Global formats and remakes - Focusing on the films: Ringu and Ju-on - The Grudge - Essay Example

or": horror films from Japans new generation of filmmakers such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shimizu, Takashi Miike, and Hideo Nakata that embrace similar themes, images and styles. So much is horror cinema now associated with Japan in the American popular imagination that one recent American film had as the tagline: "It is not a remake. It is not a sequel. And it is not based on a Japanese one." (1) This boast is a bit unfair, perhaps, as there have only been five American adaptations of Japan-horror in six years, far less than the number of remakes of original American horror films and sequels during the same period. (2) It is, however, indicative, of the cultural influence of Japan-horror both in Hollywood and in the American popular imagination.

Remakes could be a way of getting profits from previous films in that the original plot is usually followed but the actors and movie scenes are changed (Sousa, 50). This tends to recapture the audiences in a different way hence coming up with a new movie but with the same story line. Under global formats the culture of the audience is usually taken into consideration before coming up with a new movie or remake so as to ensure that the intended audience is not disappointed or the movie does not incur a heavy loss.

Remakes also tend to show how different, audience’s cultures can be in different places all over the world, and also how dominant TV cultures can affect other TV formats and entertainment styles from other regions all over the world. A good example is how Hollywood which is one of the top most TV and movie production companies in the world is affecting TV and entertainment styles everywhere else and also how this company has contributed in spreading different movie cultures all over the world.

This brings us to the concept of cultural proximity which refers to the capacity for film and television content to be read symptomatically in countries where cultural traditions, values and structures of feelings are