Concept Analysis: Americanisation

The concept of Americanisation in Australia can be viewed as a merging of the two cultural identities. As Phillip and Rodger Bell point out in their writing "America's culture has become an unavoidable presence" (Bell & Bell, 1998, p.6). This is clear to see when turning on the television or going to the cinema, with only 5% of money at the box office earned on Australian films, we can see the overwhelming amount of the American identity that we as a culture are absorbing and to a certain extent adopting. If we take the film maker Baz Lurhmann, we can see that the first feature film he made; Strictly Ballroom (Reid, 1999, p. 116), had a "confident sense of audience", meaning that it was made for a specific audience, in this case, the
Australian audience, with distinctive Australian humour, setting and values. However, if we then look at one of Lurhmann's later films, Moulin Rouge! (2001) we can see that the content is designed for a much wider demographic. It is Americanised, the storyline becomes formulaic and the big budget is clear to see when watching it. The benefits of this are clear to see in the difference in worldwide box office takings; Strictly Ballroom grossed $11,738,022 and Moulin Rouge! grossed $179,213,434 . Thats a difference of $167,475,412. This aids us in understanding why it is beneficial for Australian film makers to cross the hemishpere and create films for a more globalised audience because of "the sheer number of potential cinema-goers" (Reid, 1999, p.113) in America can be the difference between profit and loss for a film.
With the rapid increase of Americanisation in Australia, how do we then form our own individual culture and identity? If films like Strictly Ballroom, that has different forms of Australian culture and humour arn't as successful as Hollywoodised films, is it reasonable to succomb to american cinematic takeover?

As is pionted out in Bell and Bell's writing "The long argued question of Australian national identity is, of course, at the centre of debates around Americanisation." (Bell & Bell, 1996, p.9) Slowly the American culture is seeping through our cinema and television screens to distort our idea of national identity, our film makers are beginning to change their distinctly Australian films into the A-cultural Hollywood formula.


References:

• Philip Bell and Roger Bell, ‘Introduction: The Dilemmas of Americanisation’ in AmericaniZation and Australia, (eds) Phillip and Roger Bell, UNSW Press (1998), 1-14
  
• Mary Anne Reid, ‘Outside Hollywood’ in More Long Shots: Australian Cinema Success in the 90s (Sydney: Australian Film Commission, 1999), 190-1999, plus endnotes, 238-239
• www.boxofficemojo.com