The global media landscape has been transformed because of deregulation and privatization of the telecommunication and broadcasting.[1] This adaptation of new technologies had a huge impact on the communication sector. Not only the United States but India as well has become very important in the circulation of cultural goods. Bollywood is the largest film factory in terms of production and viewership.[2] Many more films are released in India than in Hollywood, but their influence is mostly confined to the Indian subcontinent and among the south Asian diaspora. Though cross-over films have begun to change this. Because of changes in the global broadcasting environment, digital television and the internet, the content of Bollywood is now available to international audiences.[3] So there is a growing southern presence in the global media marketplace. According to Daya Kishan Thussu, “[…] in the second decade of the twenty-first century the world of global media and communication offers exciting challenges and possibilities of rethinking intercultural exchanges at a transnational level”.[4] To explain this we have chosen Slumdog millionaire as a case study. This is a film by Danny Boyle, an English director.[5] Interestingly, it is often considered as a Bollywood film. In this blog we are going to study how transnational Slumdog Millionaire is.
Thussu argues that Bollywood is visible outside India in the sense that it serves as an inspiration for Western filmmakers, which Slumdog Millionaire shows.[6] Slumdog Millionaire is not only inspired by Indian culture, but is a cooperation between filmmakers in both England and India: the screenplay is written by an English screenwriter, but inspired by a novel by the Indian writer Vikas Swarup. Englishman Danny Boyle is the director of the movie, but had help from the Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan in India. The cast of Slumdog Millionaire is mostly Indian, but the main character is portrayed by an actor who was born in England, but does have an Indian appearance.[7] The teams of producers, soundman, cameraman etcetera are all a mix of both English, or Western, and Indian people, led by English managers. An exception is the art department, responsible for the visual sphere of the movie, which consisted of only Indian people.[8] A possible solution could be that the film needed to have an Indian feeling, which could best be done by Indian workers. However, in general, there was a mix of cultures of all levels.
This all shows that globalization must not be understood as a flow from one area to the other, but more as a process that makes the relation between areas, people, technologies more complex and maybe even more diverse. Berghahn and Sternberg quote Arjun Appadurai who argues that thanks to the increasing transnational linking that the media do between producers and audiences and these audience will start talking to others who move, more and more diaspora public spaces will come into existence, which is exactly what seems to be the case for Slumdog Millionaire. [9]
These transnational connections throughout the production process of Slumdog Millionaire coincide with the elements of World Cinema. According to the definition given by Chaudhuri, Thomas, Elsaesser and other academics World Cinema implies transnational connections on the level of film production, financing, distribution and reception and the use of a foreign-language.[10] Slumdog Millionaire could be seen as World Cinema because besides the different nationalities of the crew, the film is distributed in inter alia the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Japan and the film is released in English, Hindi and French.[11]
“World Cinema is a category that refers to non-Western cultural products and practices ‘as viewed from the West”.[12] The concept of World Cinema could thus be seen as a western ‘quality label’ or brand, created and controlled by awarding prizes and screenings on international festivals and “privileges films that resonate with Western aesthetic sensibilities and certain preconceptions about the ‘other’.”[13] To be accepted as World Cinema a combination of the display of otherness and the use of western elements is thus needed. In Slumdog Millionaire, this mix of the otherness of Bollywood and western sensibilities can be clearly seen, causing the movie to attract viewers from all over the world and winning several awards.
Thus, globalization is a process that makes the relation between areas, people, technologies etcetera more complex and maybe even more diverse. Bollywood is a good example of a contraflow against western domination in the entertainment world and has actually become somewhat like a brand. From the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, we can see how is India being portrayed in the western world. Although the movie contains Indian stars, and an Indian cultural theme, it is not without some changes and adaptations which make that the movie could be seen as ‘World Cinema’. This concept can make international movies more visible in the global market, though there is a danger that they might lose their cultural distinctiveness in the process of fitting in into the ‘World Cinema’ concept, which raises the important question what this cultural distinctiveness exactly is and whether it is still a relevant concept.
Literature:
– Berghahn, Daniela & Sternberg Claudia.(2010). ‘Locating Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in Contemporary Europe’, in: Daniela Berghahn & Claudia Sternberg (eds.), European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Film in Contemporary Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 12-49.
– Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2012). ‘Cultural Practices and Media Production: The Case of Bollywood’, in: Isabelle Rigoni & Eugénie Saitta (eds.) Mediating Cultural Diversity in a Globalised Public Space. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 119-134.
Websites:
– IMDB. (2014). ‘Company credits’, in: Slumdog Millionaire (2008). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm (02-10-2014).
– IMDB. (2014). ‘Full Cast & Crew’, in: Slumdog Millionaire.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm (08-10-2014)
– IMDB. (2014). Dev Patel. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2353862/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t1 (08-10-2014)(2014). Slumdog Millionaire. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/ (07-10-2014).
[1] Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2012). ‘Cultural Practices and Media Production: The Case of Bollywood’, in: Isabelle Rigoni & Eugénie Saitta (eds.) Mediating Cultural Diversity in a Globalised Public Space. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 119.
[2] Idem: 123.
[3] Idem: 124.
[4] Idem: 120.
[5] IMDB. (2014). Slumdog Millionaire. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/ (07-10-2014).
[6] Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2012). ‘Cultural Practices and Media Production: The Case of Bollywood’, in: Isabelle Rigoni & Eugénie Saitta (eds.) Mediating Cultural Diversity in a Globalised Public Space. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 124
7] IMDB. (2014). Dev Patel. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2353862/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t1 (08-10-2014).
[8] IMDB. (2014). ‘Full Cast & Crew’, in: Slumdog Millionaire. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm (08-10-2014).
[9] Berghahn, Daniela & Sternberg Claudia. (2010). ‘Locating Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in Contemporary Europe’, in: Daniela Berghahn & Claudia Sternberg (eds.), European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Film in Contemporary Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 12-49.
[10] Berghahn, Daniela & Sternberg Claudia. (2010). ‘Locating Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in Contemporary Europe’, in: D. Berghahn & C. Sternberg (eds.), European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Film in Contemporary Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 38.
[11] IMDB. (2014). ‘Company credits’, in: Slumdog Millionaire (2008). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm (02-10-2014).
[12] Berghahn, Daniela & Sternberg Claudia. (2010). ‘Locating Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in Contemporary Europe’, in: D. Berghahn & C. Sternberg (eds.), European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Film in Contemporary Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 39.
[13] Idem: 39.
discussingthemediaindustries 