Why Asian Films Remain Unknown in the West - Essay Example

Asian Film Comparison by Student’s name Course code+name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission Why Asian films remain unknown in the West Introduction Films have served as storytelling mediums all over the world. They propagate social, cultural, economic and political themes in society. Film production in Asia continues to soar, with India’s Bollywood making more films than Hollywood and China’s film industry registering a phenomenal growth in the last decade to give the United States a run for its money (Sheibani 2011, p.5). However, most of these films have not been acclaimed in the west as much as they have registered box office successes across the Asian Region. For instance, Chinese films have been taking the blockbuster scene with productions like “Flowers of War” and “The Great Wall” while Japan and Hong Kong film industries have historically led the pack with classic productions that are being remade in Hollywood, for instance the Seven Samurai (Yu 2011, p5). When thinking of big blockbusters and movie culture across the world, the Asian film industry is never thought of as one that has an influence, especially in the west. China is the world’s second largest box office market, with projected growth that may culminate to nearly seven billion dollars in 2017 (Smith 2016, p1). Conversely, Asian films remain largely unknown despite huge budgets, great movie directors, thematic story lines, and star-studded cast. Essentially, this essay discusses reasons that make Asian film productions to be little known in the west despite the perceived huge international success. The audience in the west has different social and cultural perspectives. Furthermore, cultural differences are profound through various cinematic techniques in these films (Yu 2011, p6). Considering portray of “Flowers of War” in the west and the Iranian production “A Separation,” one argues that perhaps the biggest challenge to the success of the Asian productions is translation. The role of translation in the process is an important component for box-office success of these productions. Translation carries not only language attributes but the social and cultural, if not the political aspects of the region or the country of production of these films (Ma 2013, p.13). Effectively, translators are depended on to transform film scripts into new languages so that the production can be understood easily, appreciated and enjoyed by audiences around the world, especially in the west (Bettinson 2013, p259). Translators need to capture the ‘make’ or ‘break’ essence of the economic significance of the western audiences so that they can reap handsome rewards. However, the translation process can be said to be the biggest challenge in the Asian cinema scene as demonstrated by the two productions. The task of the translator is not simply to reinterpret the sound track of the speech in the film but more complex in several ways. To remain appealing and original to the western audience, any adaptation of dialogue in a film production must take the cultural context into consideration (Ma 2013, p.13). The interpretation must respect the source of the culture and represent it as a local end product by applying appropriate devices to retain its original meaning. While it may be possible to achieve this feat, a good and inspired foreign language edit can be compromised if the technical aspects are ignored (Bettinson 2013, p261). For instance, western and indeed international audience may not be impressed by a clumsy voice-dubbing situation that distracts attention and attempts to compromise the artistic measures and standards and the potential of the entire box-office production. For instance, “Flowers of War” is a film that has half translation in English and the rest in Mandarin. Furthermore, its running time means that its audience needs to read so much of the subtitles in English. Imperatively, the western audience may find this too difficult to concentrate on reading, listening, and watching. Another aspect that makes it difficult for these productions is casting. For instance, the role and performance of Christian Bale in film “Flowers of War” has received mixed reactions from film analysts. Most western movies about Asia and Africa have white characters (Ma 2013, p.13). The essence of these characters, according to western film-making tradition, is to provide a way for a foreign subject for the western audience. These characters are considered to be non-interest parties in such conflicts. Christian Bale stars as a dissolute mortician who must act as a Catholic priest to save hundreds of women and girls from being raped by the attacking troops when the Nanjing massacre occurred. Critics believe that such roles amounts to whitewashing and wonder if the film director, Zhang Yimou, could not get a Chinese priest (Bettinson 2013, p260). Critics have posited that perhaps one of the biggest flops of such a production was the attempt by the director to allow a white person to tell a Chinese story, particularly its political history. However, a contrary opinion has been that the west must pay attention to, and care about the piece of Chinese history demonstrated through the production. Again, about twenty-seven foreigners (westerners) were in Nanjing at the time of the massacre and many showed their bravery, an attribute that the director sought to make about the whites (Ebert 2012, p1). Additionally, one would argue that casting Bale, one of the A-listers in Hollywood was aimed at asserting that the Chinese film industry aspires to have equal status with its American competitors. Therefore, the Chinese film, with all its impressive budget, most of it funded by the Communist government, did not succeed at the international level as the western audience did not find it appealing. The film went on to rake in just over $100 million (Bettinson 2013, p261). Violence is used in many films across the world. However, the atrocities depicted in the Chinese production “Flowers of Wars” are at best appalling. One may suggest that such violent scenes exceed the view from a western audience that is accustomed to perhaps too much violence on television and would wish to view less violent films, especially when originating from other cultures and parts of the