When the topic of crossover cinema, it is often confused with transnational cinema. According to Khorana (2013), transnational cinema enables the recognition and consideration of the impact of post-World War II migration and globalisation on film practice and scholarship. On the other hand, cross-culture cinema is defined as the emergence of a new form of cinema, which crosses cultural borders during conceptualization and production, thus manifesting into a form of hybrid cinematic grammar at the textual level, as well as cross overs in the consumption of content such as distribution and reception.
Personally, I have watched a lot of foreign (particularly Asian) television shows and movies. Did/Do I understand the language? No. How could I possibly know what was even going on when I couldn’t? Simple. SUBTITLES! However, through the ever-growing impact of globalisation, crossover cinema has allowed the creation of a new cultural experience. Nowadays, we can find that movies have similar storylines, which could have been potentially remade. East Asian films are a great example, as many have been appropriated and remade to cater to Western audiences such as Park Chanwook’s 2003 South Korean mystery thriller film, Oldboy and Spike Lee’s 2013 American remake film of the same name.
In particular, I will focus on one of the most well-known crossover cinematic films – Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire is an Oscar-winning British-Indian drama film first released in 2008, co-directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan. The film garnered mass international attention for its incorporation of the Hindi language, Indian actors/actresses and cultural/film elements, especially Bollywood music and dance sequences. According to Kavoori (2009, cited in Khorana, 2010), Slumdog Millionaire is “a classic crossover text” due to using Indian locale to speak about wider (global) concerns that impacted world citizens after the post-financial crisis in America such as personal responsibility, the need for agency in an alienated society and the renewal of ‘love’ and self-understanding. Despite these incorporations, the film is still predominately Westernized due to the fact that it was a British-made film that was intended to appeal to and resonate with the Western audiences rather than just the Indian audience. For these reasons, there have been numerous academic criticisms and controversies after its box office release.
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Slumdog Millionaire is a true example of crossover cinema due to the fact that the film had crossed over to the main (non-foreign) category at the Academy Awards in 2009. Although it is the fact that it won multiple awards at the Academy Awards is any indicator that it is a crossover cinematic film, but its ability to have transcended cultural borders, appeal to and resonate with Western and global audiences is something to be commended. Thanks to the rise of globalisation, crossover cinema allows all cultures to be embraced and united through entertainment.
References
1. Khorana, S 2013, “Crossover cinema: a conceptual and genealogical overview”, Research Online, p. 1-18
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