Film or movie is a product of cultural and social processes. It is usually created out of the experiences of people. Simultaneously, it also affects the experiences and actions of individuals. It plays an active role. Acting and movie production draw from existing body of knowledge; which it sometimes interprets. This body of knowledge may be language, culture or history. Moreover, film presents a social reality which is created interactively through action, characters and its other paraphernalia. Cultural studies and critical pedagogy started in the United States of America.
Here, film performs the function of entertainment and education, by reflecting our society in an audio visual and dramaturgical representation. Nestler Sebastian (2006) describes film as “what comes with the potential of making complex issue easily assessable through images as well. Thus, by reflecting the society, movies advertently, and inadvertently, demonstrates the peculiar characteristics of that culture.
In addition, films, like other texts, do not exist in a vacuum. That is, they are inspired by cultural phenomena, and at the same time, they actively influence the civilisation and development, or growth, of a culture, and its individuals.
Hollywood is the film industry of America and it has much influence on the American culture and sociological development.
Powdermaker (1950) in Sigismondi (2012) describe Hollywood as such: “Hollywood is a unique American phenomenon with a symbolism not limited to this country. It means many things to many people.”
Hollywood has much impact on the rest of the world movies or film industries, this is due to the fact that it tends to relate globally with other cultures and nations. Thus, one can define Hollywood as a “global industry geographically concentrated”, with its entities physically located in Southern California with a truly global reach (Veron 1999). Looking at this definition by Veron, one can assert that the American movie industry has taken the shape of not only being for the American people but it has shaped itself to be the global film industry of the world. One can ask the question “how does this happen?” one can simply answer this question by asserting that Hollywood affects or influences the world through the act of Hollywoodization.
Hollywoodization, a concept introduced by Por Kuldip Rampal is a process whereby Hollywood affects the movie industries in Asia to adopt the production style, dressing, or even imitate the name of Hollywood. A closer look at the movie industries in Africa and South America shows that Hollywoodization has become a global concept not only peculiar to Asia as observed by Rampal. Since Hollywood influences the movie industries around the world, on the other side, Hollywood as well gains the benefits from its Hollywoodization. Hollywood tries to take advantage of its popularity over local audiences and distribute films in many other languages (Maisuwung 2012).
The concept of Hollywoodization has helped Hollywood to influence some of the beliefs of other nation that are consumerist of Hollywood production. Maisuwong (2012) observed that the world audience became consumerist overnight after watching movies, for example, the culture of eating low carb food in American movies caused the popularity of global consumer brands like McDonald’s, KFC, pizza, and so forth. Cowen (2001) corroborated this by saying “despite these powerful universalist forces, the American and national component to Hollywood moviemaking cannot be ignored. Hollywood has always drawn upon the national ethos of the United States for cinematic inspiration.” This is a point where the American dream is being evangelized to the other parts of the world. This in fact has been able to portray and sell the American dream in a very subtle way. Also, it has been able to portray American beliefs in a good image, therefore influencing the culture of other countries. This can be related to the words of Bi (2012), where he stated that “culture, in particular the movies produced by Hollywood, are one of the cornerstones of this endeavour.
A byword for the American dream, Hollywood serves to extol the virtues of the American way of life, promotes major industrial products and builds and reinforces a positive national image.” Bi (2012) stated that “culture, in particular the movies produced by Hollywood, are one of the cornerstones of this endeavour. A byword for the American dream, Hollywood serves to extol the virtues of the American way of life, promotes major industrial products and builds and reinforces a positive national image.” Bi (2012 also asserts that “Hollywood movies seek to build a national image characterized by freedom, equality, prosperity and other positive aspects. Concepts such as “freedom” and “equality” are reinforced through storylines.”