world (Wright 2013, p2). Violence in the film revolves around the treatment of the women characters, where the sharp divide between the virginal schoolgirls and the brassy prostitutes is evident (Ebert 2012, p1). Such scenes make it difficult for a western audience to view the film because of violence targeted at a certain gender. So much is the violence that one wonders if there are any political undertones in the movie. For instance, some American film critics have questioned the appalling Chinese atrocities based on their perception of violence. Again, other scenes like the combat outside the cathedral, where a Chinese folk hero, Major Li, that had single-handedly defied the Japanese are overly riveting and scary. A majority of Asian films have gained success, albeit among western audience, because of the genre that they use, particularly martial arts (Weiss 2016, p433). For instance, Chinese productions have borrowed much of their literary traditions and use stories that focus on martial arts heroes that combine with elements of history, adventure and fantasy. However, the biggest obstacle to these productions has been the Mandarin-scripted films where the leading cast has sharp conflicting regional accents, a situation that poses a great challenge to interpreters (Weiss 2016, p1). The additional of subtitles based on regional accents of Mandarin has made these films less successful in the Western world. A poor track record of the subtitles for the Chinese film production of “Flowers of War” make it difficult for a Western audience to understand and follow through the production and underlines its dismal performance at a time when many have viewed the Chinese film industry as attractive, burgeoning and focused on reducing the American footprint in the global movie industry (Wright 2013, p2). The gender depiction in the Asian films may explain their dismal performance in the west. For instance, Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” is a perfect example of the gender depiction in movies. Most of the Asian productions have to be balanced so that they meet the gender expectation of a western audience (Singh et al., 2016, p1). “A Separation” is an Iranian production that majors on family conflict, particularly divorce issue. When Simin sues her husband Nader for a divorce because she wants to leave Iran and Nader cannot leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father, Simin asserts the important role that women should play in making their decision. Such freedom is unheard of in a country that considers women’s rights as not important as in the west. Effectively, “A Separation” may be aid to defy the claim that the western audience, particularly the United States does not like Asian film productions (Scott 2011, p2). The film received warm viewership in the west and went on to win an Academy Award in the foreign language category. Furthermore, it won a Golden Award and had over seventy-nine other awards and twenty-six nominations. Imperatively, the essence is that despite the translation process, Asian films can perform better at the global scene. However, translators have a huge role to ensure that what they script in the subtitles captures the imagination and understanding of their audience. “A Separation” is a film that showcases a contemporary Iranian society where legal proceedings can be a murky affair in regards to determining the truth in legal matters, the nebulous nature of morality and the level of opinions and ideas that can be used in a correct and just manner (Esfandiary 2012, p11). However, the problem of translations and subtitles does not end even in this well received Iranian film. The theme of the film may since be lost through translations, especially if they do not espouse the beliefs of the cast, its audience and society. “A Separation” gives its audience a glimpse into the contemporary Iranian religious and cultural depiction of women. The piece attempts to demonstrate that despite the religious and cultural expectations, the modern Iranian woman can make decisions and challenge her place in the community (Sheibani 2011, p2). Imperatively, the undoing of the Asian films as depicted by “Flowers of War” illustrates the need for film producers like Zhang Yimou to consider aspects that may pull their productions down. For instance, whitewashing has been a major concern in the film industry. Zhang’s “Flowers of War” is a perfect example of whitewashing where Christian Bale casts as a priest and mortician. The western audience would love to be active in a story. However, they would not feel attracted to a storyline simply because it has a white character (Bettinson 2013, p.263). For instance, in a recent Chinese production “The Great Wall” the role of Matt Damon has come under heavy criticism among film experts and film lovers. One would expect that a film with such a name would have a star-studded Chinese cast but in its trailer, “The Great Wall” one sees Matt Damon fighting monsters on top of Chinese’ most famous monument, the Great Wall. Most of the western audience may not be appeased with the concept of whitewashing and expects a movie to be told from its authentic setting even if it will have western connections in its plot. However, whitewashing has been criticised by the American audience. The tendency to give or insert certain things in places where history tells otherwise is unacceptable among a majority of these film lovers (Smith 2016, p2). Films need to have their national identities and when that lacks, viewers may find it difficult to make the connection and learn a thing about a certain culture. For instance, “A Separation” does well in its depiction of a changing and contemporary Iranian culture that it appeals to an audience that has historically viewed the community as strict, religious-driven and where rights, especially women rights, are frowned upon and never recognised, both by state and religion. Whitewashing takes away the originality of a film and coupled with poorly done subtitles, Asian films may find it difficult to enter the box-office league at the global level, particularly Chinese productions (Smith 2016, p1). Inexperienced human translators cannot fare well if they don’t understand idiomatic humour and are incapable of transposing cultural references from the source script to the target