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.