Apart from influencing the culture and beliefs of other countries, it has also come to the point of influencing the economy of other countries film industry. This can be asserted with the words of Blakley (2001), where he captured this perception by saying “modernizing developing countries, rather than creating self-sufficiency, merely fostered dependency within an exploitative system of global economic relations. This dependency was aided by a one-way flow of technology and media hardware coupled with the continuous flow of Western cultural products into poor countries.” This is so because of the sophisticated technology and the level of development that the American society has achieved. Nonetheless, one cannot assert that it is only Hollywood that influences other film industries; rather one can assert it has a very much influence than others. Rodman (2012) observed this when he stated “although movies from around the world continue to influence American filmmakers, their impact pales in comparison with that of Hollywood’s output on the rest of the world.”
One should also ask the question “that apart from the technological advancement that the Americans use, then, what is the other factor, or factors, that aided the Hollywood? According to Branston (2000), he asserts that “it is not domination by American cinema. It is just the magic of storytelling and it unites the world.” The level of professionalism adopted by Hollywood practitioners has been able to help aid the advancement of Hollywood frontiers.
Also, Hollywood has not only been able to master the craft of storytelling but has been able to find means to sell their products. The act of selling their product has been able to give aid also to the Hollywood market. Burrowes (2011) affirms this when he asserts that “they are good at making movies and more importantly, they are really good at selling them.
Hollywood’s success didn’t happen because they were making movies for everyone – it happened because they could convince you that the movie was for you.” This has been one of the quintessence instruments that Hollywood uses in their scope.
Bringing it down to the Nigerian film industry, one can assert that Nollywood, originally the cinema of Nigeria, is dated as far back as 19thcentury having a strong root in the mobile theatre of Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya. One can affirm that “the emergence of the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood is a cultural phenomenon and the Nigerian movies serve as a representation of Nigerian culture.” Mbamara (2005). The development of the Nigerian film industry follows the trend of the Nigerian history. Her culture, values, ideas, traditions and tribes and beliefs help the Nigerian movie industry to result into what we have today.
The Nollywood is divided into various different periods, these periods are: Colonial era, Golden Age, Video film era and the New Nigerian cinema. The colonial era has the first film that was made in Nigeria, 1926's Palaver produced by Geoffrey Barkas.
This has Nigerians to have their first speaking role. It is estimated that by 1954 that mobile vans play to 3.5 million people e at its minimum. Also, that films produced by the Nigerian unit were screened for free by cinemas. After the 1960s, the Nigeria cinema expanded owing its success to theatre practitioners, Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya.
The year 1972 marks the indigenization of the Nigerian cinema through the indigenization decree by Yakubu Gowon which saw the transfer of ownership of film houses and cinemas to Nigerians. The oil boom of 1973 also contributed to the fast growth of the Nigerian cinema.
Papa Ajasco (1984) by Wale Adenuga becomes the first film to become a major blockbuster followed by Mosebolatan of Moses Olaiya.
All these events mark the Golden era of Nollywood.
After the Golden era, Nigerian cinema experienced a major boom in the 1990s and the 2000s. In this era, Nollywood marks the biggest film industry in Africa, and ranks as the second film industry in the world according to its output. Nollywood dominates the African film industry and it also has a large follow up in the Caribbeans. At from the mid-2000s Nigerian movie industry has gone through numerous changes; these changes involve the influx of professionalism and quality improvement of its output.
In terms of Nollywood output, it has come to the point that it is ranked as one of the highest and best grossing movie making industry. Mbamara (2005) asserts that “Nollywood is the name given to the Nigerian film industry and it is the highest grossing movie making industry behind Hollywood and the Indian film industry, Bollywood.” This is due to the fact that the Nigerian population also aided its development.
Finally, one can assert that the movie industry has evolved through major influences by the culture and technological advancement of the society it exists. Also, one can state that Hollywood has been able to hold other movie industry in its whims due to its level of sophistication when it comes to technological advancement, mastery of the craft of storytelling, a higher level in professionalism and its ownership of the craft of selling and marketing it products. One can linked this to what Andrew Dawson (2009) said, he affirms that Hollywood is not only about movies, it is also about production, distribution, audiences and popular culture.