language and culture (Lu 2004, p10). The producers and directors of these productions must seek to reinvent their application of subtitles to ensure that their movies appeal in the west. More than ever, many of the film characters from Asia have found themselves in big screen roles in the west and play roles that depict their cultural and social backgrounds, and have received acceptance among the western audience (Bettinson 2013, p264). However, it would be a challenge for Asian films, particularly from China to compete for box-office prominence when they have a cast that is essentially whitewashed as demonstrated in Zhang’s “Flowers of War.” These films also display several film techniques as producers seek to have quality productions for their audience. For a start “Flowers of War” showcases some techniques that define its surrounding. Zhang sets the film in a fictional European church compound. The end product is an artificial, back-lot environment as the opening scenes are set in the streets and occurs in an actual fog of war. The technique separates the characters from the real situation in Nanjing Yan 2012, p1. The technique employed of a dozen girls, who are the flowers of the title, are visually coded as the virgins are in severe blue jackets while the prostitutes are in seductive, rainbow-hued silken attires. The situation of the compound is a contrived, hothouse state of things as demonstrated in a repeated scene by the director: the laughing prostitutes who sashay across the church compound is slow motion, unaware of the impending danger or tragedy. Additionally, the camera ventures into the outside world in some scenes that look timed to goose the events and remind the audience that they are watching a war film (Yan 2012, p1). In “A Separation” the director uses some film techniques aimed at making his message clear. The camera captures the altercation between Nader and Razieh as it runs across the neigbouring houses to see anybody watching the scene since it is a norm for women in the Iranian society to be handled in a violent manner. The opening scene where different documents are being scanned shows the director’s concern for class, justice, and family in the Iranian society (Cheshire 2012, p1). The costume and the appearance of the characters is used to contrast the existing class differences, for instance, Hojjat is balding while Nader appears well-groomed. The emotion of the film is largely created by the characters and music is used to create effects in the narrations (Cheshire 2012, p1). Conclusion The dismal performance or so of Asian films in the west can be attributed to the translation challenges, genre expectations, depiction of gender and the issue of whitewashing. Imperatively, the most important need for effective translation process is a competent native speaker who can replicate the extra-linguistic speech aspects like pitch, speed and intonation. Again, translators need good lip synchronisation, especially where footages from the production consist of several close-up scenes or shots. The new conversation needs to be closely shaped to match the original phrase lengths, if not it would be easy for the audience to notice the discrepancies and discover that they are listening to voice-overs. Again, whitewashing should not be viewed as a way of getting into the western audience but white characters must be used in such movies based on their important role, otherwise a backlash is too costly to rectify. However, the need to maintain and perpetuate a particular genre may not provide a holistic view but it carries a significant concern for the western audience. Imperatively, localised touches may serve to address the challenge if a film is meant for a Western audience. The Asian film industry must strive to be authentic, attracting and well-prepared to increase its market share and reduce the dominance of western films, especially at a time when the Chinese movie industry is using more resources than before to create big blockbusters that need to appeal in the west. References Bettinson, G., 2013. Journey to the West: Chinese movies in the global market. Asian Cinema, Vol.24, No.2, pp.259-270. Cheshire, G., 2012, February. Scenes from a Marriage. Accessed on November 6, 2016 from http://www.filmcomment.com/article/scenes-from-a-marriage/ Ebert, R., 2012. Flowers of War. Accessed on November 5, 2016 from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/flowers-of-war-2012 Esfandiary, S., 2012. Iranian Cinema and Globalization. Bristol: Intellect Lu, T., 2004. “Fantasy and Ideology in a Chinese Film: A Žižekian Reading of the Cultural Revolution.” Positions. Ma, S.M., 2013. The Myth of Nothing in Classics and Asian Indigenous Films. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, Vol.15, No.2, p.13. Scott, A., 2011. A House Divided by Exasperation, Accessed on November 5, 2016 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/movies/a-separation-directed-by-asghar-farhadi-review.html Singh, A., Isaka, M., Liu, S., Foley, K., Goodlander, J. and Robertson, A., 2016. Gender performance and the rise of actresses in traditional Asian theatre. Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre, p.413. Sheibani, K., 2011. “Cinema as Art: A Poetic Interpretation.” Ch. 1 in The Poetics of Iranian Cinema: Aesthetics, Modernity and Film after the Revolution. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2011. Smith, N.M., 2016, July. Matt Damon and The Great Wall: the latest targets of whitewashing on film. Accessed on November 5, 2016 from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/29/matt-damon-the-great-wall-whitewashing-white-actor Yan, G., 2012, January. The story behind Chinese war epic The Flowers of War. Accessed on November 6, 2016 from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-16638897 Yu, J., 2011. Translating the Language of Film: East Asian Films and Their Hollywood Remakes. CMC Senior Theses Paper 138 Retrieved from http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1167&context=cmc_theses Weiss, A., 2016. Contested Images of Rape: The Nanjing Massacre in Chinese and Japanese Films. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol.41, No.2, pp.433-456. Wright, L.P., 2013. White royalty [electronic resource]: whitewashing from Prince of Persia to Sofia the First. UMI thesis. Read More

