The Cinematic Art

    For the first half of the 20th century the cinema dominated all other forms of popular entertainment in the world. During the heyday of the 'movie theatre' or the 'picture house'-as the Americans and British variously called their cinema halls-millions of people throughout the world developed the habit (almost the addiction) of going to see a film at least once a week. This was the golden age of Hollywood, film capital of both the United States and the world. 

     The first silent films (in black and white, of course) were shown during the 1890s as part of music-hall entertainment, taking turns along with various live acts such as singers, dancers and magicians. Such films were simply to give the audience a thrill; the vision of a huge locomotive racing towards you out of the screen usually produced the effect that both the promoter and the audience desired. Indeed, this thrill element continues to be very significant in movies, as is witnessed by the demand for more and more spectacular 'special effects' in various science-fiction extravaganzas. 

     A Frenchman, Georges Melies, created the first actual story-related movies around 1900 and the first American story film was The Great Train Robbery in 1903. From then until 1914, American and European film-makers were more or less equal, but after the outbreak of the First World War Europeans had other more pressing concerns, and far away in California, near the city of Los Angeles, the film-makers of the New World went ahead on their own, producing first the 'talkies' and then 'technicolor'. Many European countries (including France, Britain, Russia and Germany) have continued to make films, but they have never really managed to catch up with the lead that Hollywood established during and after the Great War. 

     The only nation that can nowadays be said to rival the United States in the volume of films produced, money made and numbers entertained is India, which has an extremely successful home and export business in films; it makes movies available both to Indian communities established in other parts of the world and to countries whose people are culturally closer to Bombay than to Hollywood.

     The cinema, since its inception, has been in direct competition with a variety of other forms of entertainment. These include: participating in and watching sports and games, acting in or going to the live theatre, performing for or listening to radio, watching television, and-most recently- playing video games. The live theatre has not done particularly well in the face of competition from the cinema, while in turn the cinema has not done too well when faced with the domestic miracle of millions of private screens in people's own homes. Looking back at the way in which television has displaced the movies since the early 1950s, we might even say that the cinema was the dinosaur ancestor of TV, rather than that TV is a miniature cinema. 

     The only clear advantage that the public movie has over the private tube is the size of the picture offered. Even that advantage may not last much longer, however, as more people in affluent parts of the world become interested in large TV wall screens for their living rooms. 

     Not, of course, that Hollywood is going to stop making films; the TV companies will need them for a long time to come, as will the videotape industry. The framing of celluloid dreams goes on, with whole galaxies of 'stars', 'starlets' and 'superstars' whom we can watch, love, hate, envy or disdain (according to our inclinations). It is a state of affairs that could never have been imagined in, say, 1839, the year when Sir John Herschel first offered the world the term 'photography'. 

The Effect of Culture in our Society

     Culture is a set of practices, ideas, beliefs, and customs which make a community or a society distinct from any other society. The culture of a society influences how the people talk, how they reason, and how they relate to each other (Mead & Andrews 2009). Culture may be adaptable to change in some communities, while in others it is not. However, it is evident that culture has and continues to undergo a transformation.

     Culture and environment have shaped social, economic, and political development of various nations across the globe. In turn, culture also influences the life an individual leads in the society. This is attributed to the role that cultural practices play in imparting knowledge and passing societal norms from one generation to the other. Due to globalization, traditional nation-states have been forced to meet many new demands.

     With the onset of technology, information and resources are surpassing geographical boundaries, hence reshaping the relationships between the states, citizens, and marketplace (Kotter & Heskett 1992). In particular, the expansion of the mass media industry has significantly impacted on societies and individuals across the globe (Schein 1992). Though advantageous in some ways, an increased accessibility has the ability to negatively influence a society. With easy distribution of information throughout the world, cultural sense, tastes, and values run the risk of being homogenized. Consequently, the power of identity of persons and societies may begin to wane.

     Claxton and Mclntrye (1996, p. 360) recognize the value of understanding cultural differences in globalization. The recent years have witnessed an increased desire to align global activities with culture. The ‘social programming’ model, traceable to Hofstede, is a powerful tool for a cultural analysis. People attach different values and attitude towards work. It is critical for international companies to carry out cultural studies in the foreign countries before investing in those countries. This will enable companies strategically position themselves in such countries. By aligning strategies with the people’s culture, the companies receive broad and quick recognition in the foreign countries.       

     Culture has significantly influenced operations in companies. Organizations adopt different mechanisms of recruiting staff to promote diversity. Culture has also undergone a radical transformation encouraging a large number of people to use technology throughout their life. There has been an increase in the use of mobile phones and computers. Those who embrace the new technology slowly end up adopting new cultures (Schein 1992). Technology also follows the aspect of fashion. There was a time when Walkmans appeared fashionable but they were substituted by mobile phones. The technology may have a positive impact on the human life, but still it has negative impacts on the culture.

     Some people, particularly those with strict religious beliefs, uphold that it is in the best interests of humanity in general that all people stick to a definite model of society. For instance, evangelical missionaries, such as the New Tribes Mission followers, work to sustain social changes that other people would consider harmful to cultural diversity by trying to change the remote ethnic societies to the Christian faith.

     Today, communication with different countries has become more frequent than before. Many students, for example, choose to study overseas to experience culture diversity. They want to widen their horizons and build themselves. In the Chinese education, Chinese professors are the authorities and, therefore, command attention from students, and in return, students show immense respect to their teachers. This is unlike in the United States of America where students regard their professors as equals. The open discussion on diverse issues emanates from the academic freedom that the majority American institutions propagate.

     A technology change alters people’s culture. Technological inventions are not absorbed into the culture but eliminate the existing cultural aspects. Religion, traditions, social beliefs, and morals take a new form due to the technological changes. This means that technological evolution leads to cultural evolution; thus, old cultures ultimately die. It is a collective phenomenon since it is partly shared by people living within the same social environment where the same culture is upheld.

     Conflicts normally occur when cultures with different priorities try to work together since they exist in a different time line and can irritate one another in the course of work. Other challenge may occur due to the difference in the way people from different cultures view leadership, time, and status and in the way they communicate. The way people in an organization behave socially, for instance, if they support racism and other forms of discrimination, normally trickles down and affects the opportunities and improvement in services offered by the organization. For example, in the United States, during the times of segregation, African-American families were denied bank loans to use for housing and business activities, while the white family’s loans were approved. The remedy for social inequality is accepting one another in an organization as equal with a common aim of building up a well and successful organization (Shapiro 2004).

     Knowledge of cultural differences is crucial in international business. It is essential that global companies take time to appreciate the cultural differences exhibited in different countries. Studies indicate that there exist considerable differences in the attitudes that people from different countries attach to different aspects of life. These cultural differences shape the work culture of the given people. For multinational companies, it is necessary to identify the cultural differences between countries; this enables avoidance of importation of a model from one country to another. The knowledge gained from the analysis of cultural differences provides companies with crucial information on what to do to be successful in the foreign countries.

     In conclusion, for a company to conquer the global market, it should set strategies that appeal and respect different cultures. For proper and efficient administration, the cultural dimension of employees should be respected.