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Evan Webster Wiley

Prof. scar Fernndez
FRINQ: Globalization
Assignment: Yearlong IMB Proposal
2 November 2015
The Globalization of Cinema and Filmic Influence
With the help technology, allowing humans to communicate globally as well as our
global economy, there has been an influx of cinematic influence and international collaboration
that, to this day, continues to change the way cinema takes a part in our world. Not only is
cinema an extremely versatile medium in terms of the influence it has, but it is also one of the
younger industries within the categories of art, entertainment and communication that has found
a solid integration within the world. That being said, the evolution of cinematic narrative,
stylistic aesthetic and film-specific technology seems to increase at the same rate, if not faster,
than communication and information technologies themselves. It is important to recognize the
transitions that took place within the whole film industry, such as the globalization of cinema as
well as the structural changes that allowed for this worldwide integration to take place.
There was a large sense of nationality and international competition during the first
period of establishment for the motion picture industry and Hollywood. Being that it is a location
within the United States, Hollywood became attributed with the motion picture industry as a
whole by conscious decision of the industry leaders. However, as the world became more and
more integrated with the advent of communications technologies, the purity of something called
Motion Picture Nationality, began to dilute and there was an increase, not only in the art house
and independent film segments of the industry but, particularly in the international and foreign
film segments (Williams, 15-17).

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In addition to a more diversified film industry after the influx of international pictures,
the capability for something called Transnational Cinema, arrived as well, a term referring to
productions made by a cast and crew from multiple countries and no longer representative or
signifying of one particular nationality (Baer). The transition away from a more or less
monopolized industry, as it was in the beginning, was due to the consent decree in 1948
requiring the movie theater chains to divest themselves of their production facilities (Williams,
15). According to Alan Williams, this change allowed for nearly ten percent of the films shown
within the United States in 1948 to be productions that took place outside of the country (15).
Just like music, the film industry quickly became an industry that involved mainstream
media the same as it did independent media. However, being that its a rather new medium, there
has been an ongoing transition, since the beginning, away from a monopolized and rather
conservatively controlled industry and more towards a more democratic and independently
influenced industry. In this way, it is incredibly important that we recognize the distinction
between the types of cinema and how it all came to be considering the influential role movies
play at a global level.

Works Cited

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1. Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "Multinational Pest Control: Does American Cinema Still
Exist?" Film and Nationalism. Ed. Alan Larson Williams. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
UP, 2002. Print.
2. Baer, Hester, and Ryan Long. "Transnational Cinema and the Mexican State in
Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mam Tambin" South Central Review 21.3 (2004): 150-68.
JSTOR. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.