In relation, one can also assert that the other movie industries have also been able to influence the American Hollywood. Nonetheless, it has been pointed out that their impact is minute, rather, the American film industry should be perceived as the world movie industry due to the pace and landmarks it has set for others.
REFERENCES
Abel, Richard, ‘Our country/whose country? The “Americanisation” project of early Westerns’, in Buscombe, Edward, and Pearson, Roberta E., eds., Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western (London: British Film Institute, 1998.
Bi, Y (2012) “For Hollywood, The Medium is a Message.” China Daily, February 28.www.china.org.cn
Branston, G. (2006) Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Branston, G and Stafford, R (2008) The Media Student’s Handbook. New York: Routledge.
Burrowes, D (2011) Hollywood: A National Cinema? bdurrowes-austcin.tumblr.com/post
Cowen, T (2001) “Why Hollywood Rules The World and Whether We Should Care.” In Minerva’s Owl Sources of Creative Global Culture.
Maisuwong, W (2012) “Promotion of American Culture Through Hollywood Movies To The World.” International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology. Vol1 Issue 4
Mbamara, O (2005) Ban on Nigerian movies in Ghana. www.africanevents.com
Powdermaker, H (1950) “Hollywood: The Dream Factory. An Anthropologist Look At The Movie Making.” In The Digital Globalization of Entertainment. New Paradigm in the 21st Century Global Mediascope. New York: Springer
Rampal, P.K (2012) Cultural Imperialism or Economic Neccessity?: The Hollywood Factor in the Reshaping of the Asian Film Industry.
Sigismondi, P (2012) The Digital Globalization of Entertainment. New Paradigm in the 21st Century Global Mediascope. New York: Springer
Weinberg, C.B (2005) “Profits Out Of The Picture: Research Issues And Revenue Sources Beyond The North American Box Office.” In Moul C.C.(Ed.), A Concise Handbook Of Movie Industry Economics. Cambridge: University Press
Walt, S.M (2006) Taming American Power. New York: W W Norton
Oluwole, Taiwo Adebowale.
Here, film performs the function of entertainment and education, by reflecting our society in an audio visual and dramaturgical representation. Nestler Sebastian (2006) describes film as “what comes with the potential of making complex issue easily assessable through images as well. Thus, by reflecting the society, movies advertently, and inadvertently, demonstrates the peculiar characteristics of that culture.
In addition, films, like other texts, do not exist in a vacuum. That is, they are inspired by cultural phenomena, and at the same time, they actively influence the civilisation and development, or growth, of a culture, and its individuals.
Hollywood is the film industry of America and it has much influence on the American culture and sociological development.
Powdermaker (1950) in Sigismondi (2012) describe Hollywood as such: “Hollywood is a unique American phenomenon with a symbolism not limited to this country. It means many things to many people.”
Hollywood has much impact on the rest of the world movies or film industries, this is due to the fact that it tends to relate globally with other cultures and nations. Thus, one can define Hollywood as a “global industry geographically concentrated”, with its entities physically located in Southern California with a truly global reach (Veron 1999). Looking at this definition by Veron, one can assert that the American movie industry has taken the shape of not only being for the American people but it has shaped itself to be the global film industry of the world. One can ask the question “how does this happen?” one can simply answer this question by asserting that Hollywood affects or influences the world through the act of Hollywoodization.
Hollywoodization, a concept introduced by Por Kuldip Rampal is a process whereby Hollywood affects the movie industries in Asia to adopt the production style, dressing, or even imitate the name of Hollywood. A closer look at the movie industries in Africa and South America shows that Hollywoodization has become a global concept not only peculiar to Asia as observed by Rampal. Since Hollywood influences the movie industries around the world, on the other side, Hollywood as well gains the benefits from its Hollywoodization. Hollywood tries to take advantage of its popularity over local audiences and distribute films in many other languages (Maisuwung 2012).
