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Nate Nienaber
Professor Don Ludwig
Independent Project
27 August 2015

The Magic Camera: An Exploration into Film’s Effects on the World

“You know what your problem is, it's that you haven't seen enough movies - all of life's riddles

are answered in the movies.” – Steve Martin

In America today, there are few art forms that can challenge the multi-million dollar

machine that is the film industry. Just last year the film American Sniper grossed over 350

million dollars in sales alone according to website Box Office Mojo. The television industry is

no different, reaching millions of people each year in their own homes. The production values

appear to be skyrocketing with each passing year, as well as the depths of the stories that can be

told. These narratives are crossing cultures and boundaries much in the same way that myths and

fables did in olden times. These days film is becoming more than a means of entertainment, these

films are transforming into windows that share a perspective into the world not possible in other

mediums. Movies and television shows can shine a light on subjects that could otherwise be

ignored. Other mediums do this too, but what is it about film that sets it apart? It is the universal

language of images. Film can tell stories through images and this is what communicates. The

human experience is what communicates. The idea that universally each person, no matter what

their background is, at their core is essentially the same. Different but similar. It is this universal

connection that allows film to ascend to such heights where other mediums may at times fall

short. An analysis of global cinema reveals that films profoundly help shape a person’s view on

not only their own culture but other cultures as well.

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As stated earlier, films have their own languages. These languages are not restricted to

certain borders or countries. Film makers place certain key elements within their work to

communicate to their viewers. People may not understand these elements right away. They are

often subtle, tucked away, but when discovered they bring viewers closer to the film. The secret

is hidden within each clue. Bonnie MacDonald, a professor from Rhode Island College,

compares these clues to learning literacy. As a child watches a narrative film genre they are

learning to read generic codes, formulas, and conventions. This cinematic “grammar” actually

becomes more sophisticated as time goes on. (2) These elements overtime start to form our

understanding of not just film but society as well. These grammar structures placed in film are

like messages to the viewer. Messages designed to bring the viewer in to the story. The key is the

relationship between the film itself and the topics that matter to the viewer. These messages are

far from new however. For centuries civilizations have explained the world through stories in

this way. These characters and settings each shared common traits that would help to unravel the

mysteries of the unknown. People didn’t call them movies though because film didn’t exist in

early times. These stories were told orally in the form of myths.

Myths play an important role in every society because every civilization has their own

“versions” of the human experience. Their own ways of explaining essentially how the world

works. One myth that is very well known is the story of Prometheus. The story goes that

Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and shared it with early man. This act opened up a gateway

to a planet filled to the brim with an inexhaustible curiosity. The fire theft myth is a common

story shared across cultures according to Joseph Campbell, an American Mythologist and

professor who studied at length the connections and similarities between the myths of different

civilizations. The myth serves as an excellent metaphor for the curiosity of human beings. Once

people were exposed to the knowledge of fire they had their first glimpse of what the future
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could be. This of course led to a number of inventions that ultimately would lead humanity to the

state we are in today. Whether the myth itself is true or not is not what is important here. The

main takeaway is that this is a common theme or lesson about knowledge that is shared

throughout many cultures and societies today. So it should not be surprising that movies and

shows that ground their plots in elements of mythology are often received well when done

properly.

One series of films that always comes to mind is Lord of the Rings. Maggie Parke from

Bangor University acknowledges that Lord of the Rings plays on deep mythic roots that exist

within every human being. “We’re talking about Fairytales, We’re talking about Beowolf and

King Arthur; the little guy grabbing the sword and fighting for rights and going up against the

bad guy.” (Parke) These are the elements that allowed the Lord of the Rings series to be so

successful internationally because the film studio understood that these were traits that nearly all

viewers could in some way identify with. Parke also pointed out how important it is that

characters also be identifiable. They are what make a film stand out and shine while others fail to

do so as well. Golden Compass was an example of a film very similar in concept to Lord of the

Rings but failed the execution. That film never took off like Lord of the Rings did. So the

execution of these themes within films is almost as important as the themes themselves.

