The importance of studying cinema in a global context

• [ Category - Essays ]*

Originally for my film class

The importance of studying cinema in the global context.
Is it possible to decenter Hollywood? What do we gain or lose when we do so?

Thesis

Yes it is possible, just as we've decentered philosophy from math, realism from art, or even knowledge from books, we can decenter Hollywood from film which will be a symbiotic relationship of story.

We gain the ability to Identify with material, not bounded by an invisible veil of the OTHER.

We gain a new appreciation of the arts of other nationalities and benefit Hollywood itself by way of an unbiased look, give foreign nationalities a voice giving them confidence to make more films.

We have to careful in this decentering as it's not a rejection which is actually a recentering.

Examples

Marlina the murderer in four acts

Hollywood to foreign:
Uses aspects of hollywood (the western).
Uses aspects of their own nationality
This is a film about Indonesian feminism to this is a film about feminism.

Black Girl

Foriegn to hollywood:
This is an African film of struggle to this is a film about African struggle to
This is a film about struggle.

Conclusion

Film needs to abstracted properly in order for film-goers to better identify, expand and enjoy film. Moreover, filmmakers work better when they see films from everyone.