The Global Convergence of Film

 Recently, my wife, who is Japanese, and I have been rewatching Disney Renaissance films, for no particular reason. The conversation inevitably gets to "Oh yeah, I watched this so many times as a kid, and I still love it today" from both of us. I started mansplaining the Disney Renaissance to my wife, about how from 1989-1994 Disney was producing absolute bangers, which were largely a departure from the previous generations of Disney cartoons and now I have also mansplained this to you. 

Long live the king

As a lark, I mentioned that I didn't dig on most of the older movies, from Snow White onward, with one exception, which was Robin Hood. And here's where the rooster gets important. 

There's a rooster in Robin Hood who is designed as a medieval minstrel and functions as a Greek chorus, but whose motif is that of a 60s American folk singer. I'm grinning ear to ear when this dude is on screen, because not only do I remember the songs from my childhood, but the combination of British minstrel with American folk singer as a furry is just a fun, fucking combination, you know? And as I'm going along, I start to realize the cultural threads that are weaved into this film that I can't quite put into words. The comedic stylings of the goofy, vain King John with his sidekick Hiss the Snake is something very, very familiar, even if I can't name its influence directly. It's like the type of thing that I viewed 5% of every night on TV sitcoms from ages 5-15.

It was a pleasant experience. I realized that I was looking at something distinctly American, uniquely creative, and also wholly dependent on the knowledge of "folk singers", "the Robin Hood mythos", and these particular comedy and musical performances for it to be enjoyable. My wife was bored as shit. 

And that's when I had this question: Do these things exist nowadays? When I was a child, Robin Hood was an old movie that I had seen on VHS or on TV in the US, and Lion King was in theaters internationally. By the 1990s, global culture was beginning to emerge ; there was no prior knowledge needed to enjoy that movie (even though knowing about Hamlet helps). And now, I think that trend has not only continued, but has become fully integrated into all countries and all forms of art. I really encounter a TV show, movie, or musical artist that either makes me say, "Ah, I'm American so I don't get this," or "I'm an American so only I get this." 

But now, everyone understands all references

Jury is still out on whether this is a positive development, but I imagine this only strengthens. Marvel, Harry Potter, Kpop, shit like this is ubiquitous the world over, and it will only continue to grow. The only counter examples that I can think of at the moment are Indian films, which are, despite being fucking awesome, not widely available or beloved internationally. Without that cultural language of understanding what makes an Indian movie good or bad, you can't really enjoy it globally, and thus remains a uniquely Indian aspect of culture.