Love is another great example of themes in film. This being a common theme used

throughout all existing art and cultures. Many films use the concept of love to draw viewers in.

Titanic is a major blockbuster example that captures a major historic event and combines it with

a well-known myth of the star crossed lovers. This myth of course being immortalized in works

such as Romeo and Juliet and Great Expectations. The film was obviously very successful,

winning 11 Oscars upon its debut. The reason it was so successful is the real interest here. People

enjoy films when they themselves can identify with the story. The audience understands love.
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This motif reminds movie goers of their own experiences with the subject. They project

unconsciously a piece of themselves onto these clues of love. But what makes this effect

different from other mediums? In truth it is really not that different at first glance. This reflection

of ourselves is a common phenomenon across all forms of media. What makes film different is

what is happening in the background while the attention is elsewhere.

Picture a crowd surrounding a street gambler who is playing a shell game. The rules are

simple enough: three cups are shuffled around, one containing a hidden stone, and bets are

placed on which cup contains the stone. The player concentrates so hard on the cups that he

misses what is actually happening within the game. While he was busy watching the cups he

should have been watching the man. Using sleight of hand the gambler removed the stone from

the cups so that the player has no choice but to pick an empty cup. This form of cheating is

called thimble rigging. This is believe it or not similar to what filmmakers do to the viewer as

they watch a film. Filmmakers are not thimble riggers, but they are masters of distraction. They

have the audience focus on common or comfortable elements all the while masking the true

messages that the film is sending. This may seem strange, but it is actually the key ingredient

that helps to make films so successful. The film industry is impactful because a viewer can

actually watch a film with the sound off and still understand more or less what happened. This is

what allows films to penetrate society so quickly and very soon those “harmless” films start

causing real change from the inside out. This effect or power that films have is one of the largest

reasons the United States has such a large influence abroad.

The examples of “Americanization” around the world range widely. America holds the

keys to Hollywood and therefore holds a lot of influence within the film industry. A good

example of how Hollywood helped shape the landscape is within the United Kingdom. For a

long time Great Britain initially resisted access to American films within its country, but slowly
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loosened its grip over time. The chain of events that unfolded led a British post war society to

marvel at the ideals and projections of America. In his essay titled “Wrestling with America:

Media, National Images, and the Global Village” Alasdair Spark argues that:

Culturally speaking, this tension has been manifest for the British since World War II, in

a competition between the Orwellian fear of decline and being swamped by America,

versus the desire to experience the tangible fruits of American Capitalism, so easily

evident in films, television, and in music. To a nation which continued to experience the

war time rationing of staple items well into the fifties, America seemed to represent a

never-never land, where people spoke the same language but were different. (84)

This exemplifies at its finest the power that films can have on society. The introduction of

American films to the United Kingdom caused British people to be drawn towards the promise

of America. Or at least the America being represented in Hollywood at the time. It’s easy to

overlook the influence of film on Great Britain, but television offers a structure of social

relations that makes a certain unified notion of “the British people” possible. (85) Television and

films serve a function of cultural unification. Film essentially helps to reaffirm the view of their

culture as well as other cultures. In a broad sense these films do have some effect on the

perceptions of different issues within each society. The film industry is so influential that soon

after a while “ironically it may be Americans who find themselves confused about their national

identity, and feel they have lost ownership of the national adjective “American.” (Spark 97) This

is simply because films do tell their own stories. They might be grounded in truth, but that does

not guarantee that picture authenticity when compared to its origins. There are so many different

perspectives on America as a culture that it is truly possible for Americans themselves to lose

touch with their own identities. After all these tales told in spy movies, comedies, and dramas

cannot possibly all be correct about America. These stories are only versions of the truth, just
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like myths. They speak about real issues and tell real stories but that does not guarantee

authenticity by any means. Some of these truths are inevitably blurred somewhere along the

edges. One creation that Hollywood helped to invent was that of the “happy ending.”

