our society. The foreign film such as Hollywood begun to diffuse into Malaysia and caused many changes to the local film industry due to globalization. Nowadays, Hollywood not only engages in dominating the global film market but also successfully threaten the local film market in Malaysia.
According to research, the majority of Malaysians prefer Hollywood movies compared to local movies. This issue may contribute to the domination of western culture and causes our culture to become weaker as the data provided by the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) states that the increase of foreign films in Malaysia from 2013 to 2014 has doubled (FINAS, 2014).
In this era, the belief, culture, and thinking behaviour of an individual may be altered due to the contents and review of the movie that impresses them. Based on the statistics, movies that were imported from foreign countries especially from Hollywood has dominated the film industry of Malaysia. The local film industry is still small as technological skills are still immature and lack of the support of locals.
Besides, the movie industry around the world has shaped Hollywood to fit into its mold. Movies that were produced by other countries are always remakes of Hollywood movie or adapted to fit the local culture. This is another sign of our culture becoming weaker because even local products are originated from other countries. Hollywoodization, a term that was concluded by Por Kuldip Rampal, is a process whereby Hollywood influences the movie industries in Asia to apply the production style, dressing, or even imitate the name of Hollywood.
Other than that, consumerist of audiences around the world has been influenced by American values as well especially in term of food. For instance, eating low carbohydrate food in American movies is one of the American cultures that diffuse to our country as a result of spring up of global consumer brands like Mac Donald, KFC and Pizza Hut.
Malaysia is a country that consists of different races and cultures (Cho, 2010). According to Kim Ann Zimmermann (2017), culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a group of people practicing the same language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts. Government as the important role that has to respect and follow the culture that each races practicing so that there is no cultural conflict due to the movie. Hence, the government always play the role of the "gatekeeper" to filter out the movie that is illegal to Malaysia culture such as the strong sexuality of the violent scenes, which will influence the Malaysian culture and behaviour especially the younger generation.
To make local film industry a success, the support from government is very crucial. Malaysia government had introduced the Film In Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) in the year 2014 (Sinar Online, 2014)., which is a 30% cash rebate on all qualifying Malaysian Production Expenditure (QMPE). This is to provide an additional financial incentive to the creative content development, especially for movie, drama, or other screen production. By providing this program, more Malaysian will have the chance to produce a higher quality content of the movie to attract more people to watch.
By giving this incentive, think it can enhance Malaysia's reputation and increase the employment opportunity. I think that this is a good strategy for the younger generation to produce a good movie and thus achieve their dream. In addition, this could encourage the Malaysian to support the local movie.
To make local film industry a success, the support from government is very crucial. Malaysia government had introduced the Film In Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) in the year 2014 (Sinar Online, 2014)., which is a 30% cash rebate on all qualifying Malaysian Production Expenditure (QMPE). This is to provide an additional financial incentive to the creative content development, especially for movie, drama, or other screen production. By providing this program, more Malaysian will have the chance to produce a higher quality content of the movie to attract more people to watch.
By giving this incentive, think it can enhance Malaysia's reputation and increase the employment opportunity. I think that this is a good strategy for the younger generation to produce a good movie and thus achieve their dream. In addition, this could encourage the Malaysian to support the local movie.
Although Western movies have brought many positive and negative impact, there are also some solutions to solve the problem. Firstly, the government should limit and banned the movies that have scenes that are against our beliefs and behaviour. For example, sex scenes. Since Malaysia is a conservative and multicultural country, the scene that consists of sex is not suitable to launch in Malaysia according to the censorship board. For example, the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" series that was released in the year 2015 was banned and did not launch in Malaysia due to sexual content. While in 2017, the movie "Beauty and the Beast" received a sudden ban because of a 4.5 minutes "gay moment" in the movie., However, after arguing with Disney, the movie was relaunched with a P13 rating without cutting the "gay scene" (Numford, 2017).
The government as a gatekeeper that help to filter out the unethical scene that impact our society is a good and correct way because without filtering, we will receive unethical information and imiatate and apply it in our daily lives. This will causes changes in our culture and we will start to lose our identity.
The government as a gatekeeper that help to filter out the unethical scene that impact our society is a good and correct way because without filtering, we will receive unethical information and imiatate and apply it in our daily lives. This will causes changes in our culture and we will start to lose our identity.
Secondly, children should be under the advisory of supervision of their parents if the movie has stated a guideline so that they are not able to exposed to inappropriate content. This is because the children are not mature enough to differentiate between what is appropriate and inappropriate. Hence, parents should take this responsibility to help the children to differentiate and chose the movies that are suitable.
