Cultural Imperialism or Fear and Xenophobia?

It's not just Asian cinema that's getting eaten up by America, we've had that problem for decades here in Canada. We've lost whatever bit of Canadian culture we had to America, including TV, films, and music. I agree with Jackie Chan, culture should be protected.

While I agree that too many cultural imports are a bad thing, and I have personally seen the damage done to my own country since US troops set up shop there after WWII and opened up our doors to Hollywood and US pop culture (US mores are a lot more liberal than our own, and their values are more selfish, which has had a predictably nasty impact on our younger generation), but people need to be careful how they express these feeling.

I largely agree with the hub of Chan's argument, but I think that the way he put it was not the best way.

If say that you want to throw out foreign culture from your own country or at least reduce its influence you risk you sounding like a xenophobe or some kind of Asian power fanatic, and you risk creating a monster like 'hating the Korean wave' (a right wing movement set up behind a rascist comic book that wants to kill Korean cultural influences in Japan).

I am however convinced that US copanies are purpousfully stiffling Asian culture in the US, particularly because they rebrand so much of it to ake it white or almost white, and because they market only a few elements of it and do so as if were a minority interest. They don't even market Asia culture to Asians in the US. You have to go to a specialist importer, or to a China town to get Chinese music or videos, and most of the Japanese products on sale have either been rebranded or are from bands like amiyumi. Korean stuff is even harder to get hold of.

You will have to excuse my ignorance, but is Canadian culture all that different from US culture? I have some family who used to work in Canada (twenty gueses where) but I've never been there and I've only met about three Canadians in my life.

No offence, but I'd always thought of Canada as being a pacafistic version of America, but without the hand guns and the agressive foreign policy.

I do like Lisa Lougheed and Celine Dion though. They are probably two of my favourite foriegn singers and Ain't No Planes is one of my all time favorite English songs.

I was under the impression that Canadian law said that about half of all TV broadcasts in Canada had to be of Canadian origin.

There are government regulations, such as the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission) which does have some barriers on American TV and Radio, such as there has to be a certain amount of Canadian content in the media, but I only wish it was as high as 50%. Theatres have no such restrictions, and show solely American movies. There is very little funding for Canadian movies or TV shows, and the only way an actor or musician can make big money is "going south" and buying into the American media.

Canadians do get confused for Americans, and a lot of our culture HAS been erroded. But we have some small things, a lot of it iS that we don't keep guns, we've got socialized healthcare, we don't want war, and we've got good (ice) hockey.

But, we are hypocrites, we moan and complain about how awful the States is, how we can't stand them, but then we just go out to Starbucks and then go watch American TV. It is an actual effort to keep Canadian things alive, so we survive through small things. Part of the Americanization of Canada is that we've accepted it with open arms. Even if we tried, we're so saturated with the United States, we can't go back. They've conquered us.

Mr Chan is essentially right in that not all nations and cultures need to be alike. There is the real possibility for many countries to over time, become seduced by western culture, at the expense of all the things that make them unique. There is bound to be some areas of interest that overlap as we are all humans and are attracted to many of the same things. But it is very important to retain the flavours of one's own culture while being able to relate to and incorporate ideas from others.

Perhaps Mr Chan is also referring to the fact that Hollywood has essentially dried up artistically. Fear of investing into original ideas has made the industry stagnant and uninteresting. And rather than go down that same road, he feels China should not fall victim to the lowest common denominator by sacrificing quality and originality in favour of producing hollow movies which make a lot of money, but fail to offer any substance.

Mr Chan is an intelligent man who has experienced working in both industries and therefore has a perspective unique to but a very few, so his ideas are certainly worth considering. I wouldn't say he is being anti-American at all. To criticise certain aspects is not a complete daming of America or western civilisation. It is very important to acknowledge the difference.

I'm going to agree with Feckinedjit, although unfortunately in this day and age, America is so touchy that the slightest criticism makes them burst into peals of "America-bashing!".

Lady Cooper:

"But, we are hypocrites, we moan and complain about how awful the States is, how we can't stand them, but then we just go out to Starbucks and then go watch American TV. It is an actual effort to keep Canadian things alive, so we survive through small things. Part of the Americanization of Canada is that we've accepted it with open arms. Even if we tried, we're so saturated with the United States, we can't go back. They've conquered us."

It was the same way with my country. After WWII their soldiers brought a lot of new things with them and a lot of that were rationed or unavailable in my country. We took these things in willingly and other things like Hollywood and American music followed.

By the 80s we were swamped and couldn't shut the gates, and people who coplained were called racists and nationalist.

