Hollywood Belongs to the World

As the American ambassador to Finland, I actively promoted the cultural products of Hollywood: film, television, music and spin-offs such as Disneyland and Warner Bros. shops. I spoke at the Helsinki premieres of films such as “Nixon” and “Independence Day,” welcomed such entertainers as Tina Turner, Johnny Cash and Jackson Browne, cut the ribbon at the opening of Planet Hollywood and gave frequent interviews about American culture to the Finnish media.

Some of the Helsinki ambassadorial corps wrote off my less than typical diplomatic behavior as the oddities of a Californian who was raised in the shadow of MGM. Happily for me, the Finns generally like Americans and American pop culture. McDonald’s is a success there and has never been accused of culinary imperialism. American films and television shows are played in original English, not dubbed as they are in France or Germany, and American shows such as “Beverly Hills 90210” are big hits. Jazz, blues and folk music also are popular.

American entertainers, films and television shows have not destroyed Finnish culture. In classical music, for example, Finland produces some of the best conductors in the world. Esa-Pekka Salonen heads the L.A. Philharmonic and Jukka-Pekka Saraste leads the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In design and architecture, Finland sets a world-class standard. So the cultural exchange is very much a two-way street.

However, I was a bit spoiled by my experience in Finland. On a recent trip to Toronto to deliver university lectures and meet with journalists, I was hit full force with a wave of cultural nationalism. One leading columnist wrote that while he knows many individual Americans who are pleasant enough, America itself is a “bully nation,” especially when it comes to economics and popular culture. Many in the audience raised the question of American cultural dominance, not only in Canada, but around the world. One longtime Canadian friend told me that he won’t buy coffee at Starbucks, now ubiquitous in Toronto. He only sips java at Second Cup, a Canadian-owned chain. Canada has a regulatory agency, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission that decides what is “Canadian content,” and regulates the amount of “foreign” cultural products shown or played on Canadian stations.

In response to a question about the dominance of American movies and television in Canada, I made these points. First, most of the Canadian population is stretched along the U.S. northern border and American TV and radio stations are a staple in a vast majority of Canadian homes, so there is a futility in trying to prevent exposure to them. Second, this is not necessarily bad. The great thing about Hollywood is that it is open to all comers with talent.

Numerous Canadians have made the trek south to stardom. In fact, the “King of the World” in Hollywood at the moment is a Canadian, director James Cameron. Cameron could have cast more Canadians in “Titanic” or perhaps shot it in Canada instead of Mexico. But he chose the best actors from around the world and the best and most economical locations. The romantic theme of the film had a certain American optimism about love between the classes, but that was part of the film’s universal appeal. As one Egyptian fan said, “It is not an American movie, it is a human movie.”

Hollywood is not an American industry but, rather, an entertainment industry that is located in California and belongs to the world. It is all about world culture and is uniquely open to the best entertainment talent in the world. Hollywood seeks it out and displays it to a global audience. This is commerce at its best, not cultural imperialism.

The best actors, directors, writers and performers always have been drawn to Hollywood, often after initial success in their home countries. Think of Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin. Today, the process has only intensified. European actors such as Gerard Depardieu and Juliet Binoche are now Hollywood regulars, and the cross-fertilization with Britain, continues with the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson (who played an American first lady). The cultural products of the BBC are a staple of America’s PBS.

And it is not true, as some critics of Hollywood argue, that big budget films crowd out smaller foreign or independent films. Quality does win out in the global cultural marketplace. Consider the success of “The Full Monty.” National film industries still thrive in many foreign countries, and more than ever, the global marketplace seeks out their products. With the advent of new cable channels, more and more foreign and independent films make it to television and video.

With the growth of the Internet and new entertainment offerings that will be available worldwide, the global marketplace for entertainment and culture of all kinds will only increase. Hollywood will continue to be the home of big budget movies and television because California has developed an advantage in these products, but it is a Hollywood that belongs to the world’s audiences.

Hollywood is about the spread of popular culture, not its destruction, and the globalization of culture is overwhelmingly a good thing.