Term Paper on "East Asia Studies"
Term Paper 5 pages (1629 words) Sources: 6 Style: MLA
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Hong Kong CinemaHollywood is known throughout the world for its motion pictures, a major cultural artifact both representing and explaining American culture to the rest of the world. Over the years, the size of the American industry has diminished as fewer and fewer films are produced each year. Hollywood is also not the largest film industry in the world in any case, for that would be in India, sometimes referred to as Bollywood. Another major are of production can be found in Hong Kong, and while the vast majority of films produced in Hong Kong never show in the United States, or at best show only in limited venues, the industry has become a major influence in Hollywood over the past decade or so, in part based on the success of Hong Kong films throughout Asia, a market the U.S. would like to get into more deeply; and in part because a number of Hong Kong filmmakers have ene lured to the West and now work in Hollywood itself, among them actors Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat and director Ang Lee.
Among the Hong Kong-influenced films made in recent years are a number of films based on Hong Kong features, such as the Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006). The Departed was based on a 2002 film called Mou gaan dou. Some films have broken new ground with Hong Kong filmmakers in the U.S., such as Face Off (John Woo, 1997), a film that brought Woo's characteristic blend of action and violence to an American production. A different sort of success was achieved by the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000), a Hong Kong-produced film that found a surprisingly large audience in the United States.
Hong Kong movies differ from other Asian movies in a number o
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The television show and movies like Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973), the latter starring Bruce Lee, married the martial arts with certain Confucian values, following the Chinese tradition expressed in various Hong Kong films as well. To a degree, such films met with approval in the U.S. because they fit with the American image of the lone hero with a code of honor, the sort of hero populating the Western for decades, though the setting here was less familiar. The appeal of this sort of hero is not surprising, but the fact that Americans have taken to that image as they have and do so even for some Chinese actors is more surprising. As one observer in Hong Kong writes,
Hong Kong film industry is popular all over the world and particularly in East and South-East Asia. Hong Kong movie products can be viewed in theaters and video shelves in places like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China and South Korea. In Japan too, Hong Kong cinema has exerted its influence. Even in the West, Hong Kong cinema has penetrated and influenced Western film-makers. ("Hong Kong Cinema" para. 2)
Sek Kei writes about the industry in Hong Kong and environs including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, and the four countries are identified as the region's four "economic dragons," based on their rapid economic and social development. Of the four, only Hong Kong has a strong film industry and has been able to present a concrete and comprehensive case of prosperity and achievement:
In Singapore, a film industry is nonexistent and its entertainment market is dominated by Hong Kong and Western products. In Taiwan, the local film industry went through an unprecedented period of malaise in the '80s, although it did produce a number of distinguished works. The malaise in the Taiwanese film industry was contrary to the vibrant developments in the broader economic and sociopolitical fields. Its entertainment market was dominated by Hong Kong and Western products. (Kei para. 2)
Kei finds three main reasons why the industry has thrived in Hong Kong. First, he notes that Hong Kong is a small city with a dense population, and the film industry has served a need as mass entertainment not greatly affected by competition from the TV and video industries, allowing "the Hong Kong film industry to preserve advantageous conditions for competitive preeminence in the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets" (Kei para. 4). Second, Hong Kong alone among the four countries had a high degree of freedom of expression with little interference from the authorities, especially during the period of British rule. Even after the return of Hong Kong to China, China has maintained a hands-off policy to a greater degree than is true for other Chinese territories, perhaps fearful of damaging the economic success Hong Kong has achieved. Third, the industry has both Chinese and international qualities and aspires to be both East and West, as noted from its time as a British protectorate:
This is its attraction. Because the territory has a large degree of freedom, it is the richest and most dynamic production center of Chinese cinema, including the industry in the Mainland. Hong Kong movies are the most representative examples of Chinese cinema as inheritors and carriers of the special characteristics of Chinese culture and popular folklore, as well as of Chinese people absorbing Western influence on the road to modernization. In this respect, the Chinese-style kung fu genre and Western-style gangster thrillers are typical and successful examples. (Kei para. 6)
These particular genres mirror American Westerns and American gangster films, though perhaps with an energy all their own. This is one reason why they have had a particular appeal for Western audiences.
The influence of Hong Kong cinema on American films is therefor a circular matter, with Hong Kong filmmakers imitating American Western and gangster films, and then with American filmmakers imitating the panache and energy of the Hong Kong versions. In an interview, Quentin Tarantino points out how a variety of influences can be found on films all around the world, and he notes that "the Yakuza movies they make in Japan, the triad movies they make in Hong Kong, the Italian Mafia movies, Jean-Pierre Melville's films in France... we're all telling the same stories... But we're all telling [these stories] differently, because we're all from different cultures, different nationalities, and that's what's really interesting to me, how different cultures attack the same story" (Yaquinto 230-231). Stephen Teo analyzes Hong Kong films and find sthat Sergio Leone… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "East Asia Studies" Assignment:
I would like a paper that discusses the Cinema in Hongkong and how the movies have influenced countless America movies plus how many hong kong movies have become very popular in North America..
Here is a prilimary outline discussing the ideas I want to discuss:
Hong Kong Cinema
It's almost hard to believe that some of the most recent Hollywood Blockbusters are nothing but recreations of movies produced years before in Hong Kong. The Film Industry of Hong Kong is believed to rival those of Bollywood and even Hollywood. I would like to take this opportunity in my term paper to discuss Hong Kong Cinema. I would like to review some of the most recent movies that are recreated based on successful Hong Kong movies like: The Departed and Face Off , Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, etc... and I would also like to discuss why North Americans love movies like : Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and other various movies that depict Chinese history and martial arts, culture and confuscist values.
The beautiful thing about the cinema in Hong Kong is that the movies are very art-sie. If you watch most of the movies they especially go above an beyond in creating the set and costumes, music and dialog ensure they depict the history accurately. This is something that Hollywood has forgotten in order to load a movie with special effects and action. In fact many people would argue that many Hollywood movies are meant to solely entertain the viewers while the movies from Hong Kong not only entertain the viewers but also give the viewers a sense of identity.
Cinema of Hong Kong, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Hong_Kong
Teo, Stephen, British Film Institute, Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions, February, 1998
Desser, *****, Cambridge University Press, Cinema of Hong Kong:Histroy, Arts, Identity, March 2002
Hong Kong Film Review on Love HK Film, http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/hollywood_hong_kong.htm
How to Reference "East Asia Studies" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“East Asia Studies.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2007, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/hong-kong-cinema-hollywood/308690. Accessed 6 Jul 2024.
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