This blog will focus on
‘Hollywoodisation’ in relation to the Japanese Horror film ‘Ringu’ known to us
as ‘The Ring’ which was remade into a Hollywood hit in 2002 with a sequel The
Ring Two in 2005 (which in itself is a trait true to Hollywood films). When I first saw The Ring, apart from being
scared and not being able to sleep that night I had no idea that it was a
remake of a Japanese film. This is a perfect example of a non-Western film that
has been ‘Hollywoodised’. According to the Oxford dictionary ‘Hollywoodise’ is
defined as “adapt (a story or series of events) so as to conform to the
supposed norms of a typical Hollywood film, especially in respect of being
unrealistically glamorous, exciting, or simplistic.” ‘Hollywoodisation’
occurred due to a rise in the 1990s for viewers around the world to indulge in
local cinema rather then international and especially American or Hollywood.
Hollywood’s response to this happened in two parts. The first Dawtrey (1995)
states in Klein (2004, p. 371) “Hollywood since the mid – 1990s has moved into
the distribution of local films, both within their own domestic markets and
internationally.” The second Klein (2004, p. 372) comments “Hollywood’s second
response to the resurgence of local film industries has been to go into
business of making local – ‘foreign’ – movies.” An example of this is how MTV
has spread it’s studios and distribution throughout the world and has adapted
its shows to the audience they are portraying to. We know have MTV Lebanon, MTV
Japan and MTV Germany to name a few.
So ‘Ringu’ was originally made in
1998 in Japan and was Hollywoodised in 2002 by being created into ‘The Ring’.
Aside from the plot everything about the film had been Hollywoodised. The film
was directed by American Gore Verbinski with the cast led by one of Hollywood’s
leading ladies Naomi Watts. The location was changed to being based in America
and the film was distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. This is a perfect example
of Hollywoodisation. A film of Asian heritage that is complete remade and
modeled to fit the Hollywood market. The film was further ‘Hollywoodised’ when
it was made into a sequel, another feature of the American film industry. The
Ring is a great film and if you’re like me you’ll spend half the time not
looking at the screen but it really represents how ‘Hollywoodisation’ occurs.
Reference List:
-Klein, C 2004, ‘Martial arts and
the globalization of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative American Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 371, 372.
-Oxford University Press, 2013,
‘Definition of Hollywoodize in English’, 25/9/2013, <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Hollywoodize>.
-The Ring [trailer] (2002), YouTube Clip, robotuku, 14 December,
25/9/2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuH5FaUpFm4>.
We often think that Hollywood is the creator of all ideas which are then distributed around the world and localised. It's great that you have found an example which challenges this assumption. Your definition of 'Hollywoodise' is relevant and backed-up throughout the rest of the post. Perhaps you could have explained a little more about how the Hollywood version is different to the Japanese version, has it been culturally localised or has the storyline been altered in any way?
ReplyDeleteYour use of the trailer as your media is good, although it would be improved if you could find some media from the Japanese original or even a link to a page with the synopsis. Try to use paragraphs some more to break up the text, this will make it easier to read. Overall it is an intriguing post and certainly challenged my own perceptions, well done.
Hi Andrew!
ReplyDeleteI like how you choose The Ring movie case as the analogy for explaining the Hollywoodization that happens recently. The way The Ring (Ringu) was adapted for American market can implicitly be categorized as “glocalization” that is an effect from adapting global products to fit the local taste (Robertson, 1995). Here from your example, it can be discerned that the whole aspects in the globally popular Ringu movie were customized into a new glocal version that was consumable for Hollywood market, which is much larger than the segmented Japanese market.