British Film Industry example essay topic

One of the many great exports from America is the film industry. The glitz and glamour of Hollywood which, incidentally has nothing to do with holly or wood and was purely the name of someone's summer home, seems to have a mass worldwide appeal. With the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Emmys every year simply celebrating film and television, the Americans are obviously very proud of their achievements. However, although the Americans take most of the credit when it comes to the cinema what many people forget is that the British, Italians, Russians, French, Japanese and the Chinese have contributed so much to film and cinema.

Now the Australians are getting in on the act with Baz Lurhman directing "Romeo and Juliet" and "Moulin Rouge", Oscar winning Russell Crowe and newcomer Heath Ledger. It seems that over the last couple of decades, faith in the British film industry hasn't been very high as not many successful films were produced. Many simply believed, and sadly some still do, that the Americans can do it better. The technology, actors and directors are viewed as the best in the world but what we have to keep in mind is that many British actors and directors head to America for work because the British film "industry" cannot allocate positions to the large amount of talent that the country produces. Thankfully, over the last five years the Brits have made a comeback and now even the Americans are beginning to give Britain recognition as a major player in the world of film. Even though it may have been the Americans who first tried to record the moving image, a lot of success came from British input, Charlie Chaplin being a most notorious part of this contribution winning the Special Award (acting, producing, directing and writing) in the 1930 British Academy Awards for "The Circus".

Most notably, we have to recognize Sir Alfred Hitchcock who revolutionized the thriller genre. His films are an inspiration to young aspiring writers and directors and many have attempted to follow in his footsteps, most, somewhat rather unsuccessfully. 'Trainspotting', 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'The Full Monty', 'Chariots of Fire' and 'Gosford Park'. What do all these films have in common?

They have all been hailed in their time as shining examples of British film success. Unfortunately, these sorts of examples are still rare. Time and time again we hear of the latest crisis in the British film industry. Governmental inertia when it comes to backing film, lack of investment from British finance, the relatively small domestic market and many other reasons are all given as contributing to this state of affairs. Many people believe that there is a lack of interest in British themes. But, what many people forget about is that fact William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and many other classic writers and characters have had many of their works produced for film.

Shakespeare has spawned generations of films based on his novels and one must also not forget the James Bond franchise that has now generated 20 successful films spanning over 40 years. Other works such as "Mary Poppins", "Winnie the Pooh", "Peter Pan" and "Monty Python" as well as costume and historical dramas that have done incredibly well at the box office. Relative to the US, at about 50 million people, the potential British market is roughly five times smaller. However, there is no reason why British filmmakers should not capitalise on the fact that a large part of the world, including the United States, uses our native English as a first language and many others speak it fluently. Given the right product, the potential market is huge. Certainly, American filmmakers and corporations have identified this and utilised it very successfully for decades.

So much so that hundreds of countries throughout the world are totally familiar with US culture, images and the large US corporations who sponsor and promote their products throughout the film. The problem here is that the British film 'industry' is very small and cannot sustain the large amount of talent that this country produces. Furthermore, TV and theatre are very strong in Britain and absorb a lot of talent and money. Working in the US or Europe is very attractive for British stars or other talent if they want to be internationally rewarded and recognised. But there is a huge amount of British talent that has been involved in film all over the world for so many years and which has produced some of the classic movies and performances, many of these in the US or on US productions.

What many people believe is that it is the government's fault that the British film industry cannot churn out films like America. However, we have to bear in mind that it is not the government's role to support popular film. There is a case for governmental support of films of a cultural or documentary nature, or where minority interests are not satisfied in the mainstream. Apart from this, it is the job of British enterprise and financial corporations to invest in film. Other countries such as Australia, Hong Kong and India all have very healthy film industries which are internationally successful and which are based largely on market forces and not on taxpayer's money. American film studios often employ bigger budgets for their movies so it seems that everything that they produce is better than anything Britain can do.

However, the amount of investment is no guarantee of success and the number of US films that fail or don't become very successful is actually very high. Many classic US movies, such as 'Psycho', were actually made on very small budgets. The successful British films of the last few years have all had relatively small budgets which didn't hinder their international appeal at all. In fact, although Britain produces relatively few films in a year the success of these at the box office and in terms of awards is proportionately very high compared to US films.

Let us hope that British film may once again soon be in the ascendant so we can regularly see more production and performances of quality from the British film industry and actors. Certainly with the recent Oscar and Academy Award success of Dame Judi Dench and the films 'Shakespeare in Love', About a Boy and 'Gosford Park' together with the great critical acclaim that films such as 'Little Voice' and 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' have been receiving, things look very promising and hopefully the future will be much better for British film.