"Hollywood is becoming Asianised in diverse ways, while Asian film industries are in turn becoming Hollywoodised." (Klein, 2004, pg. 61)
This was written over 9 years ago in the time of The Matrix, Blade, Rush Hour, Kung Pow, Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the list goes on! All of these films were becoming hits in Hollywood either being converted for western audiences (The Departed) or involving Asian film conventions (The Matrix). Klein noted (pg. 361) that Hollywood was gobbling up the global market share of the film world, though he continued to explain (pg. 362) that Hollywood and Asian film industries were becoming 'knitted' together via a number of factors for a global audience. Why this was happening though, especially with Asian films at the time Klein tried to explain. In 2004, apparently a number of factors helped the rise as interest in the culture rose and participation of martial arts increased (pg. 361).Obviously there would be more to it, but it was undeniable after years of Hollywood domination in Asia and over the world, finally a market (the asian market) was putting its stamp all over tinsel town.
We fast forward to 2013 to see what has happened in the time since the Asianisation took place.
It seems Asianisation was short lived and the Jungian archetype of the ‘Hero’ has taken over. Films like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, The Avengers and more have taken over Hollywood and have become money making machines. According to Box Office Mojo (2013), out of the top 15 grossing films of all time 5 have been superhero films. These superhero films have started to take over since 2008 when The Dark Knight stunned audiences on the cinematic quality that Christopher Nolan brought out in Batman. We no longer see Asian culture and conventions portrayed in Hollywood as a new fad has come in a pushed it out of the picture. It could be argued though that the popularity of martial arts helped inspire the new generation of superhero films to prosper. Even though Asianisation may be over for now, it still lives on in glimpses throughout the ‘Superheroisation’ of Hollywood.
It seems Asianisation was short lived and the Jungian archetype of the ‘Hero’ has taken over. Films like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, The Avengers and more have taken over Hollywood and have become money making machines. According to Box Office Mojo (2013), out of the top 15 grossing films of all time 5 have been superhero films. These superhero films have started to take over since 2008 when The Dark Knight stunned audiences on the cinematic quality that Christopher Nolan brought out in Batman. We no longer see Asian culture and conventions portrayed in Hollywood as a new fad has come in a pushed it out of the picture. It could be argued though that the popularity of martial arts helped inspire the new generation of superhero films to prosper. Even though Asianisation may be over for now, it still lives on in glimpses throughout the ‘Superheroisation’ of Hollywood.
References
2013, 'All Time Box Office', Box Office Mojo, retrieved 26 September, <http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/>
Klein, C 2004, 'Martial arts and the globalization of US and Asian film industries', Comparative American Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384
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