CAIRO - The writer Napoleon Hill once said: "Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another." Art is as much influenced by other outside sources as well as it is influential. The West has always had a big part in influencing other cultures whether it's in arts, technology, or politics. That influence, however, comes at a price because as much as it might be a source of inspiration for some, it's also a great source of blame for any behaviour that people feel doesn't fit their own traditions or culture. The Egyptian revolution is a great example of that blame, since some people saw those who were part of the protests in Al Tahrir Square as either straight-up Westerners or having a "Western ideology". The release of Egyptian films have understandably seen a decline since the revolution; many films were pushed back into the summer schedule, and some films stopped production all together. But the release of US films hasn't stopped, and in fact, they are doing well at Egyptian box office. With spring arrival and summer just around the corner, Hollywood has been known to use these periods to bring out its "big guns." At the theatres now though, most theatre-goers are watching American films over Egyptian films. It's almost as if it's an informal or even unconscious protest, which is going on – by ignoring the Egyptian releases, the audiences are demanding better made films. Not that all of the American films in theatres right now are fantastic. Some are downright dreadful, like "The Grudge 3," which was released directly to DVD in May 2009, almost two years ago, and yet the Egyptian audiences are seeing it here as a wide release. Also in recent releases, there are the critically panned films "Battle: Los Angeles," "Big Momma's House 3: Like Father, Like Son," and "Drive Angry 3D." On the other hand, there are also some critically acclaimed American films in theatres right now, such as "Scream 4," "Let Me In," "The Lincoln Lawyer," and the Oscar-nominated film "The Fighter." But all these films are being marketed as big American films to a clueless audience who may not know that some of these films are as laughable and ridiculous as a low-brow Sobky comedy film. Egyptian audiences still flock to these films, because as bad as they can be, they are still wrapped in a pretty package, and so their flaws are not as evident. Although that, of course, can't be said for all American films but most are. In other words, Egyptian films need to step up to a higher level. The influence of Western cinema is already obvious, not just in Egyptian cinema, but in some of the Egyptian youth – in the way they dress, the way they talk, the way they communicate their thoughts to each other. So when an Egyptian film tries to actually portray Egyptian youth in that Westernised way, it often actually backfires because it still addresses an audience that is still basically Egyptian and not Westernised. The influence of the cinema didn't have the same affect on them as on others. Some of them may be perhaps uneducated, but it's education, not exposure, which "normalises" foreign cultural ideas so that they seem less alien. This is not a call to start copying more American films; there is already enough of that. Rather, think of it more as a suggestion to start making better films. Since Hollywood is one of the biggest media influences in the world, then perhaps the influences used should be more than just in the shallow of exterior of the film. We don't be influenced by their culture as much as we need to be influenced by the techniques of the film, the attention to details, the work ethics. This is not to discredit Egyptian filmmakers, as there are many great living Egyptian filmmakers, but a closer look needs to be taken as to why Egyptian audiences are gravitating towards American films. Even now in a time when many are saying the cinema business is down due to the revolution, it is in a way due to the lack of funds for Egyptian produced films, but cinemas are still filling up the auditoriums. But this is not just an Egyptian cinema dilemma; you can watch practically any recent Hindi film and see that the film features criteria that are typically considered Western. Culture is the cornerstone of a civilised society; when a group of people comprises a society with their indigenous behaviour and customs like dress, music, beliefs, language, and rituals, then the combination of their activity is called culture. Among the myriads of cultures, some of these cultures have or had enormous power to induce radical changes within the others because of the acquiescence of the people. The influence of Western culture on the Eastern culture can be easily seen in films, but still in the merely superficial way – not in a way that's really useful to the edification of filmmaking as an artistic endeavour. In order to fully understand the extent of the influence of Western culture, research needs to be done on its influence on behaviour - a massive project, to say the least. But if we were to look at it with a cinematic eye's view, i.e. if you take films like the laughable "Camp" (2008), which was trying to be something of an American-style slasher film, and then you look at a true slasher like the recently released "Scream 4," the depth of these characters are clear. Their background stories moved the plot along, but a film like "Camp," which is a poor example (since it's a poor example of a film period), which was trying to seem "cool," didn't offer style, nor creativity, nor acting nor direction. It's not enough or even sufficient to simply copy Western films - badly – but rather to learn from what they've done right, and then apply that. Unfortunately, it's something we're still waiting for.
