Tag Archives: #BCM111

News Features

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Each country has their own way of broadcasting news, news could be broadcasted via paper, magazines, radio or online but who tells us what is news and what isn’t news?

An important question here is ‘what is news?’ and ‘what makes news’?

Stories in the news world has to go through a standardised procedure and routines, by the time it reaches the audiences it is a result of a series of selections.

There are several features that occur when selecting news stories:

  • Transient
  • Pseudo-events
  • Narrativisation
  • Visual imperatives

Transient as a feature is that news increases in rank compared to history, the essence of news is more than common sense, but less than formal knowledge of an event.  News is characterised by its transient and ephemeral quality.

Pseudo-events is a feature of news that displays the arranged use of mass media and the success of a PR campaign is defined by how widely the event is reported.  The public expect newspapers, televisions and radios to be full of news, even if there is no news at that time, people still expect a story to be provided.

Narrativisation is a feature where stories are gathered and then shaped into a narrative form as soon as possible.

Visual Imperatives is a feature that attracts audiences by “strong” visuals which can resemble a blockbuster film, it is especially important in television news as it keeps audiences engaged.

References

Khorana, S 2014, ‘Who counts in Global Media?: News Values’, lecture powerpoint slides, BCM111/International Communication and Media, University of Wollongong, 22 September 2014.

Television in Translation – Kath & Kim

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kathandkimno                                                                                 “LOOK AT MOIII LOOK AT MOIII’

Many Australians have heard that saying and the annoying voice that coincides with it as we have grown up watching the Australian sitcom ‘Kath & Kim’.  You may not be aware of the remake of the series which was being aired in America which didn’t last for very long and the original series were put back to air.

Comedy television series have been altered from the original script and adapted to a specific culture which may not always be successful.  This is television in translation where a series is adapted to suit the comedy styles and audiences of another culture.  This occurred through the series ‘Mother & Son’, ‘The Office’ and ‘Kath & Kim’.

The American series of Kath & Kim featured all the same re-made characters except for ‘Sharon’, Kath was played by comedian Molly Shannon and Kim by actress Selma Blair. The pilot was aired in 2008 and was viewed fairly popular by an American audience. Add a few more episodes and popularity reduced significantly with the cancelling of the serious after just 8 episodes

It is said that television comedy has been said to not travel well at all which was the case for the American series, the series had lacked ‘irony’, Turnbull (2008) argues it is “how the character imagines oneself to be and how they appear to the audience.” As other cultures may perceive Australians the way Kath & Kim present themselves this would seem funny to them, it would be funny for Australians as it is a display of an over stereotypical idea of how we act.

Peter Galvin explains Australian Kath n Kim is “tasteless, sharp, crude, it drew its characters in large and grotesque shapes. They resonated deeply with an audience prepared to laugh at their own affectations, pretensions and self-delusions.”

This is evident in Kim’s character.  In the AUS version, Kim is a size 16, whom thinks she is a 10 and is playing a twenty year old character even though she is 40 in real life.  She struts around in revealing clothes that display her body in an unappealing manner whilst referring to herself as a horn bag.  As you compare this to the US character, she is actually a size 10 and still looks extremely young and pretty enough to embody the character which leaves the version without humour.  Irony isn’t evident when the US characters are glamorous.

References

Galvin, P 2012, Kath and Kimderella, SBS, viewed 9 September 2014, <http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/movie/kath-kimderella>

Turnbull, S 2008, ‘Television comedy in translation’, Metro Magazine 159, 2 December, p. 110-115.

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Crossover Cinema – Bend it like Beckham

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As watching television has become a big part of everyone’s daily lives, you may be exposed to cinema crossover films that could have different cultures throughout the production.  As a crossover film doesn’t have to be in a different language you may not be aware that you are even watching one.

I was truly unaware of the term ‘cinema crossover’ until I had read Khorana’s reading explaining the idea behind it – “The term ‘Crossover Cinema’ is used to describe an emerging form of cinema that has undertaken the process of crossing cultural borders during the stage of production, distribution and reception, drawing on a range of universal themes and techniques” (Khorana, 2013).

Cultural crossovers allow films to have a wider range of audiences that can have different perspectives of the film plots.