Modern romance, like Greek tragedy, celebrates the mystery of dismemberment, which is

life in time. The happy ending is justly scorned as a misrepresentation; for the world, as

we know it, as we have seen it, yields but one ending: death, disintegration,

dismemberment, and the crucifixion of our heart with the passing of the forms that we

have loved. (Campbell 19)

This quote from Joseph Campbell helps to highlight the gap that truthfully exists between films

and the realism they attempt to imitate. The idea of a happy ending is a flawed concept because

of its lack of grounding in the reality of life. Unlike myths, which were created to show people a

version of a universal truth or question about human experiences, the happy ending is essentially

a filtered lie. As Campbell suggests, the happy ending does not truly exist because in the end

happiness is a poor form of measurement. Instead Hollywood sells us an idea that is

romanticized. Specifically Hollywood shares a version of life that plays on personal hopes

instead of fundamental truths. This obviously would not be an issue if the formula did not work

so well, but as it happens it does. “The Hollywood happy ending narrative has been, above all,

the result of rational business decisions by studio executives.” (Celli 129) The form has been

copied many times. It is successful because these movies sell. In some ways Hollywood suffers

from the ability to make movies be “economically profitable.” (130) Hollywood sticks to a

formula that they know works and when films deviate from that path they are essentially singled

out. They alienate these “art” films because they are more focused on ambiguity and relativism

instead of Hollywood’s thematic certainty and closure. (130) A division such as this between

Hollywood camps and non-Hollywood camps would benefit from an examination of other
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national film cultures as they explore narrative tendencies that are not as explored in the

Hollywood film setting. (130)

There is no denying that film will always be political. They bring to light subject matter

that have an influence on the thinking within different societies. Remember last year’s political

scandal surrounding North Korea’s dislike of The Interview, the movie about two guys who plan

on assassinating Kim Jong-un? The movie almost did not get released because of pressure from

the North Korean government. They threatened the United States’ national security in the wake

of major cyber security breaches supposedly made by North Korea. There is a lot of bad blood

surrounding North Korea for sure, but it is hard to deny that they do seem to understand at least

on some level the influence of films within their society. There were reportedly balloons being

sent from South Korea over the border containing thousands of copies of the film. These films

are clearly more than a means of entertainment. They have a profound effect on the world and in

societies.

Propaganda movies are another form of film that has come about within the past century.

These films are made specifically with a political motive in mind. They are the ultimate form of

manipulation because they are able to present nearly any side or cause in a positive light. Or

oppositely they can scare viewers away from something. This has been a common tactic

especially during times of war. Back in the 1940s Great Britain used movies as a vehicle for

pursuing political change. (Puttnam 78) One such movie was A Diary for Timmy. This film

struck a chord with the British people at a time when the nation was trying to pull itself together.

(Puttnam 79) The film was about a diary being written for a baby born six months before the end

of the war. The film portrayed what many had been yearning for, a society without war. This

helped to inspire many young adults into eventually heralding the modern welfare state.

(Puttnam 78) The propaganda film here was able to spark momentum for a movement towards
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positive change, but unfortunately this is not the only outcome that is possible when propaganda

films are used.

Another famous example is The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith which was a film

released in 1914 as a silent epic drama originally presented in two parts. It was even the first film

to be shown inside the white house. It was incredibly popular among white Americans and

greatly criticized by African-Americans. The film tells the story of two families during the Civil

War and Reconstruction eras, but tells it through a lens that makes freed slaves look like

uncivilized heathens. Many of the black characters are portrayed by white people using “black

face”, a practice no longer seen in films today for this very reason. The film is very racist by

today’s standards and even ends with the KKK coming to save the south from African-

Americans. “Griffith thought he was, in a way, reporting history about the Civil War and

Reconstruction, and it was widely accepted at the time — which has been completely debunked

since — that Reconstruction was a disaster ... and that former slaves were some kind of lower

form of life.” (100 Years Later, What's The Legacy Of 'Birth Of A Nation'?) This one film had a

profound impact on American society. It created a resurging interest in KKK membership almost

immediately after the film’s release. The film was definitely used by the KKK as a recruiting

tool. This if nothing else highlights the power of film to evict social change even if that change is

less than positive.

