By Maryam Abdul Mohsen / Aznan Mat Piah
Consciously or subconsciously many of us tend to be fascinated by the Hollywood movies. Why is that so? The Hollywood movie industry seems to be an influential media power not only for the western society but also the citizens of other parts of the world.
Although most of the films produced are based on western culture, the media power conceptualises its influence on the culture, trends, values and ideologies of other societies of the world. These themes are reflected in the messages actualised in the western films.
Recently, when given an assignment by my lecturer to examine the role of mass communication, I became interested to look at some of the major themes of the Hollywood movies. I found that many of these movies seem to circle around the theme of love.
From a standpoint of view, love is a very essential emotion for all human beings and the west has successfully depicted the message of love in films ranging from The Notebook, The Vow, Titanic, 50 First Dates and the like. The love theme falls under five categories: forbidden love, family love, romantic love, unrequited love, and patriotic love.
In forbidden love, its prime theme is that two people fall in love but are forbidden to love each other under some underlying circumstances. Movies like Romeo and Juliet, Water for Elephants, Warm Bodies and Endless Love fall into this category.
In family love, the message of love towards family can be found in movies like Cheaper by the Dozen, Finding Nemo and Fly Away Home.
In romantic love, the movies centre on man and woman who are head over heels of each other as in movies like The Notebook, Dear John and Pretty Woman.
In unrequited love, the films depict that one falls for the other but does not receive the same response from the other as My Best Friend’s Wedding, Gone with the Wind and Dumb and Dumber.
In patriotic love, the theme centres on love for the United States of America and for the nation as in movies like Forrest Gump, The Patriot and Glory.
But, another theme of Hollywood movies is stereotype and prejudice. These types of movies promote either explicitly or implicitly the act of stereotyping in the American society.
One such movie is Tarzan, which depicts heroism of a white man living in the forest of the “Jungle of Africa”. The Tarzan is seen as a white super hero and the Africans are portrayed as spineless and inferior. This is one example of a double-edged nature of the media, which implicitly deliver the ideological roots of stereotyping.
During the 1940s and 1950s the American movies portrayed the blacks in menial and servile roles, which in a way glorified the whites and denigrated non-Caucasians. The blacks are portrayed as evil and criminals in movies like Super Fly, which is a story about a cocaine dealer who beats the system, with scenes of raw violence and sex. They are displayed as those who lack morality, are physically violent and lack self-control.
The prejudice element may be seen in how Islam has been portrayed in Hollywood movies which could negatively influence the audiences’ perception towards the Muslims. Movies like Syriana and Delta Force depict Muslims as terrorists. From my viewpoint, the west is trying really hard to associate Muslims with terrorism. For instance, Delta Force portrays a gang of Arab terrorists who hijacked an airplane.
Western movies considered anti-Islamic and a disgrace to Islam have been banned from screening in the Middle East countries. Needless to say, majority of the American society perceive Islam as a religion of terrorists due to the way Islam is shown in movie contents.
The Hollywood movie industry, nevertheless, plays a significant role as an effective means of entertainment. The American society can easily relieve stress and boredom by staying glued to the screen watching back to back movies on a lazy Sunday.
Comedy movies like White Chicks, The Simpson Movies, Shallow Hal and Big Momma appeal to the audience because the storyline can make people laugh at the top of their lungs. Fiction movies such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, ET and Men in Black are attracting the audience as these movies constitute a form of escapism from reality.
Many different cultures across the globe look up to the Hollywood movie industry for new trends and ideas for their movie contents. Hollywood movies are not only watched by the Americans but also by people in many parts of the world, hence, the media contents hold a powerful role in society.
Photo courtesy of Lost in La Macha's official website