Cultural Imperialism

[Nathan Newman]

Carl and Joanna illustrate my point- progressive cultural critiques
invariably evoke the names of singular "auteurs" against the faceless
"conspicuous consumption" of Hollywood.  There is a strident artistic
individualism in this critique that ignores the skill, however craft rather
than artisticly oriented, that exists in the better Hollywood films.  One
reason I think Cameron deserved the producers award for Titanic (even as
the film rightly failed to get the acting awards) is that he was recognized
as a grand manager of all the work that was needed to create the spectacle
of the film.   That was a not a singular artistic vision but the mass
production of a host of parts to be put together in the whole.   People may
not like it -- although obviously a hell of a lot of other people did - but
the skill involved was tremendous.

Returning to the issue of cultural imperialism, it is sort of silly to
compare Titanic to Satyajit Ray, since the latter is hardly the epitome of
Indian culture.  To compare popular culture in the US to the best of high
culture in another country is one of the tropes of this cross-cultural
criticism that really makes the debate kinda silly.

I saw one British actress commenting that Americans have an unrealisticly
high opinion of British TV, since only the best shows get exported to the
US.  To make any reasonable comparison, you have to compare apples to
apples, polkas to Top 40 music, dreary religious propaganda to Hollywood
films, and so on.

Coke may not be better than the authentic fruit ambrosia quaffed by the
royal family of a particular culture, but that's not what you compare it
to.  Same with Hollywood.

Nathan Newman

At 01:28 PM 11/15/2001 -0500, Nathan wrote:
> >One thing many leftist cultural critique folks ignore is the appeal of
> >craftmanship (and craftwomanship) that make Hollywood movies and
> >entertainment so appealing.   Part of the advantage Hollywood has is the
> >sheer dollars spent on US movies, which allows the employment of folks
who
> >can do a particular skill (make scene lighted just so, make shit blow up
so
> >cool, etc.).

Carl replied
>Opinions may vary as to whether making shit blow up so cool is a worthy
>contribution to world culture.  But when I think of craftsmanship (since
>we're on the subject on French cinema), I'm more inclined to think of,
say,
>the obsessive dedication and meticulous skills of Jacques Tati, who spent
>years on his final masterpiece, Playtime, and went broke in the process.

and joanna said

-Yes, a hotel owner in Spain some years ago expounded on the great
-"production values" of Hollywood movies. At the time "Look Who's Talking
3"
-and some American shoot-em ups were playing in town.  About craftsmanship
I
-don't know. I suspect what people like about American movies is the
display
-of conspicuous consumption in the making of the movie and in the movie
-itself. There's such Dionysiac waste in it; makes you feel like the
-universe overflows with wealth. A reason for optimism perhaps.

-As for quality? I would exchange the entire Hollywood production of the
-last twenty years for ONE movie by Satyajit Ray or Ghose.
Joanna B.