Economic and Political Affects on Hollywood

Economic and Political affects on Hollywood

(How Globalization Has Influenced Hollywood)

Globalization is an issue that is a hotly debated topic in the world today. Rarely ever does a conversation about the world go on with out globalization being included. Globalizations appeal has not passed the tentacles of Hollywood, who has taken advantage of all the hot issues that have come out of globalization so that it can maximize its profits. Topics such as blood diamonds, global warming, and ethnocentrism by other cultures in regard the United States have become popular topics for multi-million dollar movies that are being produced by Hollywood. Hollywood. Movies such as Rocky IV which depicts the cold war in regards to a boxing match, this is only one movie that has been used a worldly political issue for economic gain. This article will bring to light how Hollywood uses political issues in their movie to increase their profits.

Hollywood has also used “terrorist actions, both state and non-state, have spread in both frequency and destructive power since the 1960s, the topic has become an enduring source of narratives, fantasies, and myths that have contributed to Hollywood filmmaking with its familiar emphasis on international intrigue, exotic settings, graphic violence, and the demonization of foreign threats. Images of political violence have a strong appeal in the US, where the gun culture, civic violence, crime sprees, and a thriving war economy permeate the landscape.” (Carl Boggs and Tom Pollard) Hollywood’s use of issues of globalization to increase sales has been a trend since the beginning of film. Even after 9/11 attacks on the U.S, Hollywood did not halt on their pursuit for capital gain by using the vulnerability of the U.S to make movies. “The al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon inevitably heightened public fascination with terrorism, fueled by mounting fear and paranoia, and this was destined to inspire a new cycle of films in which powerful images of on-screen terrorism dramatize elements of real-life terrorism that nowadays conjures the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The rise of jihadic terrorism mostly associated with the Middle East, with its dispersed networks, sinister leaders and operatives, and global reach, occurs as a reaction against US geopolitical hegemony. And President Bush's “war on terror,” surely driven as much by the US strategy to reconfigure the Middle East as by the events of 9/11, serves as the perfect backdrop for film industry productions of violent high-tech spectacles, now a major staple of a media culture.” (Carl Boggs and Tom Pollard)

Global warming is a hot issue today. Hollywood has not only been a vehicle of accumulating wealth but bringing forth such issues as global warming. It has done so with documentaries such as “The Inconvenient Truth”, “Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Mr. Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change. A longtime advocate for the environment, Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way. "Al Gore strips his presentations of politics, laying out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions in a charming, funny and engaging style, and by the end has everyone on the edge of their seats, gripped by his haunting message," said Guggenheim. An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share. "It is