It has gotten so bad now that a lot of us have started to think like them too. Things like the US copensation culture, solving things with violence and about a billion types of nasty youth counter culture have spread to us from the US. We never had them before and we have them now.

Worse still, before people lived 'for the greater good' now people, especially the younger generation, think that the world owes them and should adapt to accomedate them.

I heard that in France, they were trying to rid the airwaaves of Ameircan slang, and that they also had quotas on foreign lanugage music on the radio (all foreign languages, not just English).

I suppose that we are fortunate enough to be further away from the Us and to be substantially more different form them than youdo have a large domestic film industry, but we have too many US movies on and while we buy their products, they almost never buy our products, and the ones that they do buy are sometimes altered to suit American tastes, or they buy the idea and make their own domestic version.

Still, it's not all bad. I am adicted to Law and Order SVU, it's one of my favorite English language shows, and there is a good Chinese dub of CSI. Though my Mandarin isn't always up to the job of understanding it all as I'm a learner rather than a native speaker.

Same views here. I'm just not eliquent enough to put them in writting without being accused of being anti-American.

"America is so touchy..."

Yeah, I've noticed that too.

Ameirca has a "Them and US" mentality. If you disagree with them on one thing you jump right into the "Them" catagory and they turn on you.

A while back, I disagreed with an American over something small and they turned round and accussed my of being jelous of the US and,in so many words, said that I didn't like the US because it had more freedom than we did. Which is bull, since the only freedoms that the US has that we don't are the right to bear arms and the right to launch a pre-emptive military strike.

It was like this during the cold war too, if you were socialist, they practially accused you of being communist and of trying to bring down their society.

I'd better just iterate here that I am NOT anti-Ameircan. I can accept that it has its strength and that it has done a lot of good in the world.

I have American friends and I don't hate America.

I just don't like its ultra forward culture and agressive sence self interest (I also don't like its religious right, its use of military force, and its hand guns, but those are side issues).

As an American, I feel the need to join this conversation.

In spirit, I agree with Mr. Chan's statements, but the finger of blame must not only be pointed at the US, but also at China itself. While living in China I was constantly surprised at the fact that most people I met knew more about American pop-culture-entertainment than I did. The Chinese, especially young people, are readily embracing foreign media to the detriment of the continuing development of their own.

Does it have to be a clear typology of cultural imperialism vs. xenophobia? How can the ready acceptance of American media in China (different from the Japanese/Occupation government case) be accounted for?

Chen Long's statements are not about xenophobia, but about cultural preservation.

America is so touchy -- that's why Bush said you are either with us or against us! So you better embrace American culture/values or your country will be invaded!

_Here in Toronto, Canada, we have a very close relationship with multiple US film productions taking place right here. But, we also maintain a long standing love-hate overall cultural bias with our strong neighbouring country.

_However, recent (2004-2001) Hong Kong originated movies are also being broadcasted every Saturday night, for example, on a local multi-cultural television station. Mostly, these are light hearted films blending comedy with drama. _Int'l star, Jackie Chan continues his support of causes (such as blood donation promotion) here as well.

Beth

"How can the ready acceptance of American media in China be accounted for?"

In a lot of cases, people see American media as being exoting, new, or different, and they race after it. On its own this isn't bad as it creates a more diverse market and more consumer choice. But there are three problems

1) Some people just don't know when to stop. They take on foreign epitaphs because they see them as bein gexotic or as being a form of rebelion, bu they go too far and too fast.

2) US mores and ideas are often more liberal than those in other countries, in the US you see this as being good, but in the rest of the world we find them to be undesirable.

3) US companies are hegamonistic in nature (as are most mega corperations) they use bulk distribution deals and their domonant market positions to make it hard for domestic interests to grow after US interests have entered the market, and they lock regions into distribution cycles.

Are we to begin taking this fool Chan seriously? It seems in his quest to become a permanent member of China's Politbureau or NPC Standing Committee, he's managed to stick his head up the collective asses of China's leadership so far that it's affected his "inner monologue".

Remember, this is the same guy that stuck up for the Beijing hacks by speaking out against Taiwan democracy and freedom by mocking the people of that island!

It's quite obvious that in his twilight years, this "ACTOR" with limited primary education and tons of cash (thanks to Hollywood), has started taking himself much too seriously (a la Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, etc.).

Trust me, if Chinese companies were advanced enough and could influence world opinion/thinking/culture, they wouldn't hesitate one nanosecond. In some ways they've managed that domestically (Meng Niu Supergirl Singing contest) but their sophistication levels are much too low at this point to challenge the west.

