Hollywoodiztion and Asianization

Wasser (1995) describes the process by which America now gains financial support for entertainment industries from purely domestic sources, not cross-culturally, as a form of Hollywood domination. This statement furthers the suggestion that Hollywood is becoming more and more Asianized through typical cinema. Wasser (1995) believes by “…concentrating on the financing of American films the history of Hollywood trans-nationalization can be isolated”. Thus creating more of a diverse audience for typical Hollywood blockbusters.

Klein (2004) points out that the Hollywood hired Asian actors, directors and choreographers because “they brought ability to produce a sophisticated, distinctive form of spectacle” for its globalized audiences especially Asian markets (p. 365). Immediately, when taking Klein’s thoughts into consideration, my mind overflows with Jackie Chan movies that were Hollywood hits. Hence, why Hollywood is continuously becoming more and more Asianzied nowadays.

From this, we can form a discussion of a particular “Chinese style” animation, through the Disney blockbuster Mulan (1998) Mulan is the first Disney movie, in which the female protagonist, becomes her own hero, without having to wait for the prince to come and save her. In fact, I remember Mulan saving the guy in the end, talk about girl power!!! Nonetheless, Mulan is a perfect example of how Hollywood is becoming Asianized in many ways, through popular animation. The movie depicts how a young woman, Mulan, disguises herself as a man and takes her fathers place to fight the Hun invasion of China, which identifies Mulan with the Northern Wei dynasty, during the fifth or sixth century when its territory was frequently invaded.

Hollywood has manipulated Asian cinema to become more diverse in order to attract a more varied audience, creating the massive impact on how Asian film and culture was originally influencing Hollywood cinema. As Klein (2004) suggests, “there are different forms of Asianization”, and with this, it is obvious as to how we cannot deny that distinctive kinds of Asian rudiments can be immersed by Hollywood films and Asianization is an unavoidable outcome in the globalization progress.

References:

Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384. 

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