Life of Pi and Orientalism

Life of Pi and Orientalism
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Life of Pi and Orientalism
Background
In the entire 20th and 21st centuries, Hollywood has been the world’s leading producer of commercial films (Scott, 2002). United States films constitute more than a half or even two-thirds of all box-office grosses in the major markets. For instance, the United States Economic Census indicates that video and motion picture production amassed a total revenue of $20.15 billion in 1997. Hollywood alone contributed 60% of this amount, making it the biggest single contributor to box office revenues all over the world (Scott, 2002). Such a long-lasting success could be attributed to the strong competitive advantage resulting from Hollywood’s unrivaled organizational and technical abilities. Hollywood possesses a dense regional cluster of specialized as well as complementary producers.
Moreover, the organization has a unique pool of talented individuals coming from different parts of the world (Michael and Sanson 2016). Movies that succeed in the United States market are more likely to succeed in foreign markets, which suggests that a convergence of popular taste could be coming about. Just like many other dynamic industries today, Hollywood has faced several challenges that result from the phenomenon of globalization (Scott, 2002). The cultural and commercial impact of Hollywood pictures and videos is now being felt almost in every part of the world.
Nevertheless, Hollywood continues to accumulate huge revenues both from domestic and foreign markets (Meyrowitz, 2005). For example, in 2000, the motion pictures from Hollywood yielded $7.68 billion, which is an increase $28.3 from approximately $5.97 billion in 1986. In the same year, the export films and tape generated rental fees of around $8.85 billion, which is an increase of approximately 426% from $1.68 billion in 1986 (Scott, 2002). Therefore, it is apparent that revenues obtained from foreign markets have massively increased than the ones obtained from the domestic markets for the last 30 years or so. European countries form a major market for Hollywood products, and massive revenues are obtained from this region compared to other regions of the world. Three countries, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands account for about 35% of the total rental exports of Hollywood films (Scott, 2002). Also, Canada and Japan are the major importers of Hollywood movies followed by Brazil, Republic of Korea, and Australia. The main Hollywood production firms or majors have established extensive marketing and distribution networks both in North America and other regions of the world (Michael, 2007). The majors have been controlling their distribution networks in all of their chief foreign markets and many other secondary markets. For instance, United International Pictures is a joint company of Universal and Paramount, which owns distribution facilities in more than 37 countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, France, and the Netherlands as well as in less profitable countries such Chile, Philippines, Peru, Hungary, and Thailand. Another example is 20th Century Fox, a Hollywood company that owns 21 distribution facilities in foreign countries (Scott, 2002). Moreover, in countries where the Hollywood production companies lack distribution facilities, they have resorted to entering into the long-term agreements or joint ventures with the domestic distribution companies. Recently, as globalization intensifies, the United States government is actively promoting free trade policies and in particular, unrestricted trade for the cultural products (Scott, 2002).
Nonetheless, as indicated earlier, globalization of Hollywood films has experienced some hiccups, as a result of cultural challenges (Nolwenn, 2011). The Hollywood films have been for long accused of containing elements of Orientalism. In his works, Edward Said indicates that Western people portray Eastern culture as inferior to their own. He says that such perception of Eastern culture by Western people has resulted in inaccurate cultural representations that have formed the foundations of Western perception and thoughts of Eastern part of the world, particularly about the Middle East (Said, 2003). Orientalism, according to various scholars has been greatly used in most Hollywood films, which has been the source of controversy. They have protested that Hollywood films have regularly reflected an ethnocentric view of East Asians rather than authentic and realistic portrayals of Eastern cultures, customs, behaviors, and colors. Such films have been accused of oversimplifying large groups of people with huge and diverse histories into a single monolithic, ahistorical, and subordinate category (Chi Hyun, 2010). Such controversial constructions are propagated through verbal descriptors, visuals, images as well as the selection of experts within the media. Although Orientalism is understood in the perspective of how Western artists, media, and literature portray the orient, it is worth to note that it is more about how the West describes its culture and the sense of dominance through media about fabricated orient. Some global events that have occurred in the recent decades have been used by Hollywood films to perpetuate propaganda to the subordinate culture (Scott, 2002). Capitalism has influenced how production companies select what to present to their audience. As a result of the presence of fierce competition, production companies have resorted to giving their audience what they want to watch.
Consequently, the rate of Orientalism has gone up in recent decades in Hollywood films. For instance, in the movie True Lies, Harry must catch the terrorist who is threatening the government with a bomb attack. In such a film, the American public is being acclimatized to see the Arab nations as their enemies automatically. In this movie, if Harry died in the hands of a terrorist or if the Arab terrorist had any sense of victory, the director would not have satisfied the capitalism principles, that is, give people what they want. By representing the Arab as an inept villain, Hollywood has managed to make the United States’ purpose overseas look like a simple task (Scott, 2002). Therefore, it is apparent that the image of Eastern culture conveyed by Hollywood films for the larger part of the 20th century was heavily negative (Scott, 2002). However, most of Eastern Asia countries such as China and India among others have massively risen economically, which has left Hollywood with no choice but to produce films that do not undervalue the culture of other regions of the world. For example, China has become a major consumer of Hollywood film, which has necessitated the production of films that do not underrate their culture. In the past Hollywood films, Chinese characters were depicted as either poor or violent characters. Actors such as Jack Chan, Jet Lee, and Chow Yun Fat have only been granted the roles of Kung Fu masters in most of the past Hollywood films. Moreover, these characters have been depicted as men who cannot love and care for women. They have also been portrayed as sexually unattractive to white women. This is evident in most 20th century movies such as Money Talks, Enter the Dragon, Enter Charlie Chan, and The Manchu with the black hat among others (Scott, 2002). Today, most of the Chinese viewers have become more sensitive about the negative portrayal of their culture, behaviors, and customs and would avoid any film containing such contents. An excellent example is the recent remake of Hollywood film known as Red Dawn. The movie was originally made in 1984 which told a story of the United States being attacked by the allies of Cuba, Nicaragua, and the Soviet Union. The Russians had always been portrayed as bad people in films. However, the remake of Red Dawn removed this element but depicted Chinese as villains. Subsequently, this box-office hit drew criticism from China. At the time, China was increasingly becoming a major market for Hollywood films and the filmmakers could not risk provoking Chinese viewers (Scott, 2002). The producers of Red Dawn applied special effects to change the Chinese Army depicted in the movie into the North Korean Army. Lately, Hollywood companies are working closely with various international producers to eliminate negative impression about Eastern culture.