One of my favourite movies of all times is ‘Bend it like Beckham’ which is about an Indian girl who wants to play football but it’s not accepted by her traditional Indian family, the film is set in the UK where it displays a universal theme for Indian traditional families living in the UK.

“Films like Bend It like Beckham have displayed the box office potential of crossover films in the international market. A strong theme, an effective screenplay, a strong narrative and a strong storyline that displays a reality that is universal is essential for Indian filmmakers to make their mark in the global mainstream,” (Nidimoru 2003)

Some crossover films may not work if the producers have specified the plot to a particular culture rather than a universal theme or if the producer has not succeeded in displaying a culture which may end up offending people.

“Crossover films address the reality of this new generation of Indian immigrants and their relatives and friends. A typical Indian film perhaps does not address this reality and is based more on the past. However, with the foray made by crossover films, this whole new reality is now on the canvas” (Nidimoru 2003)

References

Khorana, S 2013, ‘Crossover Cinema: A Genealogical and Conceptual Overview’, Producing a Hybrid Grammar, pp. 1-7

Nidimoru, K 2003, Crossover Films are the New Reality, Rediff, viewed 04 September 2014, <http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/oct/17film.htm&gt;

Global Film Market – Who influences who? Cultural imperialism?

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Living in a western country you may not be aware of the influences of other cultures in our film industry or may not be aware of the influence of westerners have on other cultures film industry.  I personally had not been aware of cultural influences in the movies I have seen until discussions in tutorials and lectures at university.

As globalisation occurs we are exposed to other cultures and are influenced by them, some successful movies that are being shown in western cinemas circulate around different cultures.

  • Avatar
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • Bride and Prejudice
  • Monsoon Wedding (Khorana 2014)

Avatarjakeneytiri   Although these films are western produced they are derived from Indian culture – Schaefer and Karan argued that the film was based off traditional Indian mythology – such was apparent with the storyline of the foreign invaders, which mimics the ‘Ramayana’ storyline of an epic battle between avatar Prince Rama and the demon Ravana.  The use of the blue coloured avatars can be displayed as the ‘blue monkey army’ that helped Rama.

The successful movie ‘Slumdog millionaire´ was labelled a ‘Bollywood’ movie but was co-produced in the UK, although the movie had similar features of a Hindi film like the interruptive song-and-dance sequences, the produces had used iconic tourist symbols like the Taj Mahal and the western title of the TV series ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ rather than non-tourist traditional India and the Hindi title series ‘Kuan banega Crorepati’.  The movie was largely focused surrounding the Indian call-centre which has been a source for the widespread anti-Indian political rhetoric in the US (Schaefer & Karan 2010).

images    Movies that are western produced but are influenced can be said to be a ‘Western movie for Eastern audiences’ and an ‘Eastern movie for Western audiences’ but is cultural imperialism evident in the global film industry?

“Bollywoodisation appears to have been absorbed into the conglomerate multicultural marketing toolkit, prompting us to question whose economic interest actually is being served by the soft power potential of the Indian film industry and its cinematic contra-flows” (Schaefer and Karan 2010). – It is said that Indian films stand the best change of challenging Hollywood’s domination in the film making world.

Discussions have occurred in tutorials surrounding the idea of Bollywood and Nollywood overtaking the film industry due to recent growth but has been deemed unlikely due to the western audiences and Eastern audiences that are more interested in Hollywood films.

Western producers label films as ‘Bollywood’ purely because they are based in India and have similar attributes to Hindi films (Slumdog Millionaire) but still have more of a Western-tourist twist on the film and allow western audiences to feel culturally enhanced by the movie.  They try to give Bollywood the recognition but the profits of the movie and the marketing associated with the movies opens up a whole new market of Bollywoodized products that are being sold in Western countries where India does not see the profits which is further argued by Schaefer and Karan (2010).

References

  • Khorana, S 2014, ‘Global Film Beyond Hollywood: Industry Focus’, lecture PowerPoint slides, BCM111/International Media and Communications, University of Wollongong, 20 August 2014,
  • Schaefer, D & Karan, K 2010, ‘Problematizing Chindia: Hybridity and Bollywoodization of popular Indian cinema in global film flows’, Global Media and Communication, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 309-316.

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