The Studio Sin of Chopping up Films from Other Countries: Free Snowpiercer!

(Images are from the acclaimed Korean action film Snowpiecer. If we are lucky, we may get to see this film in the USA.  You can make a difference in if and how this happens.)

Hello my dear friends,

All ye privileged enough to be in Josh Wager's International Cinema class (I envy you), what I'm about to write you is shocking.  And scary.  And terrifying.  And awful.  And just plain not cool.

But, before I get into it, I want to make sure you understand what I'm posting here is merely to enlighten you on a subject that isn't at all an old one - it is a long running and horrific habit of Hollywood's - and, to extend an invitation.  This is not an assignment, my young film watching friends.  But, please take the time to read on.


From the dawn of time, or well, the dawn of film, other countries have made really cool movies that would get American Studios to go, "hmmmmm, maybe we can make a buck or two off this!  Or maybe one or two million!!!  Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!"  Then they would look at the film and go, "What?  American audiences are dumb, they won't understand this film.  We've got to cut, tweak, change, trim, chop, slaughter, slice, and butcher this film.  Leave in the action and explosions, take out the depth!  No body likes depth!  Cut this thing down, slap a price tag on it, and sell it!"  This happened back in the silent film era with Metropolis (sweet German film), it happened in the fifties with Seven Samurai (the first American cut was viciously shorter than the masterpiece you saw), and it's happened countless more times than that.

Even Chariots of Fire, a British movie, ALL in English for crying out loud, was edited because they feared American audiences wouldn't get the "Britishness" of the film.  You know what I say to that?  Boo hoo to you, American studios, boo hoo to you!  I may not understand every cultural reference, I may not get every political joke, I may not understand every nod to moments from that country's history, but that is part of the point!  I WANT to be exposed to the things of the culture that make it the culture what it is.  I want to have questions, so that I can research and learn about the country, so I can get a great introduction into what makes the country tick.  I want to learn cool things about the goldfish symbolism in Iran because they didn't cut the goldfish out of the film (á la Children of Heaven).

I feel strongly that we, the film watching and art loving people of the nation, have both the power to tell the studios "don't do that", and the responsibility of doing so.  We need to keep our foreign films pure.

Below is a petition for an AWESOME sounding Korean film, deep with character development, powerful themes and meaning, one that an American film studio wants to release here, but only if the director is willing to chop it down viciously - the studio wants it  25 minutes shorter, and they want the director to add in unneeded voice-overs to essentially "dumb" down the movie for American audiences.  This is a film made by a brilliant filmmaker.  Joon-ho Bong made one of the best monster movies of all time, The Host (no, not the recent one by Stephanie Meyers), a movie that is so wonderful because it is not just about the cool monster - it is mainly about the people whose lives are thrown into chaos because of this monster - it is mainly about a family coming together to save a lost daughter, it is mainly about the character growth.  It is a movie about family.  It is brilliant.  So, I'm certain this new film of his, which has already received tons of acclaim internationally, is going to be brilliant as well.  Weinstein studios bought the rights to distribute it here, but now they are demanding the severe edits and changes... "to make sure this film will be understood in Iowa... and Oklahoma," as the Weinstein company put it.  Hey, Weinstein Studios, we're smart enough to handle this film as it is.  We can totally handle movies from other countries.  In fact, we like them.

Petitions make a difference.  I know it is easy to say they don't, but this website, Change.org, has countless success stories.  In order for petitions to work, people need to sign them.  Lots of people.  I've proudly signed it.  If this is a cause you believe in, I invite you to do the same, and to spread the word to other like-minded film friends, or people who simply believe in experiencing art from other countries, who may be interested in signing it as well.


 I want to see this movie, as it is meant to be seen.  And, I want this film's release to be a success story for international films from all over the world.  I want to see a change in the mindset of American Studios all around.  If you would like to learn more, and would like to sign the petition, click the link here: Free Snowpiercer!

Steampunk Production Class Final

Internation Cinema Class: Ignore this.