Furthermore, its running time means that its audience needs to read so much of the subtitles in English. Imperatively, the western audience may find this too difficult to concentrate on reading, listening, and watching. Another aspect that makes it difficult for these productions is casting. For instance, the role and performance of Christian Bale in film “Flowers of War” has received mixed reactions from film analysts. Most western movies about Asia and Africa have white characters (Ma 2013, p.13). The essence of these characters, according to western film-making tradition, is to provide a way for a foreign subject for the western audience.

These characters are considered to be non-interest parties in such conflicts. Christian Bale stars as a dissolute mortician who must act as a Catholic priest to save hundreds of women and girls from being raped by the attacking troops when the Nanjing massacre occurred. Critics believe that such roles amounts to whitewashing and wonder if the film director, Zhang Yimou, could not get a Chinese priest (Bettinson 2013, p260). Critics have posited that perhaps one of the biggest flops of such a production was the attempt by the director to allow a white person to tell a Chinese story, particularly its political history.

However, a contrary opinion has been that the west must pay attention to, and care about the piece of Chinese history demonstrated through the production. Again, about twenty-seven foreigners (westerners) were in Nanjing at the time of the massacre and many showed their bravery, an attribute that the director sought to make about the whites (Ebert 2012, p1). Additionally, one would argue that casting Bale, one of the A-listers in Hollywood was aimed at asserting that the Chinese film industry aspires to have equal status with its American competitors.

Therefore, the Chinese film, with all its impressive budget, most of it funded by the Communist government, did not succeed at the international level as the western audience did not find it appealing. The film went on to rake in just over $100 million (Bettinson 2013, p261). Violence is used in many films across the world. However, the atrocities depicted in the Chinese production “Flowers of Wars” are at best appalling. One may suggest that such violent scenes exceed the view from a western audience that is accustomed to perhaps too much violence on television and would wish to view less violent films, especially when originating from other cultures and parts of the world (Wright 2013, p2).

Violence in the film revolves around the treatment of the women characters, where the sharp divide between the virginal schoolgirls and the brassy prostitutes is evident (Ebert 2012, p1). Such scenes make it difficult for a western audience to view the film because of violence targeted at a certain gender. So much is the violence that one wonders if there are any political undertones in the movie. For instance, some American film critics have questioned the appalling Chinese atrocities based on their perception of violence.

Again, other scenes like the combat outside the cathedral, where a Chinese folk hero, Major Li, that had single-handedly defied the Japanese are overly riveting and scary. A majority of Asian films have gained success, albeit among western audience, because of the genre that they use, particularly martial arts (Weiss 2016, p433). For instance, Chinese productions have borrowed much of their literary traditions and use stories that focus on martial arts heroes that combine with elements of history, adventure and fantasy.

However, the biggest obstacle to these productions has been the Mandarin-scripted films where the leading cast has sharp conflicting regional accents, a situation that poses a great challenge to interpreters (Weiss 2016, p1). The additional of subtitles based on regional accents of Mandarin has made these films less successful in the Western world. A poor track record of the subtitles for the Chinese film production of “Flowers of War” make it difficult for a Western audience to understand and follow through the production and underlines its dismal performance at a time when many have viewed the Chinese film industry as attractive, burgeoning and focused on reducing the American footprint in the global movie industry (Wright 2013, p2).

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