Cultural Crossover

Going back to the topic I talked about in week 3, which is the influence of the Japanese Domestic Market car scene coming into Australia, it has in fact flooded more-so into the states. In relation to film, classic American film ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ featured a 1969 Dodge Charger, which is considered to be the one of America’s hailed muscle cars. Since then, Japanese cars have flooded America and in turn, flooded the Hollywood film scene. The saga, Fast and Furious is one the main examples where we see America becoming Asianized. Hondas, Nissans, Toyotas and all other kinds of Japanese cars are the main attraction to see in this film.

“As the Hollywood studios became increasingly export-oriented they began hiring a broad range of Asian film workers, from big-name stars to anonymous skilled craftspeople; sometimes these workers came to Holly- wood, and other times Hollywood went to them.” (Klein, 2004)

In direct relation to that statement by Klein, the movie Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift is effectively a whole side of Asia coming into the Hollywood film scene. The majority of the film is based in Japan where the character of American culture is seen as the minority (obviously, he’s in japan) and has to adapt to their culture and lifestyle. In regards to Klein’s term, “Asianization” this film is a clear cut example of how Hollywood film culture adapted and worked around Japanese culture.

 

On the flipside, “Sukiyaki Western Django”, directed by Takashi Miike, is a Japanese film written and directed by a Japanese man with Japanese clans based in the Wild West. Basically, the movie is based on Japanese cowboys in America. Famous director Quentin Tarantino is actually a character in this film because of how much he respects Miike.

I haven’t watched it yet, but it looks great.

 

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-TGaGa3QAc