Steampunk Production Class: follow this link to take the self evaluation you need to complete: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GzeD0qRAk7KFAjPI2cwpIdWtwRNEZzrjR4pnbCfDgWE/viewform

Term Project Presentation

In class today (Tuesday), we signed up for times to present to the class what we learned by doing the term projects. We also agreed upon the following standards for the term project:

• Present a basic understanding of the history and style of the country’s cinema.
• Show at least two clips from movies from the country. Have a reason to show this clips. What’s the point?
• Tell the important things you learned from the interview.
• Organize your thoughts ahead of time by writing an outline or creating a PowerPoint.

The Naked Prey (1966)

Well, now I can saw I have seen a movie produced by Africans. It feels good to be able to say that and it is a small step toward seeing many movies made in that giant continent.

The Naked Prey was produced in South Africa, a country inhabited by both white and black folk. Since white people came to South Africa, the country has experienced strong racial divides with a lot of hate being passed back and forth. Keep in mind, as you comment on the film, that some people have criticized it as being racist against the black people who live in South Africa.

Answer two of the of the following bulleted questions:

• Do you feel this film is racist against black people? Why or why not?
• What do you feel is the theme of the film? Back up your opinion with examples.
• When I was watching the film, I noticed that there are lots of shots that were not pertinent to the story line of animals. It was documentary-like in the way it would, between scenes or sometimes in the middle of scenes, cut to shots of animals doing their thing in the savanna. Many times, these were shots of random animals killing each other. What do you think was the purpose of these shots? Why did the director choose to include them?

Seven Samurai (1954) Vs. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

In class, we watched Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and then Hollywood director John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven. The latter was an adaptation of the first. They are the same story, only one is set in Samurai-era Japan and the other in the American West. By watching how the same concept and story were produced differently in Japan and Hollywood, I hope you gained a stronger sense of what sets Japanese culture and cinema apart from our own and that this helped you understand each local's characteristics better.

So, all of the questions in this blog post require you to compare the two films. Since you have to watch them both to do the post, this one is worth 20 points instead of 10.

Without further ado, answer both of the following bulleted questions:

• What differences did you notice between Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven? What was the same? 
• When answer the above, please be more specific than the obvious stuff like "one was in Japan and the other had cowboys. Think about things
  
  
  like which plot points stayed the same and which were different, which characters in each film corresponded to the characters in the other film, in what ways were the character different, how the change of locale made it necessary to change plot points or themes, etc.
• How do the differences and similarities between the two films help you understand the Japanese's culture and/or cinematic style better? How does it help you understand our own culture and/or cinematic style better?

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

As I said in class before starting the film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi is an enigma to me. I don't completely understand why this profile doc about a man who makes sushi is so engaging for me but it is! I love watching this movie. I hope you did too.

After watching the film, I'd like you to answer the following questions in two of the following bullet points:

• Did you find this film engaging? If so, what about it do you think makes it so engaging? If not, tell us what about the film made it hard for you to be engaged with it.
• This is the first documentary we've watched in class. Did you find that the documentary form helped you understand the Japanese culture in ways that a fiction film (e.g. Seven Samurai) could not? Explain. Why is it good to watch documentaries?
• What did you learn about Japanese culture by watching this film? You might write about what the film showed about father-son relationships or the idea of family honor (the father-son relationships and sense of family honor depicted in this film are very characteristic of the way things are in Japan).

Term Project

We decided in class today that it would be easier, instead of having a bunch of little deadlines, to have one term project deadline to complete all five of the parts of it. So, the deadline we decided on is Monday, January 13.

So, that means that by Monday, January 13, you need to have completed the following:

• Watch three movies from your country of choice.
• Do two hours of research using books or the internet on your country of choice.
• Do a 30 minute interview (or longer) with someone who has lived for at least a year in your country of choice.

When you have completed all of these things then answer all of the following questions in a comment on this post:

• Which three movies did you watch. Which did you like the most? Why? Which did you like the least? Why?
• What were the three most important things you learned in your two hours of research?
• What were the three most important things you learned while doing your interview?