ENTERTAINMENT
How does today’s cosmopolitan entertainment world integrate ideas to cultivate cultural depth and qualitative gain?
Over the course of the past century, humanity has diplomatically exchanged revelations and notions which generated an industrial success, not only in terms of financial sharing but also in the entertainment sector. From the American films to the Japanese animation industry, applying foreign knowledge and embodying it to themselves entailed a new framework to both attract novices and open-mindedly procure ideas from an increased spectrum of perspectives, all whilst conserving their cultural identity.
These methods incorporate enhancement in diverse content, collaboration between different backgrounds to foster cultural liaison, and pervading traditional transparency via disclosing the interior of its countenance. Through such points, many contemporary works continue to adapt themselves to the everchanging future, captivating many.
To begin the clause, the current entertainment world has been greatly viewed with the epicenter of diversity. In accordance with UCLA, “People of color dominated opening weekend sales for 14 of the top 20 films in 2023”. Analyzing the global vogue helps us understand that integrating people from different cultures, notably recognized and accepted through skin tone, is lucrative. The rationale can be withdrawn from the emerging race/gender-free society, where people prefer to publicly express themselves over succumbing to societal pressure and coerced facade making.
The action of implementing “diversity” is miscellaneous, and is manifested in a plethora of forms, too. To illustrate, the Avengers featured “61% of Marvel characters were white” (HiLite) in 2018, demographically emphasising the lopsided population. Despite its high tendency to prioritise white casts, reevaluating itself has blossomed its potential significantly, where in recent films Black Panther has revenued more than “$22 billion at the box office” (Axios), cultivating a wider purview of audience. Furthermore, the Japanese animation industry, traditionally known as anime, has ever been richer in its storylines by depicting characters over the domestic demarcation.
For example, it would have never been possible for anime to attain this many accolades from global viewers if anime was subjective to solely on Japanese cultures, whereas relating everyone through engaging people of color (seen in august animes such as “Naruto” and “One Piece”) and intertwining foreign cultures functioned as an opportunity to heighten intrigue. Diversity is not a mere hurdle to overcome in the entertainment industry, but a more optimistic solution to feed the viewer’s voraciousness, oranting new films with intricacy. This perspective embodies the contemporary, cultivating cultural depth.
Second, the collaboration between content creators with different backgrounds augments flavor behind each piece of work, suaving cultural affiliation. Entertainment from different regions crystallizes and penetrates their own beliefs of what the acme of entertainment is. Simply put, we can never decide upon which shows or movies from different cultures are the best because each reflects their own styles and qualities. Thus, extracting out the most enticing aspects from what is imbued will conducively and fruitfully navigate us into creating a piece that can be said as the best on a global scale. This has been implemented everywhere in the proximity of days, where it is mentioned that “companies that hire a diverse staff are financially more successful” (Crew). This is, of course, viable in the entertainment world, where trading information and ideas amplifies a work of higher quality.
Unarguably, there may also be occasions where such actions create ramifications, such as when ideas become perpendicular and dispute occurs. However, it can be said that collaboration outweighs these natural consequences as Oscars mentions “each AIR [Authentic Inclusive Representation] point increase meant a $18.8 million revenue bump for films with a budget of $159 million and more.” This proves that by employing diverse people and listening to their opinions avails a potential for higher authentication/comment, indirectly committing to succeeding the work. All in all, it is pivotal for understanding the culture of another’s, and through collaboration across people with manifold backgrounds, it will collect a better outcome for which many will feel content.
Ultimately, the current entertainment world serves as a platform for displaying a higher level of transparency of their internal traditions. Oftentimes when we recall ambiguous images of other countries, we tie them to stereotypical ideas of them, for example when we think of America, we often link it to hamburgers and fries. It has been disclosed by AbroadLink that one core reason why these images are ensued is due to “media representation”. Media representations are often applied when contents renders an idea which summarises a complex picture, lucidly capturing the important aspects.
While media representations are not denounced to its entirety, as it cultivates more recognition of the subject, it still can be perceived as insulting. However, the entertainment industry delves further into this. It is proven by Advanced Television that “almost four in five people in the UK (77 per cent) say films have changed their view on cultural issues”. This enlightens us that through films, it generates insights to the audience which allows them to reassess their cultural knowledge and furthermore issues pertaining to it.
Not only that, but a study conducted by Abu Dhabi University concluded that “exposing Arab children to anime films reflects on their awareness and understanding of the values presented in the films”. This creates an understanding that entertainment further installs the granule elements which is ingrained deeply into a culture: its morals. In summary, it is palpable that entertainment benefits the preservation of cultures as it prevails comprehensive details of its customs, seldomly to a profound extent.
To summarize, cosmopolitan entertainment is a significant framework in the current days which coordinates culture sustenance with factual revelations. It is expected that through more and more publications of such works, it will surely satisfy both our needs and our traditions.
By: Kota Matsui
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