Essay 1d

Al-Rodhan (2006, pp. 4-5) defines globalisation as a process "that has been impacting communities, cultures, and economies for hundreds of years. It is a result of the transnational and transcultural integration that have occurred globally." This phenomenon is not totally new, but it has occurred for the past few decades, in particular Americanisation. The American culture has successfully spread and influenced other foreign cultures through various platforms, mainly through its film industry. Thus, American values has accumulated, concentrated and transformed the Malay film industry in Southeast Asia (SEA) region, influencing Malaysia films.

Hollywood films are being showcased worldwide and the industry has vast expanded over the years. The high quality of its plot, cinematography and production line has resulted in a constant demand for Hollywood films in the international market. The Malay culture in SEA has been exposed and influenced by the sexual and violent characteristic of Hollywood films. This has resulted in mixed reaction among the Malay community on a moral basis that compromises the acceptance of certain cultural practice or action that contains traits of the American culture, derived from Hollywood films. With sex and violence, two components that are highly associated with American films in general, Malay conservatives showed concern and distress towards these traits that is seen as deteriorating the Malay values, which is shaped by Islamic beliefs. The exposure of American culture is inevitable with the creation of Internet and social media platforms which have enabled Hollywood news and gossips to be known easily and vastly. Various websites that is dedicated to Hollywood news like 'hollywoodlife.com', 'accesshollywood.com' and the likes of video sharing websites such as 'YouTube' has allowed the American film industry to mark its presence more distinctly. Transcultural integration has made American cultures being adopted and adapted after constant exposure through numerous American films. 

A survey conducted has shown that seventy-five percent of Americans felt that television had too much sexually explicit material (Anderson, 2007). Hooberman (2011), a clinical psychologist, states that sex and violence are intertwined, interrelated in some form that makes them a unit. With almost all American films contains some scenes of nudity at some part of the movie, this creates some sexual arousal that grabs audiences to view the film. As such, the Malay film industry of SEA has been bold in its concept and plot. More sexual intimate scenes are now seen in Malay films such as 'Bohsia' and 'Sepet', compared to the films in the olden days in the 1950’s to 1980’s where sex is viewed as a taboo topic. Thus Malay films usually constraint from having sex scenes which are deemed immoral. The concept of including some sex scene in films could be seen as trending. Furthermore, American films that portray violence in sensational outline have influenced Malay film producers to make more gangster theme movies. The rise of ‘KL Gangster', which was one of the first Malaysian-made films to reach the collection point of 10.3 million in local cinemas, is a prominent example (“KL Gangster,” 2013). The plot follows the basic outline of a Hollywood Action movie that has exaggerated scenes of violence. Critics have sparked an outcry of new Malay films that are trending to follow their Hollywood counterpart, contrary to the subtle nature of the Malay culture through the portrayal of violence and sex in the plot.

Various measures have been done to ensure the public viewed filtered content of Malay films that are controversial, such as the setting up of the Film Censorship Board. This board of censorship is responsible for rating each Malay film that is produced. Each movie will be strictly reviewed to ensure appropriate rating with regards to the content of the movie, preventing unnecessary controversies. As such, the rating of 18SG and 18SX informs viewer of some violent and sexual elements respectively (“Film Classification,” 2012). This will create awareness, especially to parents, on deciding the suitability and expected content of films that their children will be exposed to. The Film Censorship Board has been a success, whereby their rating of a Malay movie is reflective of its content. This has force the production team to re-edit their film to suit the guidelines made for suitable viewing. However, this has not hindered some films to refrain from producing sex and violence themed movies. The board of censorship are not able to impose strict restriction to Malay producers to hinder them from producing such movies. Furthermore, the production team needs to think of profit and publicity for each film and they need to produce films that have high interest from the public. Eventually, sex and violence has now developed into a common trait of Malay films in this 21st century.

The Malay culture in SEA has certainly been affected and influenced greatly by American media, which has now produced Malay films that mimicked and moulded from American films. Integration of culture through film is highly influential as the film is a form of culture that is easily received and accepted. We can filter out the negative values with certain acts but inevitably, the liberty of cultural adaptation has produced cultural products of mixed values.

References 

Al-Rodhan, N. (2006, June 19). Definitions of Globalization: A Comprehensive Overview and a Proposed Definition (pp. 4-5). Retrieved October 7, 2013, from Sustainablehistory Web site: www.sustainablehistory.com/articles/definitions-of-globalization.pdf

Anderson, K. (2007, March 4). Sex and Violence on Television - A Christian Worldview Perspective. Retrieved October 8, 2013, from www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4217947/k.37E8/Sex_and_Violence_on_Television.htm 

Film Classification. (2012). Retrieved October 13, 2013, from Ministry of Home Affairs Web Site: http://www.moha.gov.my/index.php/en/lpf-klasifikasi-filem

Hooberman, J. (2011, May 6). Bloodlust in America: Sex and Violence are Comfortable Bedfellows. Retrieved October 7, 2013, from http://hypervocal.com/culture/2011/bloodlust-in-america-sex-and-violence-are-comfortable-bedfellows/

KL Gangster. (2013). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved October 12, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KL_Gangster