In direct contrast to The Birth of a Nation “Hollywood movies of the late 1950s [were]

getting white Americans to understand the unsustainability of their racial attitudes. More than

any other medium, it was cinema that established the environment which led to Kennedy’s

election and the civil rights legislation brought in by his successor” (Puttnam 78) This speaks to

changing times also changing movies. Political movements in film do not exactly flow with the

breeze, but they do often reflect the attitudes in the current society. This goes back to having
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identifiable themes within films that viewers can relate with. It only makes sense that these

themes change as society changes. The cultural landscape of what can be done in films continues

to turn as topics shift and new controversies emerge. The viewers just need to be made aware of

this.

An examination into film can actually give viewers greater control over the films that can

be made and helps to bring awareness towards the influences that film has in society. The old

sang is truer than ever before: knowledge is power. There is a call and response that the film

industry has with the viewer. Bonnie MacDonald likes to describe the relationship between

Hollywood studios and the mainstream audience’s box-office response as a cultural feedback

loop. “The films mirror the culture, and the audience learns about the culture from the films.”

(MacDonald 2) This is good news because it ultimately means that the viewers do have some

control over what movies get made. The culture can push back at the film industry. This is

crucial because this helps to create a sustainable ecosystem that can push the medium forward as

a force for positive changes. Culturally there will always be different expectations, but what is

known for sure is that these changes can and do happen. They effect societies across the globe in

some way each and every day.

The future is never set in stone. Nor it is set in film reels. The power is in the hands of

those who notice. Watching film in a meaningful way can absolutely share insights about the

world that otherwise would never be possible. These films translate in a manner that rivals

mythos. Joseph Campbell once said that “we need myths that will identify the individual not with

his local group but with the planet.” The same is true with movies today. Cultures around the world

need films to bring them closer to understanding each other. These films have voice. They have

character. They can harm and they can help. Filmmakers are speaking a new language every time

someone presses play or turns on their television. People are learning from young ages now how to
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decode these messages. The key is getting more people to care about film as a means of

understanding their surroundings. Film is a factor just as important to determining an individual as

their racial backgrounds, families, and societal norms. Though it claims to be a new media, it has

been changing the political landscape for almost a century now. The effects that film has should

never be taken lightly. . Studying national cinemas with attention to deep cultural themes and

motifs reveals “the sociological essence of a nation so movies truly can explain the world one

country at a time.” (Celli 1) People need only look to film to see the past, present, and future of

their societies. This is a force that will continue to change the world for better or for worse.

Movies are clearly the new myth.

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Works Cited

"100 Years Later, What's The Legacy Of 'Birth Of A Nation'?" NPR. NPR Staff, 8 Feb. 2015.

Web. 08 Sept. 2015.

"Box Office Mojo." Box Office Mojo. IMDB, Web. 03 Sept. 2015.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York, NY: Meridian, 1956. Print.

Campbell, Joseph. "The Power of Myth." Joseph Campbell. Web. 09 Sept. 2015.

Celli, Carlo. National Identity in Global Cinema: How Movies Explain the World. New York:

Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.

MacDonald, Bonnie L. "Genre Films As Cultural Pedagogy: The Enduring Myth of Star-Crossed

Lovers." Knowledge Quest 38.4 (2010): 40-47. Academic Search Premier. Web.13 July

2015.

Martin, Steve. "Movies Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 03 Sept. 2015.

Parke, Maggie. "Interview with Maggie at Bangor University." Personal interview. 28 July 2015.

Puttnam, David. "Life through the Lens." New Statesman 134.4771-4773 (2005):

78. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

Spark, Alasdair. "Wrestling with America: Media, National Images, and the Global Village."

Journal of Popular Culture 29.4 (1996): 83-97. Web. 03 Sept. 2015.

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