What is Bollywood?
The
Hindi language film industry in India centered on Mumbai
Literally
combination of Bombay
(now known as Mumbai) + Hollywood
Part
of the worlds most productive film industry
India
produces more feature length movies per year than US
Sells
more tickets per year than Hollywood
BUT,
makes infinitely less profit than Hollywood
Shows
globalization is not just a one-way street. India has a huge
culture industry.
Characteristics of Bollywood Cinema
One
of first places where film shown, film shot, feature films produced
A
split between parallel (art) vs. commercial cinema, begins to form
Other
regional cinemas remain strong, such as the Tamil cinema (Kollywood), based in
Chennai in South India
Bollywood
Movies were officially banned in Pakistan
Production
by individual producer, not studios.
Each
film is high risk, stable funding hard to find.
Factory-like
mass production, based on star power
Almost
all films are musicals, soundtrack used to make as much money as film
Traditionally,
films have extremely long run times partially because audiences want to get
their moneys worth of air conditioning.
Characteristics (cont.)
Most
films are melodramas, meaning that emotion, action, stock characters and
plot twists take precedent over deep character development
Cinema
is very referential, going back again and again to the same themes and other
films
Common
themes: love triangles, lost relatives, doomed lovers, revenge, partition, evil
villains
Often all that is in
one film: masala film
Scenes/plots
from other Bolly/Hollywood films often borrowed
Roles
for women traditionally very limited: pure mother, supportive girlfriend,
sinner/prostitute who dies
In-theater
audience primarily male
Famous Films
Sholay
(1975)
man
hires honorable bandits to avenge villain who crippled him
known
as curry western
had 7
year run in theaters, the most viewed Indian film
Hum
Aapke Hain Koun
Was
highest grossing Hindi film
family friendly, wedding filled
Current
Hit..
Golmaal
Again
The
fourth movie in this series, which combines horror, comedy, action and romance
Also a musical
East Asia: Part One
East Asia
These
7 countries have 1 out of 4 people
Themes
Rapid
Economic Growth
Historical
Influence of Chinese Thought
Uneven
Population Densities
Urban
Rural Disparities
Environmental
Stress
Landforms
Very
few flat surfaces and most of them are deserts
Terraced
hillsides, drained wetlands for many centuries
The
landforms of East Asia form four steps (from Southwest to East):
The
Plateau of Tibet
A
broad expanse of basins, plateaus, and low mountain ranges that include upper
portions of the Huang He and Chang Jiang
Broad
coastal plains and the deltas of Chinas great rivers, with intervening low
mountains and hills
Continental
shelf and numerous islands
Japan
is volcanic in origin, earthquake and tsunami prone
Climate
The
Dry Interior
This
area heavily influenced by extremes of a continental climate.
Has grasslands,
deserts, scattered forests, and large, uninhabited areas.
The
Monsoon East
During
the winter monsoons, dry, frigid arctic air can result in a long, bitter winter
in NE, North China Plain
Summer brings wet
monsoon, rain
Like South Florida, get
tropical storms (known as typhoons, instead of hurricanes)
The
influence of water makes Japan, Korea, SE China wet, all year
Japan gets significant
amounts of snowfall
Forests
in this area vary from coniferous to tropical rain forests
Agriculture has
destroyed many ecosystems and development threatens remaining natural areas.
Water Issues in China
Flooding
Summer
monsoons can cause catastrophic floods, and have throughout Chinese history
Government built
120,000 miles of dikes, countless levees, dams since 1949
These failed in 1990s,
killing thousands of rural dwellers
Human activities that
prevent absorption of water by soil (mining, logging, farming) worsen floods
Drought
At
least one part of China has drought every year
Leads either to crop
kills or overuse of aquifers
There is a chance North
China wheat and corn (and cities) could completely dry aquifers, threatening
food security (and leading to plans to bring water from South); Mongolia
especially has very few water sources
Also, also climate
change hit Himalayas, the glaciers are disappearing leading to less dry season
water
1/3
of population does not have access to safe drinking water (fertilizers, sewage,
industrial chemicals biggest causes)
Environmental Issues
Concerns
come from high population density, rapid economic development and demand for
food from degrading land, poor resource management, and ineffective
environmental planning.
China
now competing with Russia for most severe environmental problems on the planet
Could
actually reverse increasing well being, as many harmful chemicals are released
from Chinas massive industrial complex
Although over the last
10 years, China has begun to take its environmental impacts much more seriously
with rapid growth in green buildings, solar, and public transport
Air
Pollution in China
Due
to industrialization, energy use doubled in last quarter of 20th
century (now the highest emitter of greenhouse gases)
65%
of energy comes from coal, this is problem
Coal mining in China is
one of worlds most dangerous civilian occupations, huge environmental impacts
Air equally bad in
rural areas and cities in East
In NE, coal for
heating, in SE coal is high sulfur
Auto pollution going to
get worse
Beijing had 1/10 cars
of LA, same pollution b/c of leaded gasoline (which they are phasing out).
Three Gorges Dam
Largest
engineering project in history ( 1.4 miles wide)
Makes
Chiang Jiang navigable deep into China
Its
reservoir is370 miles long, flooded 13 cities, 140 towns, hundreds of villages,
1600 factories, 62,000 acres of farm land, archaeological sites
Displaced 1.3 million
people
Silt build up behind
the dam will eventually make the electric output miniscule
Is
causing massive ecosystem change, potentially hurting giant sturgeon
Could
also be destroyed in an earthquake
Much
international and internal opposition
World
Bank even withdrew support; China went ahead anyway
Efforts to Improve Environmental Health
A
Green movement has emerged
Fed by a freer press,
social media, higher education and literacy rates
Push for environmental
monitoring, cleanup
A system of permits,
incentives, and penalties is being imposed on industry and farming.
By government mandate,
cars in China will now have as tough or tougher mileage and emission standards
than U.S. cars
Starting
to look at water recycling/sewage processing for cities
Also are diverting
rivers to major cities to stop aquifer tapping
River diversion can
lower the quality of water downstream, and destroy natural biological habitats.
Environmental Issues Elsewhere in East Asia
All
countries are experiencing water and air pollution associated with modern
agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization.
Lots
of fish (which is healthy to eat) in diets in the region; but increasing
consumption is putting pressure on fisheries worldwide.
North
Korea
Flooding from
deforestation
Crop failures related
to environmental mismanagement have caused thousands to die.
Mongolians
had severe forest fires in 1990s.
Elsewhere,
frequent, manageable rain helps purify environment
But auto, factory
pollution still bad
Japan
also can get tsunamis (as in 2011), volcanoes and earthquakes requires strict
building codes