The concept of Hollywoodization has helped Hollywood to influence some of the beliefs of other nation that are consumerist of Hollywood production. Maisuwong (2012) observed that the world audience became consumerist overnight after watching movies, for example, the culture of eating low carb food in American movies caused the popularity of global consumer brands like McDonald’s, KFC, pizza, and so forth. Cowen (2001) corroborated this by saying “despite these powerful universalist forces, the American and national component to Hollywood moviemaking cannot be ignored. Hollywood has always drawn upon the national ethos of the United States for cinematic inspiration.” This is a point where the American dream is being evangelized to the other parts of the world. This in fact has been able to portray and sell the American dream in a very subtle way. Also, it has been able to portray American beliefs in a good image, therefore influencing the culture of other countries. This can be related to the words of Bi (2012), where he stated that “culture, in particular the movies produced by Hollywood, are one of the cornerstones of this endeavour.
A byword for the American dream, Hollywood serves to extol the virtues of the American way of life, promotes major industrial products and builds and reinforces a positive national image.” Bi (2012) stated that “culture, in particular the movies produced by Hollywood, are one of the cornerstones of this endeavour. A byword for the American dream, Hollywood serves to extol the virtues of the American way of life, promotes major industrial products and builds and reinforces a positive national image.” Bi (2012 also asserts that “Hollywood movies seek to build a national image characterized by freedom, equality, prosperity and other positive aspects. Concepts such as “freedom” and “equality” are reinforced through storylines.”
Apart from influencing the culture and beliefs of other countries, it has also come to the point of influencing the economy of other countries film industry. This can be asserted with the words of Blakley (2001), where he captured this perception by saying “modernizing developing countries, rather than creating self-sufficiency, merely fostered dependency within an exploitative system of global economic relations. This dependency was aided by a one-way flow of technology and media hardware coupled with the continuous flow of Western cultural products into poor countries.” This is so because of the sophisticated technology and the level of development that the American society has achieved. Nonetheless, one cannot assert that it is only Hollywood that influences other film industries; rather one can assert it has a very much influence than others. Rodman (2012) observed this when he stated “although movies from around the world continue to influence American filmmakers, their impact pales in comparison with that of Hollywood’s output on the rest of the world.”
One should also ask the question “that apart from the technological advancement that the Americans use, then, what is the other factor, or factors, that aided the Hollywood? According to Branston (2000), he asserts that “it is not domination by American cinema. It is just the magic of storytelling and it unites the world.” The level of professionalism adopted by Hollywood practitioners has been able to help aid the advancement of Hollywood frontiers.
Also, Hollywood has not only been able to master the craft of storytelling but has been able to find means to sell their products. The act of selling their product has been able to give aid also to the Hollywood market. Burrowes (2011) affirms this when he asserts that “they are good at making movies and more importantly, they are really good at selling them.
Hollywood’s success didn’t happen because they were making movies for everyone – it happened because they could convince you that the movie was for you.” This has been one of the quintessence instruments that Hollywood uses in their scope.
Bringing it down to the Nigerian film industry, one can assert that Nollywood, originally the cinema of Nigeria, is dated as far back as 19thcentury having a strong root in the mobile theatre of Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya. One can affirm that “the emergence of the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood is a cultural phenomenon and the Nigerian movies serve as a representation of Nigerian culture.” Mbamara (2005). The development of the Nigerian film industry follows the trend of the Nigerian history. Her culture, values, ideas, traditions and tribes and beliefs help the Nigerian movie industry to result into what we have today.
The Nollywood is divided into various different periods, these periods are: Colonial era, Golden Age, Video film era and the New Nigerian cinema. The colonial era has the first film that was made in Nigeria, 1926's Palaver produced by Geoffrey Barkas.
