Hollywoodization of Filipino films (con't)

av_phile: Not if the IMF or the WOrld Bank has anything to say to that.  Let's go protectionist in our movie industry.  Like Frrance or Italy.  I think it has been said that protectionisn breeds lousy products.  And all the while i thought the movie industry is already protected.

No, the industry isn't protected; more like exploited.

Mind you, I'm not advocating protecting the  trapos (TRAditional POliticians) in the industry--I'd like to see them gone myself. But if you kill the establishment I can guess what'll take over, and it's not the indie artist, it's the one with the big multinational bucks.

Protectionism breed lousy products in France and Italy?  Check out their protected cheeses and wines and stuff. American cheddar tastes like toothpaste in comparison.

I guess it all boils down to attitude, with or without protectionism.  How sure are we that protecting the local movie industry will churn out movies that can be nominated for an Oscar best foreign film award?  Ok so you don't believe in Oscar.  But i think it's a start.

It's chicken and egg, cart and horse. If we protect them, will they do quality product?  

All I can do is look around me at the cinemas that are successfully resisting Hollywood, have their own vibrant, viable cinemas, and that's France, India, Iran (arguable about France, but they do have a distinct and unHollywood art cinema).  All of em have protectionist policies.

France has always hated and been suspicious of Hollywood; they've never relented in their restrictive policies.  India has always been an economy apart. Japan and Hong Kong used to be unaffected by Hollywood, then the recent blockbousters came, and Hollywood discovered the overseas market, and these were the most open ones, and they were the ones that fell (okay, Japan had its problems, but making a live action Japanese film is harder now than ever, not to mention making a hit that'll outperform Hollywood--Spirited Away is the exception that proves the rule).

It's a matter of looking around, seeing what works and what doesn't.