Globalization of Cinematographic Communication

Abstract

This article examines the globalization – in its Americanization format – of international cinematic communication within the perspective of cultural diversity. The globalization process is comprehended as a result of the historical succession of market formations: from free competition in American cinema to an oligopoly and on to a national and an international monopoly. During the period of polypoly, the trail for globalization was blazed by the grande dame of the cinématographe: France. The United States, where in 1908 French films accounted for 70% of the market share, mounted a resolute challenge. We look at three factors – institutional, geopolitical, and creative – that explain why the French lost their domination over the American and, then, their own market. The French state responded to the soft power of American cinema by introducing quotas for national films. The industry was motivated by the need to protect the state both within its borders and beyond, and the preserve national customs and traditions. A number of other countries also resorted to the use of quotas as a means of mitigating the soft power of the United States: larger countries did so for economic considerations, while smaller countries did it for cultural reasons. The globalizational might of the American film industry is explained through the rational choice of the main line for its stylistic development and the filmmakers’ mastery of their craft, as well as through the professional skills of industry executives and marketing divisions, investment from big capital, and through support from the government in its push for the “cultural hegemony” of the United States. The major studios that emerged during the period of oligopoly (1909–1929) competed with one another on the terms of a certain accord. Their method of dealing with competition was to invest obscene amounts in movie production, far beyond the capabilities of smaller studios, which enabled them to establish a national monopoly over the domestic market (1930–1946). On the world market, the chosen method of competition enabled the American film industry, in the second half of the 1940s, to gain the position of international monopolist. An important role in the process was played by Motion Picture Export Association, established in 1945, as a sort of “diplomatic service” that functioned with permission from and under the support of the U.S. government. From its position as the global monopolist, the American film industry strives not only to dominate intercultural cinematic communication, but also, in this status and as a means of popular geopolitics, to control it through lobbying and exporting capital and goods. The transborder circulation of products by various national cinemas and the cultural diversity of cinematography have largely fallen prey to the globalization process. Extensive research has demonstrated an imbalance in in tercultural film communication. When, in a social-functional respect, the importing of films mainly supplants their production in a certain country, the population is largely deprived of the chance to reproduce its culture and, accordingly, its identity with the means of depicting and mastering its own image. The making of a national cinematic picture of the world and its integration into the communicative process becomes a pressing issue in the provision of cultural diversity.