Cultural Control and Globalization in Asia: Copyright, Piracy, and Cinema (Routledgecurzon Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia)

This is a succint and well-written book introducing a truly interdisciplinary approach to the study of copyright and related issues in contemporary popular culture in relation to the current development of Asian cinema, and questions how copyright is appropriated to regulate culture. It examines the many meanings and practices pertaining to "copying" in cinema, demonstrating the dynamics between globalization’s desire for cultural control and cinema’s own resistance to such manipulation. Focusing on the cinema of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and film 'piracy' in these countries, the book argues that ideas of cultural ownership and copyright are not as clear-cut as they may at first seem, and that copyright is used as a means through which cultural control is exercised by the cultural big business of the dominant power. This Book Challenges The Prevailing View Of Cinema Culture, That Hollywood And The Us Creates, Produces, And Exports, With Other Countries Importing, Modifying, And Sometimes Pirating Original American Work. Instead The Book Challenges The Construct Of The So-called Original Ideas, Which Underpin The Moneymaking Activities Of The Creative Industries, And For Which Ownership Is Secured Through Copyright. Culture Is Made Up Of, And Constantly Renewed Through, Processes Of Copying, Which Is Particularly Prominent In Today's Entertainment Culture Reinforced By Globalization And Capitalism.--jacket. Expressions, Originality And Fixation -- Copyright's Limits And Ethics -- Violence And New Asian Cinema -- Copying Kill Bill -- Movie Piracy As A Technological Threat To Hollywood -- The Despair Of Chinese Cinema. Laikwan Pang. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [121]-134) And Index. This book challenges the prevailing view of cinema and cinema culture, that Hollywood/the US creates, produces and exports, with other countries importing, sometimes modifying and sometimes pirating 'original' American work.