Hybridity, Media Deception, and the link to Pop Culture Dance Films
In his study of globalization as hybridization, Jan Nederveen Pieterse suggests, “Cultural hybridization refers to the mixing of Asian, African, American, European cultures: hybridization is the making of global culture as a global mélange” (83). Some recent popular films that have demonstrated cultural hybridization are Save the Last Dance, Step Up, and Take the Lead.
Save the Last Dance is a romantic dance drama about two interracial teenagers who overcome various cultural obstacles, become a couple, and train for a dance audition. The main character Sarah, played by Julia Stiles, is a preppy white girl who moves to a predominantly black neighborhood in Chicago with her estranged father after her mother dies in a car accident. Sarah vows to give up ballet despite her dreams of Julliard until Derek befriends her and helps turn her dream of Julliard into reality. Since Sarah is one of the only white people at school she takes a lot of criticism and is surrounded by a culture very different from what she was previously used to. For instance, when Sarah is first invited to a hip hop dance club she finds that she doesn’t fit in for more reasons than just her skin color, and people are slow to accept her being there. Though through Derek, Sarah learns hip-hop and better fits into the black community ultimately allowing jealousies to be dropped. Save the Last Dance demonstrates how cultures are slow to accept new members and it is only after Sarah combined her old culture with the new culture by learning hip-hop that she was welcomed into the black community. Until Sarah learned hip-hop many people harassed her.
Step Up could also be classified as a romantic dance film, however the setting is Baltimore instead of Chicago. Tyler, played by Channing Tatum, is a troublemaker hoodlum who meets Nora, an uptight rich snob while serving community service hours at the Maryland School of Arts for breaking in. Nora must use Tyler to rehearse for an upcoming showcase, but personalities and dance styles of course clash. The backgrounds of these two individuals differ drastically. Nora comes from a high class home and Tyler, well he doesn’t exactly have a home. He lives at an orphanage. Eventually these two overcome their differences and wind up as a couple that is able to teach each other a thing or two about life from their side of the train tracks. Step Up shows audiences how every home faces difficulties and challenges and despite outside appearances we are all very similar. It wasn’t until Nora and Tyler found a common similarity, which happened to be dance, and shared dance styles with one another that they were able to get along and become friends.
Take the Lead is set at a high school in a gang stricken area of New York City. The cast is comprised of many different ethnicities. Antonio Banderas plays Pierre, a classical dance instructor who comes to the high school to take over the detention program. Pierre’s idea while teaching detention is to have the unruly students learn to dance. At first, many of the students are uncooperative and refuse to dance, but as the movie goes on certain events take place and the detention students slowly begin to take part. Entrance into a dance competition is further inspiration, and the students add their own culture and twist to the typical classical dance that Pierre teaches them. Throughout the film audiences view the struggles students living in ghettos often experience and see how the students are able to come together through the expression of mixing dance styles to create an art of their very own.
Again, according to Globalization and Culture, cultural hybridization is defined as “ the ways in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practices” (as cited in Rowe and Schelling). In this case the forms being represented are cultural forms such as dance. In all three films audiences see dance forms being mixed, altered, and transformed. Dance is the force that binds the characters together, creates a common ground, and detracts from the strong differences that initially separate the characters. In these movies dance produces a level playing field so the differences between characters vanish and the only thing that remains is a shared passion to dance. Even though the characters bring with them unique dance styles and preferences based on his/her own culture that no longer matters. When characters were able to find one common similarity between each other, which was dance, they were able to bond and become removed from existing practices. Dances in the various films changed from how they were previously preformed before interaction with the other characters.
Nederveen Pieterse believes that in order for hybridity to happen boundaries must be crossed. He argues that cultures have not just recently begun crossing boundaries, but this practice has been taking place all along. He lists a number of examples that indicate proof of cultures crossing. Nederveen Pieterse starts by explaining how half of the people in the world speak a language that comes from one common root. This example alone shows cross-cultural communication, but the author doesn’t stop there. He also recognizes the spread of world religions, disease, technologies, and symbols as markers of intercultural contact. One example that Nederveen Pieterse left off the list, however, is dance. As the films have shown, dance is largely influenced by culture and when cultures interact dance gets transformed.
Nederveen Pieterse writes, “Mixing is intrinsic to the evolution of the species. History is a collage” (111). When applying this quote to the films one could believe mixing is inherent because it helps species survive. Characters were not able to get along with each other until they were able to share something that was part of themselves. The mixing was what helped characters form bonds because they felt more similar to one another.
While Nederveen Pieterse might find hybridity at work in these three films, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno would discover something completely different. These two theorists argue that, “culture now impresses the same stamp on everything. Films…make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part” (120). In short, these men believe at the deepest level everything produced by the culture industries is the same and after viewing these movies it is hard to argue against their point.