If Chan thinks he's speaking on behalf of the collective population of the Chinese of the world, then he's a sad little example of how Chinese are always stigmatized by an inferiority complex that allows others to make them feel like a second class people.

Hunxue'er:

Srong words

Chan's family moved overseas when he was 6 years old, and like many overseas Chinese he was probably raised in what I would call 'the old ways' (the pre CR Chinese styles), making him more 'Chinese' than actual mainland Chinese.

He probably feels the need to adhear more strongly to what he sees as being Chinese traditions than a lot of mainlanders do and to be more defensive about his culture (I know that some of my relitives who were raised overseas are more traditional than my relitives who were not).

"if Chinese companies were advanced enough and could influence world opinion/thinking/culture, they wouldn't hesitate one nanosecond."

This is true to a point, BUT US companies are trying to keep Asian influences out of the US while demanding open access to foreign markets.

Observe other countries with advanced media industries. They have strong local and regional holds, but almost NO penetration into the US because of protectionism and the relegation of Asian products to 'special interest' catagories and the expectation that foreign products should be adapted to US sensibilities to make them more white.

Look at Japanese companies like Sony, they are powerful world players but most of their US penetration has been with US and other English language/white culture productions. If you want to buy Japanese music in the US you often have to buy it directly from Japan or from a specialist importer. Sony US doens't even market to Japanese-Americans.

Even the Hong Kong film and music industry, which is pretty powerful and advanced has minimal US penetration. You can buy a few canto-pop songs and some martial arts shows, but that is about it.

Korean telivision is quite advanced and powerful, yet you don't see Korean soaps (which are HUGE) in Asia on US TV.

Even programs from other English speaking countries are rare in Ameirca. PBS shows a few British comodies and there are some Canadian children cartoons like 'what about mimi?' and a few companies like mainframe, but little else on US TV is not prodced in the US.

"If Chan thinks he's speaking on behalf of the collective population"

While Chan may not be speaking for the entire Chinese population, I think that he is speaking for the older generation. It's exactly the same in my country, the younger generation are for US culture and the older generation are against it.

"I compare it to the same sort of thing that causes individuals who lack confidence to overstate their own achivements." I find that applies to China as well. I agree that corporations are a pain. But is "Jackie" talking about corporations? Maybe he shouldn't use a western name to promote his movies in the west. Is it his real name? Human nature is human nature. Does he think that the bad habits of the youth are really coming from the West? Why do Chinese (if I can call him that??) always seem to blame "bad things" on the west? "Asians should unite against American cinema." He is an aging martial arts actor so he has to say something to get attention. Some of his movies are entertaining but they are mostly cut from the same cloth. Talk about artistically "dried up". Whenever a Chinese director makes an interesting (realistic) movie it is banned in China. Maybe he (Jackie) should address that! He is just trying to make friends in China by making these statements. China is open to this "erosion" because their culture was ripped from them. They need more than Chinese characteristcs in the movies to bring that back. Do Japanese and Korean actors talk about this?

Bert

Just a few quick answers.

"Maybe he shouldn't use a western name to promote his movies in the west. Is it his real name?" Jackie Chan was given a western name by westeners and he kept it when dealing with America because in the days when he started US audiences weren't responsive to actors whose names that couldn't pronounce. This is true to a measure even now and characters names in films and cartoons are commonly changed to westernize them.

"Why do Chinese (if I can call him that??) always seem to blame "bad things" on the west?"

Frankly, most Asian cultures in the region are partically decended from Chinese culture or were influenced heavily by it. 'Bad things' come from the west because most other influences in China are so similar to Chinese culture that you can't pin them down as being foreign.

"Whenever a Chinese director makes an interesting (realistic) movie it is banned in China. Maybe he (Jackie) should address that!"

And maybe he should throw his chances of getting another acting gig in China down the toilet while he's at it.

" Do Japanese and Korean actors talk about this?" Not just the actors, but the population at large, and not just with the west.

Koreans regularly complain about American culture being too common in Korea, as do Japanese. The French complain about the destruction of french cinema and music because of English language movies and music comming into the country (not just Ameircan Music, but all English language music). Most arab countries complain constantly about 'lax western mores' being brought in through western music and films when they really mean that they are upeset about an American film. Canadian and British complain that there are too many American TV shows on, and recently some nasty little NAZI in Japan wrote a comic book called 'hating the Korean Wave' that was a thinely vailed attack against Korean culture in Japan.

Admitedly, most of the people who are complaining are complaining about the US, but I think that this is because the US seeks to export its culture far more than other nations do, and because and its companies are very good at entering other markets while protecting their own.

