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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." Americanisation is a phenomenon that continues to spread internationally. The American culture has successfully spread and influenced other foreign cultures through various platforms, including its film industry. American values have accumulated, concentrated and transformed the Malay film industry in Southeast Asia (SEA) region. This has changed the censorship board in implementing stricter rules on films content. The extent and effectiveness of such censorship may be compromise due to some loopholes, thus prompting a solution needed to address this issue. Therefore, Malay films that contain exaggerated content of sex and violence need to be restricted from public viewing to prevent the young from being negatively influenced by such values portrayed.

Hollywood films are being showcased worldwide and the industry has vast expanded over the years. The high quality of its stories, cinematography and production has resulted in a constant demand for Hollywood films in the international market. The Malay community in SEA has been exposed to and influenced by the sexual and violent characteristic of Hollywood films. With sex and violence, two components that are highly associated with American films in general, the Malay community showed concern and distress towards these traits that is seen as deteriorating the Malay values, especially towards the Malay youth.

“Sexuality is pervasive throughout the Western media” (Norris & Inglehart, 2009, chp 8, p.1). The Malay youth are the most vulnerable in adopting such American values that may be learn indirectly from watching numerous Hollywood films. Youths are not mature enough and at the stage of their life where curiosity is at its peak. With the introduction of American culture in the form of sex and violence, the risk of Malay youth trying out similar acts as to imitate what they perceive from Hollywood movies is very likely. This has resulted in a mixed reaction among the Malay community, which compromises the acceptance of certain American cultural practice or action that involves sex and violence to prevent the young generation from exposed to such undesirable values. The mass media and films are possible factors which have an influence that “shape the strength of religious values, identities and beliefs in society” (Norris & Inglehart, 2009, chp 8, p.3).

Various measures have been taken to ensure the public views censored versions of these films. One measure is censorship. The board of censorship is responsible for rating each 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 its rating of a Malay movie is reflective of its content. This has forced production teams to re-edit their film to suit the guidelines and make the films suitable for viewing. However, this has not hindered some people from accessing sex and violence themed movies. All kind of movies, uncensored version or banned movies are readily available in the black market. Furthermore in Malaysia, the availability to access the black market is relatively easy as they are no stern enforcement from either the Malaysian police or the government.

In addition, the censorship board should create a campaign to increase the awareness, particularly to parents of the importance in proper parental guidance with respect to films content. The future adversity of the youth being negatively influence by sex and violence values could be prevented to a certain extent with the intervention from parents. Since movies are readily available in the black market and the Internet, the exposure of American culture is inevitable. Thus, parents equip with the knowledge and awareness of the limitation of the board of censorship will play a vital role to educate their young ones of the potential exposure to restricted movies. With reference to how “the Saudi state uses filters to prevent Internet contents which breaches public decency or which infringes the sanctity of Islam” (Norris & Inglehart, 2009, chp 8, p.3), parents may set some restriction to their young children by blocking certain websites and contents when they access to the Internet. For their older teenagers, parents may have an open discussion to set certain boundaries of what is deem acceptable and what acts should be avoided. This will eventually filtered out unwanted sex and violence behaviors from the young with knowledge and restriction.

The Malay community in SEA has certainly been affected and influenced greatly by American media. The globalization has created the black market and the Internet, which epitomizes of how American films are now no longer restricted by the board of censorship. Integration of culture through film is highly influential as the film is a visual 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 www.sustainablehistory.com/articles/definitions-of-globalization.pdf

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

Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2009). Cosmopolitan communications: Cultural diversity in a globalized world. New York: Cambridge University Press.