Oscar-nominated films highlight the international contributions of the movie industry's directors, actors, and technical experts. This year, on Sunday, Feb. 24, a film-maker from Mexico, Alfonso Cuaron, or Pawel Paiolikowski from Poland could win two Academy Awards, one for best director and the other for best foreign language film.
As in the past, international filmmakers frequently are nominated in the categories: animated and live action shorts. These movies are not shown in many movie theatres, and that is not a loss this year, because, except for two films, they portray depressing themes not suitable for young audiences. Adults and children would enjoy the funny Animal Behavior, however. In this Canadian entry, a dog psychiatrist tries to cure a pig, praying mantis, bird, and other animals of their most annoying habits. A gorilla with anger management issues takes exception to the person in front of him in the "10 or Less" line who wants to count the five bananas in his one bunch separately. He reacts by tearing up her bag of frozen peas and says, "Now, you have a thousand."
Children already may have seen the Oscar-nominated Bao, a Chinese word for dumpling, that Pixar screened before Incredibles 2. On her second try, Bao's director, Domee Shi, was hired by Pixar as an intern. She is now the first female director in its shorts department. At age two, Ms. Shi migrated with her family from Chongqing, China, to Toronto, Canada. Her father, a college professor of fine art and landscape painter, recognized her talent for drawing, and her mother's dumplings sparked the idea of using food as an entry into understanding another culture. Japanese anime films and manga comics and graphic novels also inspired Ms. Shi, as well as the Mexican theme of the animated feature, Coco, that won an Academy Award last year.
China is among the growing number of countries joining Hollywood, India's Bollywood, and Nigeria's Nollywood in the film and music video industries. By 2019, however, authoritarian control by Chinese authorities was causing film investors to flee. On the other hand, filmmakers in Nigeria aided government efforts, when suspicious circumstances delayed a presidential election in Nigeria. A drone camera was deployed to record singing Nigerian film stars urging voters to remain cool in a video shown on social media. Off the east coast on the other side of Africa, the island of Mauritius is using the advantage of year round good weather to attract job-creating firm-makers.
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda Group had high hopes for the 400-acre, 30 sound stage, $8 billion Oriental Movie Metropolis he opened in the east coast port city of Qingdao three years ago. Although offering to pay film-makers 40% of their production costs, producers were wary of censoring by China's State Administration of Press Publications, Radio, Film and Television. Other setbacks included: the failure of China's big budget film tribute to Tibetan mythology, Asura; social media references to Chinese President Xi's resemblance to Disney's Winnie the Pooh; and the ill-advised joint U.S.-Chinese film, Great Wall, starring Matt Damon as a mercenary soldier fighting with a secret Chinese army defending the Great Wall of China from monsters.
Recent films produced for China's domestic market are generating higher box office returns. Dying to Survive opened with a $200 million weekend by telling the story of Lu Yong, who took on the high Chinese prices of Western medicine by importing illegal cancer drugs from India. The Wandering Earth, a sci-fi thriller about the expanding sun's threat to Earth, trapped in Jupiter's gravitational pull, netted $440 million during the first ten days of China's New Year of the Pig. By downplaying its Warner Bros. connection, the U.S.-Chinese co-production, The Meg, a film about a deep sea diver who saved a submersible disabled by a prehistoric Megalodon shark, earned $528 million globally.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Olympic Games Blur Country Borders
It certainly is more fun and less dangerous to compete under the five linked Olympic rings representing the sporting friendship of all people than to engage in a worldwide arms race. After all, with the mingling of countries and cultures in today's world, its hard to tell which country wins or is bested at an international sporting competition. A sample of the athletes who will begin competing in PyeongChang, South Korea, on February 9 uncovers the multicultural passion for sports.
Peninsula communistic and democratic rivals from North and South Korea will enter the Olympic arena together, and their women will compete together on an ice hockey team.
Figure skating pair, Ryom Tae Ok and Kun Ju Si from North Korea trained for the Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
As a refugee, Shannon-Ogbani Abeda learned to ski in Alberta, Canada, where his family fled from Eritrea, Africa, but he'll be competing for Eritrea at the Olympics.
Born in Ghana, Aftica, Maame Biney will be lacing up her speed skates to represent the U.S.
Bobsledders from Nigeria, Africa, will match skills with Canadians and Germans.
In the winter games, Pita Jaufutofua from Tonga will trade the taekwondo competitors he had in Rio's summer games for the Norwegians, Swedes, and Russians he'll meet, when he straps on his cross country skis.
