THE SPECTACLE OF TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA
Transnational has become the focus topic when talking about East Asian cinemas since more and more movies from Korean, Japanese, etc. have been remaking into Hollywood movies. It is a tool for connecting differences, blur out the boundaries between nation, religion and local features. It is in a way, making culture friendlier to people through the lenses of movies, it also bring out the effect of globalization on the culture and the economic formation through transnational movies.
Yojimbo (1961)
The first movie to bring on the discussion is Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo released in 1961. It was an example of transnational movies where the traditional aspect of the film blends well into Western semiotics.
Reproduced from: Ryy79 2009
Cinematic Techniques
This is when the Western aspects show in the movie, it is easy to recognize the western filming style using the wide shot with the hero facing the enemy or the enemies standing to oppose each other with the wind kicks up dust between them. We can find this scene appear a lot in Western movies. Moreover, the music of the movie is not Japan traditional music but more about Western music which interested the audience.
![A Fistful of Dollars- Sergio Leone - Action Western Movies [ Fᴜʟʟ Hᴅ ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5fMWYKnNyXA/sddefault.jpg)
Reproduced from: Movie clips Trailer Vault 2011
Movie Content
The movie begins with a man that has no background and create a familiar feeling for American audience. A ninja without Lord who goes anywhere that life takes him to. Making his way to a small village, he stays because of his own need, for the food and sake. However, the longer he stays, he becomes more involved with the society. Therefore, creates the feeling of honor and duty. He then tries to stop the two “gambler” gangs to harm the town, this flow is the true flow of Jidai-geki genre. Kurosawa uses this genre and creates the character to analyses the contemporary Japan and the social aspect of its which affect individuals of Japan. Normally, in samurai films, it emphasizes the loyalty of the samurais their masters (Desser 1992). However, Sanjuro – the outsider principle, with his sword he stands up to fight for justice and become the hero of the movie.
Movie Remake
With the “transnational” manner, Kurosawa created Yojimbo with some Western aspect and inspired Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars released in 1964. This remake shares the same plot with Yojimbo yet tell the different story. This shows the adaptable of stories and characters in different contexts and cultures. With same plots but we can see the change of society and the diversity of cultures.
Om Shanti Om (2007)
Released in 2007 with Shah Rukh Khan as the main male character. After three hours watching the movie, you can somehow understand the Bollywood and how the Indian audiences engaging with movies.
The movie somewhat mocks many aspects of the Bollywood; however, it also emphasizes the values of Bollywood is about entertainment. It was quite confusing to understand the genre of this movie, you cannot really tell if it is action or drama or comedy. It is because Om Shanti Om is a Masala film which means it’s been freely mixed by many kinds of genres that we normally know.
The movie demonstrates the Bollywood film industry by creating the movie in movie kind of thing. We can see there are a lot of songs, dancing and item numbers and some mock scenes in the movie.
First, through songs in Om Shanti Om, it makes me understand that in India movies must go with music, through music the content can be delivered more clearly and more entertaining.
Therefore, it also helps in promoting the film; through that, we can see that dancing and singing is a part of their culture (Kishore & Kerrigan 2016)
In the movie, there was a scene when OK receive an award despite having stereotypical nominated film. It also reflects the love hate relationship between actors, the negative response of those who have not received any award and successfully portrayed hypocrisy actors.
Moreover, Bollywood movies have always consisted of “item” numbers, the movie again mock the reality when OK demanding “item” number in his movie to make the movie popular. This reflects the real world, no matter how much money and effort you put in the movie, “item” number is a must to make it a blockbuster.
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Reproduced from: Om Shanti Om 2007
Despite all the mocking elements, the movie also about the typical Indian mother love and the strong friendship. No matter what, they will always be reunited, and the belief of mother in having their son back home after separation.
One of the thing that makes this movie famous is because of SRK – the main male character. If you look at him, he is not the most handsome men, or have the best body building. So, what makes him famous?
He is quite familiar, like a next-door guy, that makes him more engaging and relatable for his audience (Raj, Sreekumar & Jermadi 2016) . Normally, celebrity tries their best to create the perfect image of them in front of the public. However, SRK does not. He tries to be an every man to enhance the connection and allow people to relate to him. By reaching out through many media platforms, he successfully promotes himself and his film which creates the leading part of him in the global Bollywood.
Reproduced from: Memsaab 2012