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Movies and Culture
► Pressure
to be Thin: The Plague of
Hollywood
► The Korean Wave among Asian Countries
► The great decrease in Markets and Box
Office Earnings in Taiwanese Cinema
► Caribe: Social Implications in Costa Rica
Pressure to Be Thin:
The Plague of Hollywood
Some Facts:
► The
average American woman is 5’4” and
weighs 140 lbs.
► The average television icon is 5’7” and
weighs 100 lbs.
► The average American model is 5’11” and
weighs 117 lbs.
► Most fashion models are thinner than 98%
of American women
An Infectious Disease
Today’s Hollywood places a considerable
amount of pressure upon its actresses to be
extremely thin and waif-like. As a result,
most American women experience a similar
pressure – the pressure to look like
Hollywood stars.
Yesterday’s Hollywood
1930s: Bette Davis
illuminates Hollywood
at 5’2” and an average
weight.
1950s: Marilyn Monroe
becomes America’s top
pin-up icon at 5’5.5”
and roughly 130 lbs.
The shift toward railthin models and
actresses began in the
1960s when Twiggy,
5’7” and 91 lbs.,
emerged on to the
scene.
Today’s Hollywood
Today, many female
Hollywood stars are
extremely thin.
Exposure to such
unhealthy and unrealistic
ideas of body image
negatively affects young
girls and women through
depression, the loss of
self-esteem, and the
development of eating
disorders.
Kirsten Dunst: 5’7”, 115 lbs.
Kate Bosworth: 5’5”, 100 lbs.
The Results
► 80%
of women admit that they are insecure
about their bodies compared to those in the
media.
► In the U.S., 5 to 10 million people suffer
from eating disorders
► Of those with eating disorders, more than
90% are women between the ages of 12
and 25.
The Bottom Line
► The
National Eating Disorders Association lists as
one of the contributing factors to eating disorders
“cultural pressures that glorify thinness and place
value on obtaining the perfect body”.
► While
Hollywood continues to promote these
images through its movies, American women will
continue to suffer the consequences.
Korean Wave among Asian
Countries
Korean Wave among Asian
Countries
► Many
Korean movies and TV dramas are
very popular in Asian Country, including
China and Japan.
 Most Asian countries share Confucian culture
 Korean culture professes nonviolence
 The quality of Korean culture and
communications
Korean Wave among Asian
Countries
 Korean cultural products convey similar Asian
Ideas.
 Implicit way of love in Asian Culture.
Korean Wave among Asian
Countries
► Korean
Drama and Movie
 Winter Sonata : Fairytale Love story.
 Dae Jang Geum: Korean Traditional Drama.
 The Host : Current Popular Movie in Korea.
Korean Wave among Asian
Countries
Top Ten Films Ratio Between Korea and USA
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Korea
10
Usa
0
1998
2002
2004
2006
Source: Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
Taiwanese Cinema
History
Introduction
► Over the fifty years the 1. Propaganda tools against
communism.
Taiwanese cinema has
2. The early 60s: Most movies
experienced the
emphasized the morality and ethics
germination, growth,
of humanity, and avoided darkness
maturity, and decline.
in the society.
► Current Issues: The
3. The 70s: Patriotism became the
great decrease in
major theme because Taiwan
withdrew from the united nations
markets and box office
and broke off with Japan and
earnings.
U.S.A..
4. In the middle of 80s: The freedom
of speech had been achieved. The
diversification of movies was
developed and movies were not
political tools any more.
Issues
Commercial movies made in Taiwan lacked creativities
and concrete stories. (1) The lack of new ideas during
the late 80s cause the decay of Taiwanese cinema. (2)
The globalization and convergence, large number of
foreign movies crowd into Taiwan and carve up most
markets. Thus, Taiwanese cinema turned into a new era
of art movies.
Foreign films reached 98% of the total earnings this
year. (Government Information Office: Taiwan Cinema
2006)
► Art movies win many awards all over the world and gain
a lot of international attention. However, these art
movies of brilliant results still have a small market in
Taiwan. They only increase the reputation of Taiwan but
do not bring economic benefits.
►
Comparison of two kinds of movies
► Art
movies
1.Director-centered
2.Overspending easily
because of the
persistence of the
director.
3.Too conceptualized
and hard to achieve
wide acceptance.
► Commercial
movies
1.Lack creativity
2.Because of the strong
support of
government, quality
of the products is
neglected.
The government policies and current
situation
(1)To support cinema industries
through funding.
(2)To set cinema industry
development as one of the 13
sub plans of the Challenge 2008
National Development Plan.
(3)To join WTO, Taiwanese
government signed an
agreement to remove the
restriction of the screen
numbers of foreign movie
imports, which deprived the
protection of movie industries in
Taiwan.
Critique
► The government on the one
hand actively supports the
Taiwanese movies through
funding; on the other hand
totally opens up the import
of foreign movies.
►
The development cannot
rely only on money, and the
government should realize
the impact of their policies.
Evaluation of the government policies
► In
2005, the government information office
spent over 3.9 million US dollars on funding
Taiwanese movies (Government Information
Office: Taiwan Cinema 2005), but the total
box office earnings of Taiwanese movies are
less than 1.5 million (Government
Information Office: Taiwan Cinema 2006).
Conclusion
► The
major problem is not the capital.
► The producers of art movies need to
understand the markets and do proper
promotions.
► The producers of commercial movies need
to have more original and creative ideas in
making each movie.
Critical thinking
►
To analyze more deeply, the attitude of the producers
and the audiences is the root cause of the development
of Taiwan cinema industries.
(1)The lack of talent.: In Taiwan, arts and cultural related
subjects are not respected because people do not think
they have economic benefits.
(2)The cinema education in Taiwan still focuses on the
theory, rather than the technology (personal interviews,
October 15, 2006).
(3)To improve the cinema education is more significant.