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> It's trivial, a mere signpost on a hill. many culturally significant things are like that -- valueless aside from some mythos or story that provides the valu
by serf 4y ago
> It's trivial, a mere signpost on a hill.
many culturally significant things are like that -- valueless aside from some mythos or story that provides the value from somewhere other than worldy presence.
The sign is trivial, but it symbolizes a lot of the same things that Hollywood itself has come to symbolize for many years.
'Going out to California to make it big' has been one of the slices of American Dream for a very long time. The Hollywood sign is one of the things that has become associated with that idea, among others; and that's ignoring the international impact that Hollywood has had on the world in the past, even if the strangehold on the worlds' cinema culture is no longer as tightly held, as you mention.
> Depends where you are in the world.
I'd argue that even elsewhere in the world, 'Hollywood' would be a likely answer from those asked, but few if any people in Mumbai, for example, will make a mention of Pinewood.
- wogaf 4y ago[flagged]
- andsoitis 4y agoHollywood is not only the oldest film industry in the world, it is also first in revenue. I bet that people around the world know about Hollywood and the top actors just like they know Coke everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry
- nopenotthat 4y agoYour own link refutes you. The oldest is the French film industry (Gaumont still exists & is the oldest studio still in operation), closely followed by the British film industry (notably Ealing Studios, still the oldest continuously working film facility too). Hell, the earliest American film industry was in Brooklyn. Hollywood happened initially due to it fleeing to the west coast to avoid patents (ironically) and later the cheaper land.
- shp0ngle 4y agoYeah I find it ironic that the biggest proponents of what’s now called “intellectual property” are based where are they based, because they escaped high patents costs.
- arrrg 4y agoThat seems like a weird assertion. I really wouldn’t downplay US worldwide cultural domination, whether you like that or not. Especially since you are setting a very low bar here: merely having heard of Hollywood. Don’t confuse what you might wish for with reality.
- Uehreka 4y ago…seriously? So I lived abroad for multiple years in Thailand. Learned the language, had conversations with people who had never met a foreigner, traveled to numerous surrounding countries. I’ve been to Europe multiple times and stayed with local friends of mine and met their friends. All this not to mention the number of people from around the world I’ve met at hostels and through activities like scuba diving. People are fucking obsessed with Hollywood. For some people it’s a singular cultural reference point they ascribe to the entire country. When my Thai students were looking into studying abroad, their first questions about a location were about whether it was within traveling distance of NYC or Hollywood. I’ve seen people meet an American who has never even been to California and then jokingly refer to them as “Mr. Hollywood over here!” (And yes, I know that they know all of America isn’t literally Hollywood). Like, I can understand not liking the amount of American media hegemony that goes on in global culture, that totally makes sense. But it’s definitely a thing.
- shp0ngle 4y agoThat’s why Indian movies are called “Bollywood”, Bengal “Tollywood”, Nigerian “Nollywood”. Because… nobody ever heard of Hollywood?