Magnus Kim, a cross country skier whose dad is Norwegian and mother is South Korean, will compete for South Korea.
Chloe Kim, whose parents are from South Korea where her grandmother still lives, is a Californian riding her snowboard for the U.S.
Born of Chinese parents, Nathan Chen will leave his Salt Lake City home in Utah when he hopes to land a record number of quad figure skating jumps for the U.S.
So, when athletes from diverse countries and backgrounds come together in PyeongChang, let the world honor Baron Pierre de Coubertin's 1896 vision for the modern Olympics. Show a shared love of athletics really can help the people of the world understand each other.
Peninsula communistic and democratic rivals from North and South Korea will enter the Olympic arena together, and their women will compete together on an ice hockey team.
Figure skating pair, Ryom Tae Ok and Kun Ju Si from North Korea trained for the Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
As a refugee, Shannon-Ogbani Abeda learned to ski in Alberta, Canada, where his family fled from Eritrea, Africa, but he'll be competing for Eritrea at the Olympics.
Born in Ghana, Aftica, Maame Biney will be lacing up her speed skates to represent the U.S.
Bobsledders from Nigeria, Africa, will match skills with Canadians and Germans.
In the winter games, Pita Jaufutofua from Tonga will trade the taekwondo competitors he had in Rio's summer games for the Norwegians, Swedes, and Russians he'll meet, when he straps on his cross country skis.
Magnus Kim, a cross country skier whose dad is Norwegian and mother is South Korean, will compete for South Korea.
Chloe Kim, whose parents are from South Korea where her grandmother still lives, is a Californian riding her snowboard for the U.S.
Born of Chinese parents, Nathan Chen will leave his Salt Lake City home in Utah when he hopes to land a record number of quad figure skating jumps for the U.S.
So, when athletes from diverse countries and backgrounds come together in PyeongChang, let the world honor Baron Pierre de Coubertin's 1896 vision for the modern Olympics. Show a shared love of athletics really can help the people of the world understand each other.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Don't Only Think Outside the Box, Put More in the Box
Richard Thaler, who just won the Nobel Prize for economics, created behavioral economics. He combined what is known about human behavior from psychological analysis with economic theory. Before making economic policies, he urged policy makers to consider how humans are influenced by their cultures, lack complete self-control, and act on less than pure economic considerations. Policy makers around the world have been influenced by his book, Nudge, which emphasizes how humans are more likely to respond to gentle persuasion rather than compulsory measures.
In many respects, diversification or the combination of fields is nothing new. It's done with stock portfolios and by actors who sing and dance to increase their career options. I remember reading how the structure of trees helped an architect design skyscrapers. If you look at a Jaguar automobile, you can see the jaguar animal inspired its design. There's music in elevators and serious films. In science, the fields of biology and chemistry are merging. Technology puts LED lights in kids shoes and in women's evening gowns.
The more information we can draw on, be it from the arts, sciences, economics, military history, or religion, the better prepared we will be to face the challenges of a very challenging future. Thaler makes you wonder what sort of gentle persuasion, i.e. a nudge, would be better than sanctions to stop the military build-up in North Korea or a spanking from preventing a child from throwing another tantrum.
In many respects, diversification or the combination of fields is nothing new. It's done with stock portfolios and by actors who sing and dance to increase their career options. I remember reading how the structure of trees helped an architect design skyscrapers. If you look at a Jaguar automobile, you can see the jaguar animal inspired its design. There's music in elevators and serious films. In science, the fields of biology and chemistry are merging. Technology puts LED lights in kids shoes and in women's evening gowns.
The more information we can draw on, be it from the arts, sciences, economics, military history, or religion, the better prepared we will be to face the challenges of a very challenging future. Thaler makes you wonder what sort of gentle persuasion, i.e. a nudge, would be better than sanctions to stop the military build-up in North Korea or a spanking from preventing a child from throwing another tantrum.
Maybe we should be creating prompts to foster combinations. What combinations might foster learning, new products, people-sensitive policies?
Monday, March 20, 2017
Modern Masculinity
The "Men's Project" at the University of Wisconsin - Madison recognizes how modern masculinity is challenged to keep up with changing female roles. Around the world, women are rebelling against stereotypes that portray them as uneducated and unfit for positions in politics and government, athletic competition, business careers, and military service. Yet many cling to the image of tall, white heterosexual males surrounded by women competing for their attention and approval.