It might be a trick question to ask audiences if Save the Last Dance, Step Up, and Take the Lead are different movies. That is because the answer could be yes and no. Horkheimer and Adorno wouldn’t be fooled though. They would outright say “No!”. Sure, on the surface these movies have many changes from one another, but if one stops to take a deep look at the actual plots and themes there is little difference.
For example, the three movies all share the common characteristic of using a main motivational character to break the shell of another character by way of dance. Save the Last Dance used Derek. He looked after Sarah and helped to not only teach her hip-hop, but also helped be her inspiration for trying out for Julliard. Nora was the motivational character in Step Up. She helped get Tyler’s life on track, encouraged him to try out for the Maryland School of Arts, and taught him a more formal way to dance other than his street style. Lastly, Pierre doubled as a dance instructor and a detention teacher to motivate the troubled teens in the New York City high school. He taught them to express themselves through dance instead of gang activities and violence. While all of the movies used different types of characters and settings, the use for a motivational character was consistent across films.
Also, the movies all featured characters trying to accomplish something. Sarah was training with Derek to get into Julliard, Tyler was working with Nora to be accepted into the performing arts school, and the students in Pierrre’s detention class were working to win a dance contest. The movies as a whole are also very stereotypical. An example would be the way romance was used within the movies. At first the main characters couldn’t get along and they would argue. Their lives were too different from one another and they just couldn’t see eye to eye. Then suddenly they would start connecting and then as predicted they would end up together. Other reoccurring themes across the movies were the characters being in high school, and the high schools were all inner city and poor.
By inspecting these films closely one is able to see media may not be as creative as once thought. All three of these movies were successful and brought in a large sum of money, but was the revenue received deserving when audiences paid for the same thing they had seen before? Save the Last Dance brought in awards from the MTV Movie Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, the Young Hollywood Awards, and the Black Reel Awards. Step Up received $21 million its opening weekend and Take the Lead didn’t do quite as well as Step Up but still brought in $12.8 million the first weekend (The Internet Movie Database). Also, Save the Last Dance and Step Up had sequels released showing the first film did well enough for a follow-up.
Audiences were even warned by reviews of all three moves that they would be seeing the same thing they had seen before. Overall the films received poor reviews with critics claming a formulaic plot. This is consistent with Horkheimer and Adorno’s writing that says, “Under monopoly all mass culture is identical, and the lines of its artificial framework begin to show through.” Critics are first to realize the clichéd themes reoccurring in films and warn the public that what they would view by watching the film is nothing original.
By applying Nederveen Pieterse and Horkheimer and Adorno to the films we are able to see the arguments that each of the authors present come to life. The films help to strengthen both of the theorist’s claims because the films can be used as a tool to back up the argument. It is hard to argue against the theorist’s points when an artifact so strongly demonstrates the point of views. While watching the films we are able to see first hand cultural hybridity. The best example of cultural hybridity at work is in the film Take the Lead when the students completely transform classical dance to make their own style that is unique and original. These movies provide the opportunity to witness real examples of what Horkheimer and Adorno claim the media industries do. Presenting films that actually show reproduction strengthens Horkheimer and Adorno’s argument.
When audiences view these movies they witness cultural hybridity occurring. Audiences are able observe other cultures and see how cultures mix. When audiences have the opportunity to watch other lifestyles we can imply that media is helping to unite us. Through films cultural hybridity continues. Not only are audiences watching hybridity occur, but by watching the other cultures audiences have the opportunity to have their eyes opened to another culture. These films help present the idea that cultural mixing is beneficial. When viewers leave these films they walk away having seen the positive advantages of cultures crossing borders and intertwining. Audiences see characters grow from experiencing another person’s culture. Hybridiy is constantly occurring and it is a good thing so it is valuable that movies present this concept so audiences can unconscious learn this by watching a movie.
From Horkheimer and Adorno we can imply that mass culture in a monopoly society is all going to look alike because culture has been turned into a business. Media industries are going to produce a culture that will be profitable. Since Enlightenment As Mass Deception was written a long time ago and the same principles the theorists talked about still apply to today’s mass media it would be necessary to imply nothing about our culture industry is going to change until audiences begin demanding the system be changed by not consuming the mass media that is put out. Unless audiences put up a strike against the mass media industries and require more participation in the culture that gets put out for consumers there will continue to be films that come out that are nothing more than imitations.
Works Cited
Horkheimer, Max and Theodor W. Adorno. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Dialectic of Enlightenment. Trans. John Cumming. New York: Continuum, 1972. 120-167.
Nederveen Pieterse, Jan. Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
Save the Last Dance Dir. Carter, Thomas. Cort/Madden Company, 2001.
Step Up Dir. Fletcher, Anne. Summit Entertainment. 2006.
Take the Lead Dir. Friedlander, Liz. New Line Cinema, 2006.
The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on December 7, 2009, from http://www.inmd.com.
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