Comment by mrtksn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrtksn | Hacker News Reader

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I think the whole success of the Hollywood is based on their ability to create films that cut across all the cultures. They tend to be simplistic and yet in a way can actually go very deep, probably because of tapping on the human nature instead of the culture. On the other hand, locally produced films usually tap on the local culture which leads to amazing German/Finnish/Italian/Turkish/French etc. shows making sense only in that culture, thus not gaining traction outside of their locality.

At some point we had Brazilian soap operas, now we have Turkish soap operas gaining large traction on TV and probably will be followed why some other ecole.

However with Netflix, something different is happening in my opinion. I'm sure that Netflix looks into statistics when doing new shows, EU pushing for a single market on these services could mean that the Netflix shows are indeed optimised for common European consumption instead of local one.

Saying that Netflix is the new Eurovision is comedy gold :) I mean, Eurovision is definitely a spectacle but no one(maybe with the exception of Lars Erickssong of Iceland) in EU actually takes it seriously and definitely it's not the cultural event that brings nations together. Eurovision is the show where we accept to be vulnerable for a day, get out there and remember our favourite neighbours by voting for them.

If it was a serious thing, the Brits would have won most, sharing it with the Spanish summer hits occasionally. UK is a music and culture powerhouse with extremely poor Eurovision track record.

Hollywood depicting an universal culture?

Far from it. At first I was thinking high school bullies were something Stephen King always added to his books. Then I realized high school bullies were something Hollywood always added to plots, even when it had no reason whatsoever to be there.

Sadly, this has become more like culture contamination. In highschool I never saw bullies. Now they are more common, because of that Hollywood influence.

So, how much of that universal culture is a reflection of the world, and how much is just Hollywood pushing their own culture over the world?

The same with racism. As someone from South America, I find the racism in USA extremely pathological and not at all similar to what I experience in real life.

> I find the racism in USA extremely pathological and not at all similar to what I experience in real life.

Are you saying that the obsession with racism in the USA is what's pathological? Or that USA's portrayal of it in media is pathological?

(I am not the same person as the one you replied to)

The racism debate in the USA is mostly centered on two groups, "blacks" and "whites" (and "asian", but I'll ignore them for now). Jim Crow laws said that a child of "mixed" (one black, one white) parent themselves count as "black". So you have people with quite light skin who are considered "black" and experience racism directed at "black" people. I consider seeing everything through that black/white lens to be pathological.

There is a huge amount of racism elsewhere in the world, probably even more than in the USA, but it's not along the same lines.

Which is why it was so jarring when the "black lives matter" protests spread around the world. In the Netherlands there is quite some racism, but it's directed at Moroccans, Turks, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, and black people, usually of Surinamese descent, all in slightly different ways. The division in black/white makes no sense. The term "people of colour" got imported from the US but racism here is also directed at Poles who are as white as the Dutch are.

The result is oversimplification of our own racism problem, along American lines that aren't relevant here.

I am surprised you even took the time to answer, since my desire for clarity was seen as a negative influence on the community and was downvoted.

Only a community like this would pretend to actually value intellectual growth and foster an environment where asking a question is seen as worthy of downvoting.

By the way, your characterization of racism in the united states is remarkably narrow, non-historic, and sophomoric in nature. The idea that racism in the US could be put into three categories - let alone two - is offensive and deeply inaccurate.

You have it not even partially correct. Go back to the drawing board.

> The same with racism. As someone from South America, I find the racism in USA extremely pathological and not at all similar to what I experience in real life.

I'm not really sure what you're trying to say here. But if you're saying racism in America is overblown, you couldn't be more wrong.

The bullies example seems spot on. I do not know why, even if it were true, it always and predictably needs to be portrayed in TV/movies. It normalizes bad behavior and will move people towards a world were this is deemed normal. It is not, and never should be.

School bullies already sort of don't exist anymore. They went away along with the enormous drop in violent crime in the US in the 90s, probably caused by everyone not having lead poisoning.

Instead GenZ tries to cancel each other on tumblr or something.

Also the idea that depicting guns and violence is normal, but nudity absolutely isn't, is very Hollywood.

Yes, luckily this isn't as bad in European cinema and TV.

Though the ratings boards have become a lot stricter here too, sadly. Some movies that were made in the Netherlands in the 80s would fare pretty badly now :P Like https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105999/ In those days pretty explicit (but not actual!) sex in movies was so prevalent it was almost a trope of its own. Exposed breasts at the very least :) I don't think that would fly now without an 18+ rating.

>"[holywood is] tapping on the human nature instead of the culture"

I am wondering what makes you think so, when you are not from US or especially if you are not western a lot of whats going on their looks terribly unnatural.

I particularly dislike the way police is portraid in the US shows, in the show I was watching the main character regularly points a gun at random guards and passerbyes and threatens them. They depict torture as mundane business.

I mean, even in russian shows we dont portray this as right and proper behaviour.

> I think the whole success of the Hollywood is based on their ability to create films that cut across all the cultures.

Good time for Rammstein's _Amerika_ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8ljRgcJNM

Their point is that the USA _exports_ its culture to the rest of the world, and Hollywood is one of the main ways in which it does that.

> and Hollywood is one of the main ways in which it does that

Hollywood is the greatest marketing department ever built.

> Hollywood is based on their ability to create films that cut across all the cultures

Hollywood is widely caricatured outside of the US for its disconnect from reality. Flat characters, childish good VS baddies dichotomies, bombastic action movies...

And Hollywood is crying all the way to the bank. People can deride those movies all they want, but people (not necessarily the same ones) pay money to watch them. For some reason, those terrible movies engage audiences. And Hollywood has gotten really, really good at knowing how to do that.

Much better movies also get made. A lot of them, in fact. The critics' Top Ten lists are full of them. But they rarely make all that much money, because movies with deep characterization and challenging plots aren't very enjoyable. They're fulfilling, perhaps, in the same way that a job well done is fulfilling. But when you've worked your 40 hours (or more) this week, you may not want any more fulfillment. You want to relax.

There are plenty of movies for everybody, including the ones who want a challenge. You won't hear commercials for them, because they're not going to please everybody. Hollywood has somehow mastered the trick of pleasing, if not everybody, at least a largish majority, and they rake in a ton of cash.

Likewise you would expect Italy and France to do better.

Eurovision is not about high quality song's otherwise Amy RIP would have one for "Love is a losing game" (it did win a novello) and the Beatles should have won several times

Iceland is not a EU member. And the UK just don't send very good acts to Eurovision.

Eurovision is not limited to EU. Even Australia is participating now. Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia are other non-EU members with strong track records in the contest.

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