The posterboy for this cultural mash-up for me is Jackie Chan.
In the last 10 years Chan has starred in almost as many western films as he has films made in his native Hong Kong and China. Films such as Kung Fu Panda 3 and a crappy remake of the Karate Kid with the Fresh Prince's son may not be very good in my eyes, however they represent the ways in which the Asian influence on Hollywood cinema has grown in that timeframe.
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| Wax on? via martialartsmoviejunkie.com |
Chan's cross over from martial arts tyro in such earlier films like Enter the Dragon, Fist of Fury and Drunken Master to prominent figure in American cinema has also in turn had an influence on asian cinema through Chan's role as a director, producer and stunt director in numerous movies. This is an example of asian cinema being influenced by Chan's experience in Hollywood, and may even be subconscious in the way that it manifests itself.
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| Bruce vs Jackie via Last.fm |
The Rush hour franchise for me represents this culture mash of eastern and western cinema in that Chan and Chris Tucker are juxtaposed as the uptight, quiet detective with martial arts skill and the smooth talking LA cop respectively. The script of the movie even plays on this idea with Chan and Tucker both learning off each other throughout the movie, as Tucker teaches Chan American street slang and Chan introduces Tucker to Asian food.
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Back to Klein, his assertion that eastern and western cinema are borrowing from each other is very much correct, but I think you can take it further and say that advances in technology and actors, producers and writers traversing the world have meant that all genres and types of cinema are borrowing from each other, all the time.
References
Klein, C 2004, 'Martial arts and the globalization of US and Asian film industries', An International Journal, SAGE publications, New Delhi, p. 361.
Hi Dean,
ReplyDeleteloved your post, it was very thorough with great use of examples of jackie chan and how he brought asian cinema to hollywood.
i agree with the point klein made on page 361 (you have also pointed this out here) that he says asian cinema is becoming hollywoodised and hollywood is becoming asianised. it is a two way street and they are both intertwining. you are right about the rush hour franchise showing asian culture to the rest of the world, especially the food element. great tiein to klein, good to see you summed it up at the end and again brought everything together with both western and asian cinema "borrowing from each other". i side with you in that all genres and types borrow from each other not neccessarily just asian cinema
great use of pictures and your structure was very easy to follow. well done
Dean, you have managed to critically engage with Klein’s assertions, using the example of Jackie Chan and Rush hour to not only exemplify how Hollywood is becoming Asianised and Asian cinema is becoming Hollywoodised but also to support your own analysis that all genres and types of cinema are borrowing from each other – Well done. I liked how you pointed out the juxtaposition of chan as the “uptight, quite detective with martial arts skill” and Chris Tucker a type of Hollywoodised cop. I think it’s important to remember, however, that this representation of Chan (uptight, quite, and also the representation of Asian food) is also a Hollywoodised representation, not necessarily an accurate portrayal of Asian film or culture. In saying that, I found that your insight into Chan’s role as director, producer and stunt director of various Asian films as an influence of Chan’s experience in Hollywood, quite profound. The pictures support your blog, the structure is clear and the idea’s, I think, demonstrate a great understanding of the topic – Great Blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Dean,
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoy reading your blog about how the Hollywood and Asian cinema are borrowing from each other. You make the concept very clear in the first paragraph with Klein’s assertion. In your conclusion, you also point it out for further and broader thinking that all genres and types of cinema are borrowing from each other all the time. Nice work! That also reminds me of the discussion of national cinema when I studied a cinema course. National cinema is associated with specific country and many scholars believe that national cinema is important in globalization as those films provide a unique window to other cultures. However, it is a term that hard to define, since the globalized technology and actors, producers and writers.
Violet
Hi Dean, firstly thank you for somehow finding a way to insert a ‘fresh-prince’ reference in there! Anyway onto your post, it was a good read and you broke it up well with humour and the images were placed nicely for the eyes to rest. I enjoyed your depiction of Jackie Chan and how he has helped ‘Asianise’ Hollywood, but a small description on Bruce Lee would’ve been beneficial (would’ve also backed up the image). Other than that I agree that both types of cinema borrow different ideas from each other and I am glad you expanded this to a global thing and not just between Hollywood and Asian cinema.
ReplyDeleteYour first paragraph would have been easier to be read had it been broken up into a few sentences. That said, the rest of your blog post was very interesting and your review of Jackie Chan as the ‘posterboy’ was a good example of the convergence of the Asian and American film cultures. I also found your example of Rush Hour as embodying, through the characters, the cultural mash up very relatable and easy to understand the broader concept of Asian/Hollywood-isation. Your last statement that “all genres and types of cinemas are borrowing from each other, all the time” is a big one to make. It may or may not be true, but I feel you haven’t exactly proved this throughout your post.
ReplyDeleteThe structure of your argument was very easy to follow and your use of pictures added to the aesthetics of the post. Your writing style is very engaging and as such I enjoyed reading your post. There are a few mistakes that could have been avoided with further editing. Overall, you explained Klein’s concept of the Asian/Hollywood-isation well and your examples were well chosen also.
This post sums up exactly what I feel about the Asianisation of Hollywood and vice-versa. Your use of pop culture references give the post a real modern feel, while still embracing the scholarly formula. The films you used as examples are perfect for your argument, and the pictures work well in general. The writing style was easy to follow but still interesting. Your explanation of Klein's concepts were spot on and shows that you truly understand the topic.
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