Film and Cultural Identity

Film and Cultural Identity:

 

Meanings of stereotype, ideology,culture, power and representation…

Stereotypes - 
are basically fixed and over generalised beliefs about certain groups or a class of people.

for example: a typical stereotype about Scotland would be that it snows a lot and that they all wear kilts as well as they all play the bag pipes.. (but obviously we know that all Scottish people don't actually do thats but as I said its just a stereotype!)


Ideology… is a system of ideas especially one which forms the basis or either economical or political theory and policy. for example  the set of beliefs or characteristics of a social group or individual.

Culture…is ideas and customs and behaviour of particular people of a society.

Power… is the capacity and ability to direct or influence the audiences of others and the ability to do something in a particular way.

Representation…is the description or portrayal of something in a particular way, like the action of speaking on behalf of someone or the state of being represented.

Foreign films and there cultural identity

1- Amelie - (FRANCE)  
The movie Amelie is a French romantic comedy that was released in the year of 2001. The location of the film is Paris and culture and history has had a huge impact on the movie as a whole; the country France and the city Paris is being clearly portrayed as the city of love and its shown to be that Paris is full of wonder and the place is very lively as well as great to be in. The culture and context of the way the film is portrayed is giving the audience a very beautiful impression on the city Paris and its shown in a very positive way. Paris has been shown to look very perfect as it has that certain stereotype that it is a city of love and dreams can come true. I noticed that the colour red is used a lot in this movie and that shows to me that the people are looking for love or that they are in love showing us that France is a passionate country.

2 - City of God (BRAZIL)
The movie City of God is set in the country of Brazil in the 1960's it shows us the many problems of the country which are the extreme poverty, overcrowding and violence due to the extreme gangs.

3 - Tsotsi (SOUTH AFRICA)
The movie Tsotsi is a South African movie which was released in 2005. The film shows the high rate of poverty and the addiction of crime. Africa has been a region with a very diverse population with several ethnics and language groups. 

 4 - Separation (IRAN)

The movie Separation is an Iranian film, which was released in the year of 2011. The genre of the movie is known as a drama film. This movie demonstrates the influence of cultural diplomacy.

My chosen country to talk about the film and cultural identity is India.
I have chosen India because to has a huge film base named Bollywood.

Country: India - Bollywood

India (Flag)

This is the Bollywood mood board which I have done.

Brief outline on the country India 

India is a country in Asia. Its capital is New Delhi and the largest city in India is known as Mumbai. Mumbai is also known of the city of Bollywood, where a lot of the films are produced also a lot of the well known big stars are from Mumbai too. India is the seventh largest country and the most populated country with roughly over 1.2 billion people and the most populous democracy in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi is very well known as he was famous for the important part he played in gaining India's independence. The most popular sport played in India is Cricket.

The national emblem of India.

The Tiger known as India's associated animal

Gathering evidence of cultural relevance

Characters:

From the four films I have chosen I believe that some of the characters from the movies  are actually quite similar to me especially the one in the film Cocktail. The character Meera (Diana Penty) is her name, she's quite simple and family orientated and I believe I am like this. I would fit into being and playing this character well because her personality similarly matches mine, even the clothing she wears is quite similar to what I would wear and the way she is as person in terms of the way she acts with people and talks to people is definitely similar to me. The characters in the film are also quite similar to my family in ways especially the ones who do live in india because of the way there lifestyle is in terms of living in the village and being quite loud and vibrant in both ways personality and clothing, they are also quite outspoken too.

Experiences:

Some of the experiences that the characters go through are quite similar in terms of what  I have been through and probably will go through at different stages of life and this connects with others  in all cultures because the feelings and events could happen to anyone and it doesn't really matter about the culture in this sense. The way that the characters are quite independent in terms of the fact that they have travelled alone that is definitely similar to me because I have been to India by myself and therefore I feel quite connected to this character and I know how she felt when she got there and what sort of feelings she had been going through. Other experiences which are similar are the relationships they share with their friends, the way that most of the characters are in trims of with each other as well as there family is what I am like and how I am treated too because I am quite open minded and sincere.

Place:

The places in which the characters have lived in these movies re quite similar to the ones I have been and  lived in. I have been India many times I know exactly what the places are like and what to expect in the certain areas they area at. 

Time:
the events in the films are quite similar in terms of what i have been through aswell as what i have seen in life worth other people. the stories are quite common and i think happen to a lot of people in every day life and people genially know a lot of people who are experiencing these events.

Main characters age and gender
The ages in most of the films are roughly 20+ so the characters are quite young. The movies generally have a lot of females in them more than males and the males in the movies seem a lot more older then the females. Overall the main gender is female.

Languages:
the languages in the movies which are spoken are hindi, punjabi and english. I also can speak those three languages. The characters however are very fluent in the ways they speak the languages and are quite fast paces in terms of the way they articulate. Some of the characters in the films are quite philosophical and I feel site connected to that because I feel as a person I am quite sentimental, also one of the films the character is a writer so i feel quite connected because of the poetry which is read in the movies. \

Frequency:
A lot of British and Hollywood film are quite similar to these Bollywood movies that I have analysed because they are quite modern in terms of the stories. The movies I have seen which have similarities are Love Actually, The Wedding Planner, Red Eye…