Tearing the Typical Hollywood Formula

Hollywood films used to follow the exact same formula in nearly every movie, it follows a ridiculous and overdone plot where the protagonist is a handsome male, who defeats the bad guy and gets the beautiful girl, rinse and repeat. However in the last few years Hollywood films have started to become as Klein (2004) will describe it Asianized and stated to drift apart from this cliché Hollywood formula, while Asian films on the other hand have started to become Hollywoodized.

 

A great example of how Hollywood films have become Asianized can be seen in the block buster hit The Departed. This film is a crime thriller and remake of a Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, It provided a fresh story, deep characters and didn’t end up with the protagonist getting the girl or having a typical happy ending. The Departed was regarded at the time as a masterpiece and won countless awards including an Oscar for best picture and as Klein put it an “Asianization of Hollywood”. This film to me represents the degree of change we all want from current films. As Kleins stated “a partial erosion of the boundaries that once separated Hollywood from local Asian film industries, and a consequent intertwining of industries, and a consequent intertwining of industries on both sides of the pacific” (Klein 2004, p. 361) 

 

Asian films have also become Hollywoodized in many of the recent films, ranging from films such as Pacific Rim to even Godzilla, Hollywood has had a huge impact of the Asian cinema culture, which is both a good and bad thing. The Pros for Hollywoodization is that Asian films are getting much more attention from around the world and this results in higher budgets and more movies from many different Asian regions. However the Cons to the Hoolywoodized Asian films are that it too is also starting to mimic the Hollywood formula of happy endings and explosions. 

In my opinion, both western and Asian cultures are helping each other create a unique perspective on cinema, and are starting to tear the classic Hollywood formula of happy endings and replacing them with meaningful movies such as the Departed. Overall Klein’s prediction of the morphing of Hollywood and Asian films is still evident to this day, and will probably continue to grow in the coming future.

References:

Image 1: http://richkleber.com/family/rich/moviereviews/moviereviews/movieimages/thedeparted.jpg

Image 2: http://monstermoviekid.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/kk-g-3.jpg
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmscqtJLk1Y

Link 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Departed

Klein, C 2004, 'Martial arts and the globalisation of US and Asian film industries', Comparative American Studies, SAGE Publications, London, p.360.

How Celebrities Have Changed And The Specular Economy

Celebrities are people who are probably just like us, there is probably nothing too special about them and they act and think in similar ways just like us, however our current society has put them into a category as special or deemed them as role models who people everyday want to look, think and act just like. As Marshall stated celebrities have ‘developed into a particularly powerful and pervasive trope for contemporary culture' (2013 p.1). Global celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black have shaped the way people act and behave and sadly usually serve as a bad role model for people everywhere.

The term “celebrity” has changed over the last years, celebrities used to be people that mattered, people who were leaders or people who made a real difference to the world. But lately the term ‘celebrity’ can be literally given to anyone who owns a YouTube account or ‘accidently’ leaks a sex tape (I really hate you Kardashians). This is all due to the rise in social media, where anyone who is entertaining on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube can become one of the most known people in the world. For example the Global celebrity Rebecca Black is an individual who clearly has no talent or has anything to truly say, however she made one horribly laughable music video that was so bad became a worldwide hit. Now Rebecca Black is (I can’t believe I am saying this) one of the world most successful singers with more than 167 million views on her hit song Friday.

Thanks to Global Celebrities people are doing everything they can to be just like them, people buy cloth that celebrities wear, people dress like celebrities and even try to act like celebrities. Marshall (2010) suggests the specual culture is spreading with the rise in technology and that “we are becoming more conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us (Marshall 2010, p. 499).” Due to this we are acting more and more like someone we are not (e.g. Global celebrities) and I personally think it is important to maintain who we are and not who we can be.

 

On the topic of who celebrities should be, I consider the man in the picture above. Do you know this man? No didn’t think so. This man is David Justino who is currently being called a hero who helped saved a young tourist women’s life after she was hit by a taxi and lost both of her legs. People like him are what I personally think should be celebrities of this world, the only reason no one knows about this man is because global celebrities like Miley Cyrus taking advantage of the media by posting videos of her twerking has overshadowed people who really matter.

