No Sex Please: This is India

International Herald Tribune October 20, 2004

Todd Buchholz

Hollywood, which shakes theater seats with the latest in digital technology, is tone deaf. The American entertainment industry may be missing out on big export opportunities because its movies show too many thighs and AK-47s.

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The Indian film industry, meanwhile, has more than doubled its exports in the last few years.

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Some 350,000 Americans make a living in the film industry, but many of the jobs are threatened - not just by outsourcing to cheaper locales, but also by the vulgarity of American cultural exports. These bad manners are a symptom of a Hollywood mentality that too often goes for titillation instead of inspiration.

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Clearly there is still a big market for sex and violence; three of the top 10 movies in the United States last year were rated R, which in the American system usually means sex and violence. After all, those are universal themes. Filmgoers don't need a translator to understand a bedroom scene or a punch to the jaw.

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When Rambo mowed down dozens of bad guys with his machine gun, teenage boys around the world got a thrill. The bullets spoke for the character, which is probably best, since even people from his native country had trouble understanding Sylvester Stallone's grunts. Many of those same teenage boys would surely have loved to sneak into the theater to hear the grunts in "Showgirls."

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So why should Hollywood start toning down the vulgarity meter? Because movies that rely less on sex and violence stand a better chance of success in the future in developing countries like China, India and Mexico, for three reasons.

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First, especially with the rise of outsourcing, English is fast becoming the lingua franca of the developing world. In the past, movies that relied on quick or subtle dialogue typically required awkward subtitles or dubbing when they were shown outside the United States. But as English expands its dominance, foreign audiences may find more American scripts more understandable.

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Second, developing countries generally have more traditional mores than the United States. In China, Confucian standards of modesty still hold sway, as do conservative Hindi sensibilities in India. Often government censors reinforce those traditions. In China, the Culture Ministry approved Britney Spears's first tour of that country, but insisted on "strict reviews of her performance clothing." Last April the government's Administration for Radio, Film and Television slapped new regulations on racy or violent content.

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In India, wholesome themes are already by far the most popular.

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Bollywood, as the Indian film industry is known, routinely remakes American movies.

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Everything from "Mrs. Doubtfire" to "It Happened One Night" has been "chutneyed." The process basically has three stages: sex scenes are toned down, the schmaltz factor is ramped up, and much singing and dancing is added, sometimes without regard to plot or logic.

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Finally, there is the quaint but durable notion that, cultural differences notwithstanding, Saturday-night dates are the same the world over: dinner and a movie.

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Fast food sales are a leading indicator for movie ticket receipts, and almost 50 percent of Chinese city dwellers regularly visit a Western fast-food restaurant.

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Because Ronald McDonald leads the way for Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, Chinese moviegoers and television watchers are developing appetites for more than just the easily translated grunts and goons of movies that focus strictly on sex and violence. They want plot and character, too.

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Hollywood better learn to give it to them.

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