When you have the budget that the US media industry has, it's childsplay to set up western music and video stores overseas and to tie theatres down to contracts to show US movies 24 7.

Still, America couldn't sell if nobody was buying.

To me it seems a sign of weakness when something like movies is called "imperialistic" I lived all of my life in western europe and have viewed more US movies then european. I am aware of the difference between these two categories. And I also appreciate some asian movies.

And I think that Bruce Lee did more for karate in the west than anything(one) else. Did Europe complain about cultural imperialism from asia? I think almost everyone in the west saw this as an enrichment. Because they knew that their own culture is strong enough and not in danger by this new phenomena from Asia

henk:

To me it seems a sign of weakness when something like movies is called "imperialistic".

I don't think that the movie is being called imperialistic, it is the attitude that is being used to push the movie.

"Did Europe complain about cultural imperialism from asia?"

No, for the simple reason that Asian movies are NOT displacing western movies. In Asia, western movies and music ARE displacing domestic movies and muisic.

I lived in Northern Europe for quite some time, I don't know i it is the same as in Western Europe, but in countries like France and Britain where I have stayed, there were rarely ANY Asian movies.

In fact, apart from a few Chinese Kung Fu movies and a few Anime which had been rebranded to suit western tastes, there was almost nothing Asian at all outside a specialist video supplier.

I also never once even saw any of the top name Chinese, Japanese or Korean band's CDs in any non specialist shop.

Yet I can walk into any good Chinese or Japanese music or video stores and buy the latest Hollywood releases and big name western band's CDs.

Everybody in China know who the Backsreet Boys are, but how many whites know who Jay Chou is?

Imagine how you would feel if you woke up one day and found that all of the films on at your local theatre were French or German, or that there was an influx of foreign movies that showed something that you didn't like, for example abortion or homosexuality, in a positive light. Or which promoted French democracy over US democracy.

Then imagine how you would feel if you found out that, because your local theatre was tied into a distribution deal, it would only be showing these movies, and not your domestic movies, for most of the day.

Some of these imaginations/observations are just a fact in small westeuropean countries. Movie theatres do show more foreign movies than domestic ones. But "western europe" is not a single country nor a single culture. There are many different languages. Its like a small ship on a rough sea, waves are throwing the ship back and forth, but the cultural energy and power of the inhabitants are strong enough to steer their ship in the direction they choose. It is part of the culture to discuss that direction, and that may be part of its internal power.

This is only true to a point, and is completely lacking in countries like BritainI have to ask you, why is it that most European and Asian films and music never make it to America, no matter how popular they are in their native countries?

And why is it that when foreign films are sold in the US they are often rebranded to make the more white or more American. This isn't a recent trend, it is an on going thing.

For example, when Gojira (Japanese monster movie) was released in the US, they completely removed the anti-nuclear message and changed the character of a Russian Navey officer who was trying to prevent a nuclear war to make him be the one who wanted to start the nuclear war.

My answer, protectionism.

I've also noticed that many US companies only release English language music. In Europe, you can by French music in Germany and German music in France, even though these two countries have been at loggerheads for centuries. Yet you can't openly buy German music in America even though a huge percentage of Americans are of German decent, or French music even though America is right next to Canada, a bilingual country that speaks both Engish and French.

Hi. I'm american, and I dislike most mainstream american culture. I also dislike its effect on the world. But to blame american is a bit absurd. I agree that american companies should be exposed if they are doing what Mr. Chan says and shamed into stopping, and I also think that Americans DO need to take it on the chin when people winge about American cultural aggressiveness. But that being said, supply IS linked with demand, and even if everything in the market were being done fairly (which it may not be) I still think the States would tend to influence other nations with its cultural exports, and that is due to the CHOICE of those people in the other nations. In this regard, the only way to stop its influence is not protectionism, but showing the value, at childhood, teenage years etc. of traditional culture and how it is worth taking-part in and pursuing. If you can't do this without protectionism then you aren't much better than the CCP, in my opinion. You don't want to brain-wash people in a response to what is perceived as American brainwashing.

"supply IS linked with demand, and even if everything in the market were being done fairly (which it may not be) I still think the States would tend to influence other nations with its cultural exports"

My point is that I don't think that things are being done fairly, and that I believe that Hollywood and co are using their large budgets (which they gained fairly in domestic markets) and agressive tactics to 'muscle in' on foreign markets.

"If you can't do this without protectionism then you aren't much better than the CCP, in my opinion."

Right now, I feel that US companies are engaging in a form of protectionism by only releasing limited foreign films in the US, and by promoting them as being 'special interest' films that go straight to DVD.