 

With Globalization and the power of social media, literally anyone can become a celebrity, while people who are probably more worthy of the title are overshadowed by not so talented global celebrities who take advantage of the media.

References: 

Link 1: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/09/25/13/53/hero-claims-he-was-fired-for-saving-woman

Image 1: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1432607!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/plumber22n-4-web.jpg

Image 2: http://www.worthashare.com/assets/miley-cyrus-twerking.jpeg

Marshall, D, (2010). ‘The Specular Economy.’ Society, 47, 6, pp. 498 – 502, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 31 August 201

Marshall, P. David, 2013. Persona Studies:Mapping the Proliferation of the public self. Sage Publications,  pp 2-18.

Media Cultures

Gaming has become a large part of society nowadays, with everyone ranging from young boys to older girls seemingly interacting in gaming with one and other. This “gaming” includes hardcore gamers who play multiplayer shooters, to casual gamers who play candy crush on Iphones on the way home. It also provides gamers with almost never ending content in the world as Raessens describes, computer games can easily be “modified, copied and distributed without the loss of quality” (2005, p. 374).

 

This week’s readings of Joost Raessens give an interesting insight on gaming and how it has and will continue to affect the media. He stated that the “young mass audience" (Raessens, 2005) will explore the notion of multimidality, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity through gaming. A recent example on how far gaming has affected are culture is on the topic of the new game GTA V, where gaming has become so popular that a recent game has reached $1 billion income in 3 days, breaking the all time record for profit in all areas of media. This is one of many examples of how gaming has impacted our lives, and clearly will continue to affect the world around us.

I consider myself  a casual gamer, someone who plays video games once and a while (on my phone when on a bus or tram), and I think many video games are an art and a form of escapism from reality. I use video games to escape from my problems and they provide me with “a window back into our world.” (McCloud 2005). While gaming can provide social interaction with other people, it is important that it does not serve as a replacement for communication.

It is worth noting the different range of media forms that have developed in this current media culture, and although I do not see myself as a hardcore gamer, I do think that I unconsciously follow the range of aspects of this current culture. Thanks to the current era I interact, develop and express a portion of my ideas online, and due to the enhancement of globalisation and the internet, the power of media cultures will only grow stronger every day.

Reference List:

Link: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/9/23/technology/gta-v-sales-speed-past-1-billion-three-days

Image 1: https://dov5cor25da49.cloudfront.net/products/921/636x460design_01.jpg

Image 2: http://scienceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/video-games-reality.jpg

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR8p2lkuq14

Raessens, J 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of computer game studies 2005, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388 

McCloud, S 2005, Scott McCloud: The visual magic of comics, TED.com, http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html

Blogosphere

Thanks to rise in technology, blogging has become a popular trend where anyone can connect to one another, share their lives and ideas to anyone and everyone. While blogging can give the power to people to express themselves to the world, the workplace blogosphere can be a vital problem in relation to the employer employee relationship. 

Recently the internet has seemingly given the power and opportunity to state negative information about their organisation. As Richards states blogosphere has become “a space that has become increasingly associated with employees expressing a wide range of views and opinions related to corporate culture initiatives” (2013, p.67). This can greatly disrupt the workflow of the company, as Richards has stated it gives other workers doubt about the company and can overshadow the problems the company is facing.

 

While Blogosphere has given individuals the power to vent and negatively comment on their workplace, it has also given them a place for the organization to receive and give advice to create a better outcome for both the employee and the employer. As Richards’s states “work blogging forums have moved on from being sites for explicit cynical attacks on employers to more settled and organised vocal movements.” 

 I personally think that while too much negative feedback can hurt any organization, it can be a good starting point for the organization to hear what the problems are and overcome it together, which in turn makes the organization much stronger and employee friendly.

 

In conclusion, as a student I find blogging a useful means of expressing myself to the world, but when it comes to people expressing themselves about the workplace it becomes a touchy topic, where too much negative comments can hurt and jeopardize both the employee and employer. However with the right amount of feedback it can actually help the organization grow stronger and in that instance it can be considered that blogosphere should be supported and not looked down on.

Reference List:

Image 1: http://www.nolandgrab.org/images/Blogosphere86.gif 

image 2:http://mssinglemama.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/iwantyou.jpg

Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.