In the year 2010, Universal Pictures had collaborated with Illumination Entertainment and produced a 3D computer-animated comedy film called "Despicable Me". The character in the movie - minions had successfully grab Malaysian's attention. This has made Mac Donald obtain an opportunity to earn money. Besides, Mac Donald had launched a collection of limited edition Despicable Me toys which featured the character in the movie, Minions. With the purchase of Happy Meal, people can get a free toy. This caused Malaysians to spend their money and time to queue and buy the toys (Winniekepala, 2013).
In addition, Marvel and DC comics have created many superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Man, IronMan, and others. Most of the characters are from the comics that many have read before. This had made many Malaysians to be interested in the movies and cause the superhero to get famous. The rise of the superhero has helped to gain profit from many different products such as stationery, toys, clothes, and accessories (Rogin, 2015). For example, when the movie "The Avengers" was released, a toothpaste brand named Darlie had introduced their merchandise, a cup featuring the cartoon characters. Besides, Penang Queensbay Mall has a clothes shop named SuperHero Galaxy, which uses superheroes as the theme of the shop.
In the year 2010, Universal Pictures had collaborated with Illumination Entertainment and produced a 3D computer-animated comedy film called "Despicable Me". The character in the movie - minions had successfully grab Malaysian's attention. This has made Mac Donald obtain an opportunity to earn money. Besides, Mac Donald had launched a collection of limited edition Despicable Me toys which featured the character in the movie, Minions. With the purchase of Happy Meal, people can get a free toy. This caused Malaysians to spend their money and time to queue and buy the toys (Winniekepala, 2013).
Unfortunately, western films seem to have brought negative implications to the Malaysian society. Malaysian journalist, Seman Ku Hussain (2001) shared his view on the impact of western films on teenagers. He implied the negative element of global media was transmitted through the Hollywood film are full of sex, violence, science fiction and etc. It would not be a surprise even if teenagers try to imitate from the influence of western movies (Halim, n.d.).
Besides, another example is the movie"Baywatch". Launched in the US in 1989, Baywatch was viewed by more than 1.1 billion viewers including people in Malaysia. The movie shows beautiful actresses in bikini-clad swimsuits jogging and running around the beaches of Santa Monica. Likewise, "Sex and the City" is another movie which shows some half-naked scenes and portrays a modern and entertainment and lifestyle.
Hence, the younger generation should be molded with strong and fundamental moral values. If these types of contents are not monitored by the parents or relevant authorities, it could affect or even worse, demolish the younger generation's future.
In the next 10 years, people would probably watch movies using their phones instead of visiting the cinemas. With a rise in content being offered digitally through Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and more, consumers can have the ability to pick and choose what they watch on their phones instead of paying for cables and channels. For example, Netflix and Amazon have developed original content such as House of Cards and Alpha House for consumers and these services are establishing a lot of subscribers.
Moreover, a distinctive form of film is also emerging on phones, 360-degree movies. Developed by Google, 360 movies allow viewers to click on the screen and look around in a first-person perspective. The idea is to create a fully immersive experience that gives viewers have contact and feel what it is like to be in the story. Furthermore, most of these 360-degree films have also been made for virtual reality headsets.
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Main References
Cho, Chul Ho (2010). Korean wave in Malaysia and change of Korea-Malaysia relations. Malaysian Journals of Media Studies, 12. 1-14.
HALIM, A. A. (n.d.). Cultural globalisation & its impact upon Malaysian teenagers . Jurnal Pengajian Umum ,8, 180-191.
Ibbi, A.A. (2013). Hollywood, The American Image and the Global Film Industry, CINEJ Cinema Journal, 3(1), 93-106.
Josh Rogin, (2015). Malaysian Opposition makes its play on Washington. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-09 28/malaysian opposition-makes-its-play-in-washington
Kim Ann Zimmermann (2017). What is culture? Definition of culture. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of culture.html
Numford, G. (2017). Beauty and the Beast: Malaysian film censors back down in ‘gay moment’ row. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/21/beauty-and-the-beast malaysian-film-censors-back-down-in-gay-moment-row
Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS) (2014). Perbandingan Pengimportan Filem Mengikut Negara. Retrieved from http://www.finas.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/FINAS-annual-report 2014.pdf
Sinar Online, (2014). ‘Film in Malaysia Incentive’ destinasi hab filem. Retrieved from http://www.sinarharian.com.my/politik/film-in-malaysia-incentive-destinasi-hab filem-1.324576
Winniekepala, (2013). Minion madness in Malaysia and the good deeds of the happiest meal. Retrieved from http://winniekepala.com/2013/07/minion-madness-malaysia good-deed-of-the-happiest-meal/
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