Introduction
The current study will comprehensively analyze the Life of Pi, a film directed by Ang Lee in relation to how he has managed to use his Western and Eastern background to eliminate the bad impression of Eastern culture as it has been in other Hollywood movies, particularly those produced in the 20th century (Castelli, 2012). Also, the commercials and reception of the Life of Pi in both the domestic and international market will be discussed in details in this paper. Ang Lee’s film career kicked off in the early 1990s, the time during which he established himself as one of the most versatile movie-makers. Having lived in Taiwan and mainland China, Ang Lee had vast experience in Eastern culture. This has been depicted in his early movies, including Father Knows Best produced in 1991 (Biography, 2014). The movie was a huge success both at the box office and among the critics. Together with Hsu Li-Kong, he co-directed another movie referred to as The Wedding Banquet, which won a Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Overall the film won 11 awards at domestic (Taiwan), and international level and this made Ang Lee a rising star. In 1994, again Lee and Hsu co-directed a movie known as Eat Drink Man Woman, which was filmed in China and depicted the traditional values, modern relationships as well as the family conflict in Taipei (Biography, 2014). The Film did well in box office and was critically applauded. These three movies reveal the close ties of Lee to the Chinese and Eastern culture. In 1995, Lee moved to Hollywood, where he directed several movies such as Sense and Sensibility, a film that featured renowned actors such as Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman (Biography, 2014). The other movies produced during his time in Hollywood include The Ice Storm, Ride with the Devil, Crouching Dragon, and Hidden Dragon, which all incorporated Western culture (Chan, 2004). Since then, Lee has worked with Hollywood companies to make various famous movies such as Hulk, Blockback Mountain, Lust Caution, and Life of Pi among others. In his movies such as Crouching Dragon and Hidden Tiger, Lee applied the typical Chinese genre but mixed it with western psychoanalytic character development (Chan, 2004). Therefore, because Lee has worked in two different cultures, Western and Eastern, most of his recent movies have been constructed to ensure the eastern culture is not Orientalized unlike in the past. His experience working in both Western and Eastern regions helped him produce an epic film movie called Life of Pi in 2012.
Production of Life of Pi
Life of Pi is an American film produced in 2012 and is based on a novel written by Yann Martel under the same name (Castelli, 2012). The film is directed by Ang Lee and stars Suraj Sharma, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain, Irrfan Khan, Tabu Hashmi, and Gerard Depardieu. The film is about an Indian young man called Pi Patel, who survives a shipwreck and is based on the Pacific Ocean, where Pi navigates with a lifeboat together with a Bengal tiger and other animals. The movie emerged as both commercial and critical success earning fortunes both in domestic and international markets (Castelli, 2012).
Development
Initially, the film project had several writers and directors, but Elizabeth Gabler, who was the executive of Fox 2000 Pictures played a key role in ensuring that the project remained active (Castelli, 2012). In 2009, Fox 2000 Pictures signed up Ang Lee in a deal that would last until production was over (Castelli, 2012). In 2010, Ang Lee and the Producer Gil Netter estimated the budget of the film to be $120 million, which Fox 2000 were not ready to spend. However, they eventually agreed to invest this amount, and the company hired David Magee as a screenplay writer. As a result of the content of the Novel the movie was based on, Lee indicated that the only way the entire project would achieve greater authenticity is making it in 3-D (Broughall, 2013). Technically, the movie appeared impossible to make as a result of the funds involved as well as the fact that the movie could only be made in water. Shooting a film in water can result in some production challenges, including cost overruns and delays as witnessed in a flopped movie, Waterworld, a film directed by Kevin Costner after spending a whopping $175 million budget.
Filming
After agreeing to use 3-D, the principal photography started on 18th January 2011 at Holy Rosary Church in Muthialpet, India (The Times of India, 2011). The filming continued in Holy Rosary church until 31st January and was moved to various other parts of India such as hill station of Munnar in Kerala. Also, the filming was done in a number of regions in Taiwan such as Taichung, Taipei Zoo, and Kenting National Park where the crew spent over five months. The oceanic scenes in the film were created by the crew using a giant wave tank in the abandoned airport in Taichung, Taiwan (The Times of India, 2011). The ocean scenes required huge tanks to create an impression that the movie was shot in the Pacific Ocean. The tank built by the crew is the largest known self-generating wave tank in the world, which can hold approximately 1.7 gallons of water. With filming in the tank scheduled to last for about two and half months, the cinematographer, Miranda Claudio helped in designing the tank to achieve the most spectacular results. The crew had to create the type of weather observed in oce...