In this period of transition, two dynamics are at play. While some men ad women have moved on to accept equality of the sexes, others have not. In the United States, for example, research in Lisa Wade's new book, American Hookup, found there are still men (and women) willing to embrace a culture where sex is a no-strings-attached form of fun that favors men.
Marketers use age demographics to identify male segments, but careful attention to advertising also shows a gradual addition of male lifestyle segments. Loosely based o Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we might label this expanding list of male lifestyle segments as follows:
Philosophers: These men are secure in their manhood whether they are Bill Gates' types or stay-at-home dads. They think each person should do his or her own thing, and they are happy to help those in need.
Top Dogs: These wealthy, good-looking heterosexual players equate masculinity with the constant pursuit of hot women for meaningless sex. They look for wives who support their careers and enhance their status.
Power Couples: College and graduate schools foster romantic bonds between men and women with similar professional, academic research, and business interests. Masculinity is not threatened in these relationships which are based on equality.
Pillars of the Community: These family me look for ways to serve the community. They coach children's soccer leagues, head organizations that sponsor food drives, enter local politics, look out for elderly neighbors, and attend religious services. Without trying, they meet women who also provide community services.
Providers: For men in this segment, masculinity means men don't do women's work. They don't prepare food, wash and mend clothes, clean the house, or care for children. They don't expect women to work outside the home, and they do expect to sit somewhere drinking a few beers and watching games uninterrupted. Break one of their rules and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and/or emotional bullying can follow.
Marketers know change is possible. But changing a male's view of his masculinity requires a strategy like one a marketer would use to introduce a new product.
The new view, such as the fact that a man can enjoy a meaningful relationship on equal terms with a woman, has to have an advantage over the old, and this advantage needs to be demonstrated. Males need to see other men enjoying meaningful relationships with women within their culture and/or by couples they admire. Change also is easier if switching to something new has an element of familiarity. When computers were introduced, for example, keyboards had built-in acceptance, because they had the look of a typewriter. If a brother has had a good, lifelong relationship with his sister or (I'm reluctant to say, because analogies all have limits) a man has the experience of a close bond with a pet, he knows the joy of friendship and intimacy, albeit platonic. Finally, change also requires minimizing risk. That's why marketers provide trial offers, guaranteed return policies, and free shipping. Men could be persuaded to move toward a new view of masculinity, if they would not suffer a financial loss, physical harm, or, possibly worst of all, the psychological pain of people laughing at them.
In this period of transition, two dynamics are at play. While some men ad women have moved on to accept equality of the sexes, others have not. In the United States, for example, research in Lisa Wade's new book, American Hookup, found there are still men (and women) willing to embrace a culture where sex is a no-strings-attached form of fun that favors men.
Marketers use age demographics to identify male segments, but careful attention to advertising also shows a gradual addition of male lifestyle segments. Loosely based o Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we might label this expanding list of male lifestyle segments as follows:
Philosophers: These men are secure in their manhood whether they are Bill Gates' types or stay-at-home dads. They think each person should do his or her own thing, and they are happy to help those in need.
Top Dogs: These wealthy, good-looking heterosexual players equate masculinity with the constant pursuit of hot women for meaningless sex. They look for wives who support their careers and enhance their status.
Power Couples: College and graduate schools foster romantic bonds between men and women with similar professional, academic research, and business interests. Masculinity is not threatened in these relationships which are based on equality.
Pillars of the Community: These family me look for ways to serve the community. They coach children's soccer leagues, head organizations that sponsor food drives, enter local politics, look out for elderly neighbors, and attend religious services. Without trying, they meet women who also provide community services.
Providers: For men in this segment, masculinity means men don't do women's work. They don't prepare food, wash and mend clothes, clean the house, or care for children. They don't expect women to work outside the home, and they do expect to sit somewhere drinking a few beers and watching games uninterrupted. Break one of their rules and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and/or emotional bullying can follow.
Marketers know change is possible. But changing a male's view of his masculinity requires a strategy like one a marketer would use to introduce a new product.
The new view, such as the fact that a man can enjoy a meaningful relationship on equal terms with a woman, has to have an advantage over the old, and this advantage needs to be demonstrated. Males need to see other men enjoying meaningful relationships with women within their culture and/or by couples they admire. Change also is easier if switching to something new has an element of familiarity. When computers were introduced, for example, keyboards had built-in acceptance, because they had the look of a typewriter. If a brother has had a good, lifelong relationship with his sister or (I'm reluctant to say, because analogies all have limits) a man has the experience of a close bond with a pet, he knows the joy of friendship and intimacy, albeit platonic. Finally, change also requires minimizing risk. That's why marketers provide trial offers, guaranteed return policies, and free shipping. Men could be persuaded to move toward a new view of masculinity, if they would not suffer a financial loss, physical harm, or, possibly worst of all, the psychological pain of people laughing at them.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Chinese Culture Creep
The Chinese Year of the Rooster is fast approaching on Saturday, January 28, 2017. After the antics of the Year of the Monkey, the rooster wakes us up to prepare for fresh challenges that require a quick wit, practical solutions, and persistence.