Why is it that most large British films never make it to a national release in the US, only to a few selected theatres? or that Asian films, even ones that imitate Hollywood, don't get a look in at the mainstrea market?

ACB, I agree with what you're saying, but you've changed the subject, to why it is that the US market is hard to penetrate. More to my point is your saying that Hollywood is using aggressive tactics. If they're unfair and verging on illegal, then, as I said, the companies deserved to be shamed a bit with negative publicity. I'm pretty much in agreement with you, I just think that even if things were done totally fairly, Americans still wouldn't watch too many foreign films and everyone else in the world will still be buying US films. Maybe not as many but still, more than Chan probably wants to admit. Demand is high.

Please enlighten me, what exactly is this Chinese culture that Jackie Chan wants to preserve?

Adam: <i>Please enlighten me, what exactly is this Chinese culture that Jackie Chan wants to preserve?</i>

Adam has put his finger on it. The only thing that is Chinese about Jackie Chan's movies is perhaps the G-rated sensibility and the language. The narrative style is Western, the values are Western*, the soundtrack is Western and the shooting techniques are certainly Western. Put his movies along side Shakespeare and traditional Chinese opera, and it should become immediately obvious that they resemble Shakespeare in the way that the stories are laid out than Chinese opera.

ACB: "Right now, I feel that US companies are engaging in a form of protectionism by only releasing limited foreign films in the US, and by promoting them as being 'special interest' films that go straight to DVD."

Movie theater operators in the US are perpetually in financial crisis. They would give their eyeteeth to get better box office.

But the reality is that most foreign films sink without a trace in the US market. But in this, they are not exceptional. They also sink without a trace in many other foreign markets. Asian movies that don't do well in the US also tend not to do well in European countries. European movies that don't do well in the US also tend not to do well in Asia. There's no mystery here - European movies are too morose and depressing, and Asian movies are too crappily written and culturally-specific for most global audiences.

Adam:

For Chinese films watch Hero, crouching Tiger hidden dragon and house of flying daggers. They are all widely vailable in America.

For Japanese films, watch the ORIGINAL version of the Ring, and Akira.

Both are excelent examples of 'Asian' film culture.

Zhang Fei: Move theatres in the US are only in crisis for two reasons.

1) They have heavy competition from home entertainment like DVDs, Games consoles, TVOD and the web and haven't adapted well (too expensive, too limited range of films, no imagination).

2) Most US movies today are made to a set formula which makes them unimaginative and morose. They put star names and looks over good dialogue and plot depth, and they are so SHALLOW. Take War of the world. It looked nice, but the plot was a rehashing of any generic US action movie, the actors were wooden, the dialogue was trivial the plot was so shallow that the audience either couldn't find it or looked too deeply for it and came up with something bizar. There was nothing that even remotely engouraged the audience to relate to or bond with the characters, and the theatres charged premium for seats for what ended up as being a B movie.

What exactly would you know about European films. You only get to see the scrag end of European films, and probably ONLY after they have been translated into English (US studios are well known for CHANGING things in films to make them more American when they dub them).

Asian and EU films don't do well in the US because they are marketed badly, and as 'special interest' films. You might get a few brit flicks like 28 days later sold along side US films, but most European and Asian films are sold only to geek crouds like romance fanatics, martial arts groupies and porno fans. Maybe if US studios paid the same amount in advertising for foreign films as they do for domestic films, and maybe if they marketed them towards 'normal' audiences, they would do better.

I've also seen incidents where big US studios have takes world class films (including oscar and Gold bear winners) and have dubbed them to make them more American before releaseing them straight to DVD to a 'special intrest' audience numbering only a fraction of the films potential audience.

Oh no, the master of re-introducing fooey to the US market now complains about US films effects on other cultures. Where was this concern when he rode the wave of popularity in Hollywood?

Yes, thank you for Around the world, Shanghai Knights 1, 2, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Oh I think Hollywood was bad, but he sure made it a lot worse!

Less of the potty mouth, please. There might be impesionable children reading this page.

I think that you've A) forgotten that Chan's American movies were 'American Movies', so he hasn't damaged Ameircan culture in any way, he only added more of the same B) discovered the basic concept of hypocracy C) forgotten what the primary driver in Hollywood is ($$$)

i roughly agree with what you say.

But Jackie Chan isn't exactly credible in this matter. How many thousand times had he been working with Hollywood for some major productions? e.g. Shanghai Knights, ...

I could actually turn that around and say that the means that Jackie Chan has seen first hand what he's talking about so he has experience to speak from.