Hollywood Is Becoming Asianized - Extended Response

Nearly ten years ago Christina Klein noted that “we are seeing a partial erosion of the boundaries that once separated Hollywood from local Asian film industries, and a consequent intertwining of industries on both sides of the Pacific.” At present, the same can be said in relation to the integration of both film industries. In the past few years alone we have seen a number of successful films be released that incorporate both Hollywood and Asian styles. After the United States, China has the second biggest movie market. So naturally Hollywood’s increase in casting more Asian actors is none too surprising. To bring in more revenue American blockbuster films are even being set in China. Some big studios are going one step further and are actually shooting different versions of their movies for Chinese audiences.

With China and Japan becoming major box office giants, Hollywood films have adjusted multiple scenes to make a bigger impression overseas, effectively bringing in more revenue. This minor adjustment alone has gained major Hollywood blockbusters a great deal more of success. With only so many foreign movies being released in China, the massive reveal that the main antagonist in Iron Man 3 was of Chinese decent and that scenes would even be filmed there to maintain authenticity solidified its global presence and accepted release in China. In order to gain greater success and smash the box office, Marvel decided that they would benefit from releasing two separate versions, one being for the U.S. and another specifically tailored for China. The Chinese version of Iron Man 3 included an extra four minute scene featuring Chinese film stars Bingbing Fan and Xueqi Wang, which appeared against a Chinese background. It is none too surprising that Marvel took this approach for the film given the central role China plays in The Mandarin’s backstory. By focusing more on the Asian elements in the story, the creation of the tailored version for Chinese audiences gave them the extra encouragement needed to go and watch the film. Seeing as Marvel chose not include this specific scene in the American release it is safe to assume that we didn’t miss any major plot twists, nor were we denied of any important information that could affect the outcome of the storyline. If you are desperate to see the extra four minutes however, a quick Google search will satisfy your cravings. I will note though that the scenes are in Chinese and lack subtitles, so if you don’t speak Chinese you will probably just end up more confused. At the end of the day it is all business; Hollywood wants to make the most money they can and luckily for them they have found an avenue to do so. With the way China is heading in the box office rankings, it is inevitable that American films will continue (to a greater extent) fuse both cultures within future films.

Fig. 1. Iron Man 3 

Hollywood is dabbling more and more in the world of martial arts within its current and forthcoming films. Not only appealing to the obvious mass interest in Asia, but also to all the Western countries that have grown up on the likes of anime. Klein (2004, p. 360) notes that “Hollywood today is fascinated with martial arts to an extent unseen since the heyday of Bruce Lee in the early 1970s.” This is still very much the case today. Over the American summer period, there have been numerous feature films that have been influenced by Eastern action and culture; The Wolverine, Red 2 and Pacific Rim to name a few. This of course has been welcomed with open arms by fan boys of Asian culture and martial arts. Even more specifically, the big budget franchise “G.I. Joe” released “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” earlier this year, and the trailer for it featured a ridiculous cliff-side martial arts battle showcasing the unbelievable skills of world-class martial artists Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park and Elodie Yung. That scene alone had me jumping out of my seat in excitement. “Martial arts fight scenes have become a ubiquitous feature in action films across the genre map” Klein (2004, p. 361), which is a result of the “latest phase of globalization.”

Fig. 2. How I felt About G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Not only is Hollywood incorporating martial arts into more of their productions, but they are also poaching well-known actors and directors from foreign nations within the entertainment industry. A great example of this is Chinese actor, Jackie Chan. Having been the most popular actor in East Asia since the late 1970’s, Chan has made a name for himself in Hollywood by doing what he does best – his trademark amazing martial arts and jaw dropping stunts. The success that surrounds Chan now however did not come easy. As Hollywood always does, they tried to make him into the classic 'American action hero' Klein (2003), a role that is portrayed in majority of American films that are released. Although it took a while, Hollywood producers and executives started to realise their failed attempts and became more open to letting Chan effectively do what originally made him a household name in Asia in the first place. Thanks to Hollywood backing away from the typical tripe that they usually produce, we were able to see the likes of Rush Hour 1 and 2 and Shanghai Knights. Each film incorporating Asian elements which audiences all over the world are starting to embrace more. By capitalizing on Chan’s success in China, Klein (2003) notes that Hollywood hoped that by 'letting him make films similar to those he made in Hong Kong' it would draw Asian crowds into theatres to watch his Hollywood creations.