With theme parks and film, savvy showmen Qiaoling Huang and Wang Jianlin are providing entertainment and spreading Chinese culture at the same time. Huang's Songcheng Group is making its first overseas investment in the $600 million Australia Legend Kingdom. On Australia's Gold Coast, local visitors, the 1.2 million Chinese tourists who spend $8000 per trip, and other international tourists will be able to visit a theme park that features an aboriginal Australian village and the "Mystic Orient," which showcases Chinese and Southeast Asian culture.
Chinese investors have acquired AMC movie theaters and the Legendary Entertainment movie studio in the United States. Wang Jianlin, chairman of the (Dalian) Wanda Group/Wanda Cultural Industry Group, is in the process of developing a state-of-the-art Movie Metropolis Complex and offering up to 40% of production costs to attract filmmakers to Qingdao. China's censorship State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television is therefore positioned to counter Western values and to introduce China's core socialist values into films and to influence the culture of global moviegoers.
China's attempt to buy into World-Cup-class soccer (football) suffered an initial setback. According to TIME magazine (Jan. 16, 2017), Christiano Ronaldo, a Real Madrid star, turned down a $314 million offer from a Chinese Super League club. But by 2018, Alibaba had a sports channel streaming soccer. China's HNA Group was one of the sponsors at the French Open tennis tournament May 22 - June 11, 2017.
Chinese culture has no trouble being represented on dinner tables around the world. Begin the Year of the Rooster by dining at a local Chinese restaurant or, with an adult's help, try this recipe at home.
Pineapple Chicken Stir-Fry
Servings: 4
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 boneless, skinless Chicken breast halves, cut in strips
1/2 green or red pepper, thinly sliced
1 can (15.25 oz.) pineapple chunks in their own juice
3/4 cup sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 tsp ginger)
Hot cooked rice
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and green pepper, cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is done (no longer pink).
2. Drain pineapple and reserve 2 tablespoons of juice. Combine reserved juice and sauce.
3. Add pineapple chunks and sauce mixture to skillet. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice.
With theme parks and film, savvy showmen Qiaoling Huang and Wang Jianlin are providing entertainment and spreading Chinese culture at the same time. Huang's Songcheng Group is making its first overseas investment in the $600 million Australia Legend Kingdom. On Australia's Gold Coast, local visitors, the 1.2 million Chinese tourists who spend $8000 per trip, and other international tourists will be able to visit a theme park that features an aboriginal Australian village and the "Mystic Orient," which showcases Chinese and Southeast Asian culture.
Chinese investors have acquired AMC movie theaters and the Legendary Entertainment movie studio in the United States. Wang Jianlin, chairman of the (Dalian) Wanda Group/Wanda Cultural Industry Group, is in the process of developing a state-of-the-art Movie Metropolis Complex and offering up to 40% of production costs to attract filmmakers to Qingdao. China's censorship State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television is therefore positioned to counter Western values and to introduce China's core socialist values into films and to influence the culture of global moviegoers.
China's attempt to buy into World-Cup-class soccer (football) suffered an initial setback. According to TIME magazine (Jan. 16, 2017), Christiano Ronaldo, a Real Madrid star, turned down a $314 million offer from a Chinese Super League club. But by 2018, Alibaba had a sports channel streaming soccer. China's HNA Group was one of the sponsors at the French Open tennis tournament May 22 - June 11, 2017.
Chinese culture has no trouble being represented on dinner tables around the world. Begin the Year of the Rooster by dining at a local Chinese restaurant or, with an adult's help, try this recipe at home.
Pineapple Chicken Stir-Fry
Servings: 4
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 boneless, skinless Chicken breast halves, cut in strips
1/2 green or red pepper, thinly sliced
1 can (15.25 oz.) pineapple chunks in their own juice
3/4 cup sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 tsp ginger)
Hot cooked rice
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and green pepper, cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is done (no longer pink).
2. Drain pineapple and reserve 2 tablespoons of juice. Combine reserved juice and sauce.
3. Add pineapple chunks and sauce mixture to skillet. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice.
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