Visual Culture- National Identity

This weeks visual culture lecture focused on National Identity, and specifically looked closely at Hermeneutics. It did this by going in depth with what we mean by the word 'culture' and how we define it as a society. It was explained that Hermeneutics was the difference between literal and intended meaning, and was developed more when talking about American Anthropologist, Clifford Geertz. We were shown images of people from different countries and how they are stereotypically displayed and known by the rest of the world, such as the British gentleman always been portrayed in a smart suit, very stylish and suave, but in reality we know thats not true and we know the true British culture as it is now. A major topic in the lecture looked into Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood, three major businesses and industries that have a ginormous impact on culture. Hollywood being one of the worlds leading film industries and distributors, producing blockbusters and earning billions every year. Bollywood being an impactful power in the Indian cinema industry and changed hindi cinema since its invention, creating hundreds of films each year. Recently Nollywood has become a major player in the industry, being Nigeria's cinema industry and rated the third most valuable film industry in the world.

In our second lecture with our film tutor, we looked closely into foreign films and their impact on the film industry, as well as there similarities and differences to films of our culture. We talked about the variety of foreign films and the cultures involved and were tasked to go off and write about a foreign film we had seen or known about in our group discussion page. We then all came back and went through all our films and talked about what made them different and interesting. My choice was the 2011 french film The Intouchables, I remember seeing this a few years back because of all the awards buzz and critical reception it had being receiving. Once I saw it I understood why many critics and fans were raving about it, and also understood that language is not a barrier on film, that you can still enjoy and follow a film, even if it's in a foreign language or from a different culture. At its core, The Intouchables was a character piece, it had great character development and you just became invested in their friendship. The comedy used was universally understood and enjoyable and not just centered to its own nation and culture, but still had the feeling of a film from French Cinema, it's background and world it developed was very foreign to say someone like me from Britain.