Film

I served my mission in Peru and found it to be a culturally enriching experience. Like many third-world countries, piracy of movies is very common. Due to this, the majority of people have extensive collections of a variety of movies and very much enjoy viewing them as we do. I love watching and discussing movies with people in order to understand what they learned or thought of it so it comes as no surprise that I would want to do this with the people I met in Peru. What I found was somewhat surprising to me at the time. Many people thought that what they saw in the movies produced in America is really how life is here. Many would ask if I had ever been to Los Angeles to which I would reply that I had; they would then proceed to tell me that Los Angeles is very dangerous and that every person that lived there was a gang member and had guns and would rob everyone and that the police had no control at all. I had to laugh when they would tell me this because I knew that it is not really like that. They would tell me that that is what they have seen in the movies where Los Angeles is featured. We also have preconceptions about how the world is outside of the U.S. based on what we have seen on the silver screen.

Now that I am back in the United States and continuing in my studies and interest in film and the media arts, I have come to some interesting conclusions about how they affect not only us in the U.S. but the rest of the world also. Some would argue that the film industry needs to be more politically correct and present more balanced and honest views of the world. By so doing, this could help the United States be seen as less “culturally imperialistic” and overbearing. On the other hand, many would say that this would take away from the creative voice of those involved in the production of the film and thus limit the very essence of it. Film exists as a means to tell a story or call attention to a subject. A film, in itself, is not going to change the world. It can however cause and individual to change his or her perception of the world and cause a change within them but this change comes from personal choice, not because one is forced to. My own view is filmmakers should be respectful to not grossly misrepresent something but at the same time not change their own ideals to appease the world. I recognize that films can cause exaggerated perceptions of reality, but I maintain that it is the responsibility of the audience to reach their own conclusions.

Around the world, there are thousands of movies made every year. The number of produced movies in the western world (US, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Europe include Russian Federation) for the year 2007 was around 2500 with 453 of those being made in the United States. The number of produced movies in former third world (rest of Asia, Mexico and South America, Africa) is comparable in 2007 with around 2400, 1164 made in India (WikiAnswers). It is apparent that world movie production is not entirely concentrated in Hollywood. In fact, the majority of films produced annually are from Asia. India alone produces an average of 800-900 commercial films annually while the U.S. has an average of 250 annually. Tyler Cowen, author of the article “Why Hollywood Rules the World (and Should We Care?)” explains that “The United States has at least one natural advantage in moviemaking—the largest single home market for cinema in dollar terms.” And also that “Total attendance but not revenue is higher in India.” This suggests that our culture is one dominated by moviegoers, a fact confirmed when compared to movie going trends of Western Europe in 2001.
UNITED STATES vs. WESTERN EUROPE
Population
272 million vs. 366 million
Cinema tickets sold
1.48 billion vs. 805 million
Number of screens
37,165 vs. 23,168
Frequency of film-viewing
5.37 times a year vs. 2.2 times a year
Inhabitants per screen
7,334 vs. 15,821
(Cowen)

I still have more to do on this third paragraph, but I would like to have some feedback on it before I continue so I can see if I am headed in the right direction.