"The Wolverine" recently clawed its way to the box office, starring Australia's own, Hugh Jackman, and Japanese newcomer Tao Okamoto. Tao plays "Mariko Yashida", who is Logan's love interest in the film. Rila Fukushima, also a Japanese actress co-stars in the film as "Yukio", she is a mutant and embodies total badassness. With Hollywood courting overseas talent for their big budget movies they are opening up doors for foreign stars to make it on a global stage. The tweaking of already written scripts and roles to include Asian characters in my opinion is slow progress but at the end of the day it is still progress. This topic I am all too familiar with as my close friend himself is a Korean Australian actor trying to break the Hollywood mould. We find that majority of the scripts he gets sent that are for Asian-specific characters are very stereotypical, for example they are usually extremely intelligent, poor socially, technologically savvy and have poor English skills.  These predetermined notions do not accurately reflect on my friend in reality however. To give you some slight insight he works at a surf retail store, he polled the highest number of votes for league best and fairest at his local football club and he is absolutely hopeless at speaking Korean. I honestly can’t see him playing the reserved nerdy type given his outgoing personality, but with Hollywood recently embracing Asian culture and creating more Asian roles there are definitely more opportunities arising for upcoming and established Asian actors. 

Fig.3. The Wolverine 

Back focusing on the main topic here, the Asianization of Hollywood, I find a prime example of this is the animated production Kung Fu Panda and its sequel Kung Fu Panda 2. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Kung Fu Panda became the biggest box office hit in China’s history. It’s crazy to think that a movie based on Asian martial arts, fronted by an iconic and unique Asian animal would be made by Americans. Zhao Bandi, a Chinese performance artist stated that the Kung Fu Panda films “twisted Chinese culture and served as a tool to kidnap the minds of the Chinese people.” However it seems from the box office records it smashed, China embraced the humorous and loveable panda with open arms.

Fig. 4. Kung Fu Panda

At the beginning I noted that almost a decade ago Christina Klein made the observation that “we are seeing a partial erosion of the boundaries that once separated Hollywood from local Asian film industries.” Today we are definitely seeing a breakdown of the distinct lines between the American film industry and the Asian film industry with American blockbusters embracing Asian culture and adding Asian elements to many of their films and also the casting of unknown or up and coming Asian actors in massive summer titles. This however does not only apply to these very dominant industries, but also other film industries around the world. Klein (2003) notes that they are becoming 'increasingly integrated with one another', making each and every one of them more globally present.

References:

Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384. 

Child, Ben 2011, ‘Kung Fu Panda 2 Smashes China’s Box Office Records’, The Guardian, Viewed 8 October 2013, <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/06/kung-fu-panda-2-china>

Klein, Christina 2003, 'The Asia Factor In Global Hollywood', YaleGlobal, Viewed 6 October 2013, <http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/asia-factor-global-hollywood>

Fig. 1. Iron Man 3's Chinese Only Scenes, (2013) [Image], Viewed 5 October 2013 At: <http://collider.com/iron-man-3-chinese-only-scenes/>

Fig. 2. Shut Up And Take My Money, (2013) [Image], Viewed 22 September 2013 At: <http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/File:Iffem_shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg> 

Fig. 3. Rila Fukushima and Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine, (2013) [Image], Viewed 5 October 2013 At: <http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/welcome-to-hell-jackmans-journey-to-the-ultimate-wolverine-20130608-2nwaz.html>

Fig. 4. Kung Fu Panda, (2010) [Image], Viewed 8 October 2103 At: <http://akminerva.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/i-love-kung-fu-panda/>