Bollywood and the Effects of Cultural Imperialism...

Trade liberalization and economic growth have given more people than ever before the means to become consumers of media entertainment. The rising literacy levels in developing nations and access to Western (meaning mostly American) entertainment offerings no doubt play a significant role in creating media consumers that are more demanding in terms of their traditional cultural and entertainment industries. With these notions in mind, I seek to propose that, cultural imperialism is indeed a viable and extremely useful theoretical model in analyzing the relationship between American cultural production and the rest of the world.

Out of this model important questions begin to emerge: What are the implications of Western media globalization for indigenous cultures in developing countries? What kind of influence, is Western media globalization having on indigenous media industries? And finally, in this age of media globalization, are there any indications that cultural influences may be taking place both ways – between the East and the West – rather than only from the West to the East? If so, do these counter-flows really challenge cultural imperialism?

The expansion of democracy and economic liberalization in the last two decades especially, has no doubt unleashed unparalleled Western cultural influences around the world. Biggins (2004) says that globalization, with an adverse advocacy through the media, has brought in a “landslide transformation of existing local culture and identity into a new form of culture with no frontier” (www.razonypalabra.org...). With this in mind I wish to address the Bollywood film industry in India, and more importantly how this industry reflects the globalization of media imagery, making it an almost cultural clone of the Western vision of life

According to Schiller, Cultural imperialism occurs with the Western countries’ influence on the language, values and attitudes, including religion, ways of organizing public life, styles of politics, clothing styles, and many other cultural habits (Thussu, 48). Thus, when considering this definition, perhaps a most compelling example of this is the incorporation of the Hollywood production formula seeming to consist of themes of sex, violence and alcohol in Bollywood films.

India’s movie industry, which turns out more than 800 feature films a year compared to about 250 produced by Hollywood annually, is the largest in the world. However, in recent years, movie theater attendance has fallen substantially because the industry’s traditional song-and-dance storylines and hokey treatment of love scenes has not produced big hits. As a result, the Bollywood film industry has started to deal openly with sex and show generous doses of skin in an attempt to draw audiences. For example, Agence-France Presse reported that the biggest grossing film in 2003 was “Jism” (Body), which tells the story of a woman who is unapologetic about using her sexuality to persuade her lover to kill her rich husband. "The success of Jism showed that Indians are no longer ashamed of watching a steamy scene in a full house," said leading filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who wrote the film's screenplay. Bhatt said the film reflected a change in the mindset of the Indian viewer (www.razonypalabra.org...).

Now, what can one make of situations like this, can we truly attribute this change of direction in film to the Western ideas of what constitutes entertainment? I say yes, not only because of the correlation seen between increased flow of Western cultural products and the change in Indian film having a role in this change, but also because of what I have seen through personal experience. While visiting India this past summer I was stunned by some of the mere advertisements I came across. In a culture where I had to pay special attention to dress, not showing any skin above the knee or the elbow I was stunned to see scantily dressed models of a much fairer complexion than is characteristic of this part of the world, grazing the billboards of down town Calcutta. It was evident that the advertisements were indeed a reflection of the luxuries and way of life that are displayed through western ads, film, and television, rather than that which is characteristic of India.

With this in mind, what then can we say of the counter-flow of culture, and does this flow of east to west really challenge any notions of western society? With a projected movie market that is essentially larger than that of Europe and maybe even North American some day soon, how long will Hollywood remain immune to these Asian influences on its own style of filmmaking? My instincts lead me to believe that within the next 20 years one can expect to see a huge change in the production of Hollywood films, not because of a genuine desire to move towards the Asian style of movie making, but perhaps as an attempt to simply infiltrate the Asian movie market as these populations become more economically powerful and influential in the world arena. So really, this reverse flow of culture is in no way near the point of challenging cultural imperialism, and rather stands as a further developing and expansion point of Western media.


Rampal, Kuldip. “Cultural Imperialism or Economic Necessity? The Hollywood Factor.” Razon Y Palaba.< http://www.razonypalabra.org.mx/anteriores/n43/krampal.html>

Thussu, Daya Kishan. “International Communication: Continuity and Change,” Oxford University Press, London 2006.