Cultural Imperialism In Hollywood

Throughout the history of motion pictures and Hollywood, there have been many revolutionary changes, transformations, and shifts within the industry in order to keep with the times, stay relevant among the competition, and keep it’s national and international audiences both continually interested and captivated by Hollywood and it’s films in an ongoing effort to generate huge amounts of profit. Within the last 20 years specifically, Hollywood has made a focused effort to reproduce, or remake foreign films that they see as opportunity for large financial success back in the United States. In order for Hollywood to remain a powerful force in the film industry and continue to generate huge revenue both at home and abroad, it must continue in

When discussing both Hollywood remakes as well as globalization, the topic of cultural imperialism comes up. It is first important to understand what exactly cultural imperialism is, according to the Oxford Dictonary, cultural imperialism is “The extension of the influence or dominance of one nation's culture over others, now usually through the exportation of cultural commodities such as film, music, etc.” (Cultural Imperialism). The controversy with this comes about as many people believe Hollywood is encroaching on others cultures in the process of producing their remakes and interpretations of other cultures. One author writes that Hollywood is gutting remakes of European films, “Hollywood persists in remaking ‘foreign’ movies because of their sophistication, worldliness and finesse – then gutting them of it” (Smith Please: No More). Although this is a valid opinion and one that is shared by a significant group of people, one can also argue that Hollywood remakes are not attempting to be exact replicas of their foreign counterparts, but instead, adapted films from their foreign counterparts to fit with the local culture. As producer Roy Lee states, “When something is adapted, it’s different than when there are characters written with a specific race that are being changed” (Tseng For Some in Hollywood). Ultimately, the positive aspects of globalization and Hollywood remake culture far outweigh the perceived negatives seen by some