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 rail-
thin 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”.
► WhileHollywood 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
Korea
30
20
10 Usa
0
1998 2002 2004 2006
Source: Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
Taiwanese Cinema
Introduction History
► Over the fifty years the 1. Propaganda tools against
communism.
Taiwanese cinema has
experienced the 2. The early 60s: Most movies
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
markets and box office withdrew from the united nations
earnings. and broke off with Japan and
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 ► Commercial movies
1.Director-centered 1.Lack creativity
2.Overspending easily 2.Because of the strong
because of the support of
persistence of the government, quality
director. of the products is
3.Too conceptualized neglected.
and hard to achieve
wide acceptance.
The government policies and current
situation
Critique
(1)To support cinema industries ► The government on the one
through funding. hand actively supports the
(2)To set cinema industry Taiwanese movies through
development as one of the 13 funding; on the other hand
sub plans of the Challenge 2008 totally opens up the import
National Development Plan. of foreign movies.
(3)To join WTO, Taiwanese
government signed an ► The development cannot
agreement to remove the
rely only on money, and the
restriction of the screen
numbers of foreign movie government should realize
imports, which deprived the the impact of their policies.
protection of movie industries in
Taiwan.
Evaluation of the government policies
► In2005, 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.