This has Nigerians to have their first speaking role. It is estimated that by 1954 that mobile vans play to 3.5 million people e at its minimum. Also, that films produced by the Nigerian unit were screened for free by cinemas. After the 1960s, the Nigeria cinema expanded owing its success to theatre practitioners, Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya.
The year 1972 marks the indigenization of the Nigerian cinema through the indigenization decree by Yakubu Gowon which saw the transfer of ownership of film houses and cinemas to Nigerians. The oil boom of 1973 also contributed to the fast growth of the Nigerian cinema.
Papa Ajasco (1984) by Wale Adenuga becomes the first film to become a major blockbuster followed by Mosebolatan of Moses Olaiya.
All these events mark the Golden era of Nollywood.
After the Golden era, Nigerian cinema experienced a major boom in the 1990s and the 2000s. In this era, Nollywood marks the biggest film industry in Africa, and ranks as the second film industry in the world according to its output. Nollywood dominates the African film industry and it also has a large follow up in the Caribbeans. At from the mid-2000s Nigerian movie industry has gone through numerous changes; these changes involve the influx of professionalism and quality improvement of its output.
In terms of Nollywood output, it has come to the point that it is ranked as one of the highest and best grossing movie making industry. Mbamara (2005) asserts that “Nollywood is the name given to the Nigerian film industry and it is the highest grossing movie making industry behind Hollywood and the Indian film industry, Bollywood.” This is due to the fact that the Nigerian population also aided its development.
Finally, one can assert that the movie industry has evolved through major influences by the culture and technological advancement of the society it exists. Also, one can state that Hollywood has been able to hold other movie industry in its whims due to its level of sophistication when it comes to technological advancement, mastery of the craft of storytelling, a higher level in professionalism and its ownership of the craft of selling and marketing it products. One can linked this to what Andrew Dawson (2009) said, he affirms that Hollywood is not only about movies, it is also about production, distribution, audiences and popular culture.
In relation, one can also assert that the other movie industries have also been able to influence the American Hollywood. Nonetheless, it has been pointed out that their impact is minute, rather, the American film industry should be perceived as the world movie industry due to the pace and landmarks it has set for others.
REFERENCES
Abel, Richard, ‘Our country/whose country? The “Americanisation” project of early Westerns’, in Buscombe, Edward, and Pearson, Roberta E., eds., Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western (London: British Film Institute, 1998.
Bi, Y (2012) “For Hollywood, The Medium is a Message.” China Daily, February 28.www.china.org.cn
Branston, G. (2006) Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Branston, G and Stafford, R (2008) The Media Student’s Handbook. New York: Routledge.
Burrowes, D (2011) Hollywood: A National Cinema? bdurrowes-austcin.tumblr.com/post
Cowen, T (2001) “Why Hollywood Rules The World and Whether We Should Care.” In Minerva’s Owl Sources of Creative Global Culture.
Maisuwong, W (2012) “Promotion of American Culture Through Hollywood Movies To The World.” International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology. Vol1 Issue 4
Mbamara, O (2005) Ban on Nigerian movies in Ghana. www.africanevents.com
Powdermaker, H (1950) “Hollywood: The Dream Factory. An Anthropologist Look At The Movie Making.” In The Digital Globalization of Entertainment. New Paradigm in the 21st Century Global Mediascope. New York: Springer
Rampal, P.K (2012) Cultural Imperialism or Economic Neccessity?: The Hollywood Factor in the Reshaping of the Asian Film Industry.
Sigismondi, P (2012) The Digital Globalization of Entertainment. New Paradigm in the 21st Century Global Mediascope. New York: Springer
Weinberg, C.B (2005) “Profits Out Of The Picture: Research Issues And Revenue Sources Beyond The North American Box Office.” In Moul C.C.(Ed.), A Concise Handbook Of Movie Industry Economics. Cambridge: University Press
Walt, S.M (2006) Taming American Power. New York: W W Norton
Oluwole, Taiwo Adebowale.
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