ENGL1001 Term Paper Lau Ka Hey 19055248D

The cultural differences between Hollywood Movies and British Movies

Introduction (197 words)

Studying English speaking culture is important, as it helps us in understanding more about

the language, like its development, formation and transformation. Also, it helps in
understanding about the differences between different English-speaking countries, and their
own cultural characteristics. By learning more about English speaking culture, we can
develop our perspective of the world or the society in different aspects. By comparing
certain aspects of English-speaking cultures, like political, religion and education, we can
know more about the language in a diverse notion. By that, we can also know how do the
language impacts society and its culture in different countries, or even cities of different
ethnic groups.

This paper is to compare two English speaking cultures from two different countries, which
is Hollywood movies from the US and British movies. Through comparing these two
cultures, analyzing the cultural differences between two English speaking countries and
point out its possible reasons behind.

This paper will consist of three main parts, first will be a general description of the
phenomenon of both cultures and the second part will be the description of the similarities
and differences, the last part will be the discussion on the similarities and differences.

General description of the phenomenon (286 words)

Hollywood in the US makes a glut of amazing movies that are well-known globally, like
Avatar, Joker and La La Land. At the same time, British movies are also very prevalent, like
Kingsman, The King’s Speech and Billy Elliot. Films from both countries reflect their own
cultural, political, social and even history background respectively. Also, there are both
verbal and non-verbal reflections from the movies that help us to know more about the
language itself or even their cultural characteristics and development from movies made in
different generations. Watch films is the easiest and the most effective way to learn a
language and the country. Besides, by comparing the films made in the US and the UK, we
can broaden our perception of the culture in the US and the UK, as well as the differences
between them while they are both English speaking countries.

Although both films from two places are both are popular, Hollywood films tend to be more
commercial while British films are more literature-oriented which means there are more
films made from or inspired by British literature (Stephen, 2014). Hollywood films reflect or
even dig at the political issues and some politicians, as well as British films. Films from
different years have various themes and issues, therefore films are like a kind of record of
the history of that country in terms of political, education and social aspect. Yet, British films
get a higher rating than Hollywood films. Maybe one of the reasons behind is that
Hollywood movies tend to be more commercial than British movies. Digging deeper into this
phenomenon can definitely help us understand more about the development of the movie
culture in both countries and the differences between them.
ENGL1001 Term Paper Lau Ka Hey 19055248D

Similarities between Hollywood movies and British movies (166 words)

Both Hollywood movies and British movies are not just about their own country or society,
there are interaction and integrated themes. There are exchange of talented actors and
actresses, there are lots of famous British actors who participated in popular Hollywood
movies. Three of the most well-known superhero were played by the British actors,
Christian Bale, Andrew Garfield, Henry Cavil as Batman, Spider-Man and Superman
respectively. Also, there are lots of British movies that are directed or portrayed by
American, for example, The remains of the day are directed by James lvory1, Evan Peter as
Warren Lipka in American Animals2 and the Miseducation of Cameron Post directed by
Desiree Akhavan3. Besides, both Hollywood and British movies describe the social, political
and religious issues of each other as well, like Titanic, Green Book and Elizabeth.

Differences between Hollywood movies and British movies (187 words)

In comparison, Hollywood movies have a larger scale and funding in production than that of
British movies, as there are more huge studios and more commercially oriented. The
industry in two places has a complete contrast in the film making approach (Dudley, 2009).
Huge studio in the US, like Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney Studio would
make the film based on the idea of a spec script, while British producers are willing to
provide opportunities to the newcomers in the industry. British film industry develop in
both commercial and anti-commercial (Napper, 2009) which the flexibility of the industry is
comparatively high. This is one of the reasons why British films are better reviewed than
Hollywood films (Stephen, Stephen Follows Film Data and Education, 2014). The average
critic’s score for Hollywood films is 5 out of 10 while that of British films is 6.5 out 6 of 10,
even for comparatively lower budget films. The average Metascore of British films is higher
than that of Hollywood films by 15 from 2006 to 20104.

Discussion 199

First, Hollywood films have more production budget with lots of talents and latest
technology, while British films have lower budget but higher rating than Hollywood movies.
One of the reasons for this phenomenon may be the fact of the huge studio will tend to but
the spec script or remake the films from some stories and fictions, it becomes the atmosphere
in the industry. Hollywood movies become more commercial so as to cover the huge cost in
production. Simultaneously, British films are successful in giving chance to new directors
and producers which are more likely about the global or social issues, while it costs cheaper
and more content-oriented. As the British government are trying to boost and preserve its
culture by making films (Drexler, 2014). As the British films industry are dominated by the
foreign-owned companies, most of the films are Anglo-American co-production which are
popular films in the UK (Council, 2014). As there are not enough investment and capital in
the British film industry, most of the movies about the UK have to cooperate with the
1
The Remains of the Day. (1993, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107943/.
2
American Animals. (2018, June 14). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212478/.
3
The Miseducation of Cameron Post. (2018, July 18). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6257174/.
4
Are British films better than Hollywood films? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://stephenfollows.com/measuring-
the-quality-of-british-films/.
ENGL1001 Term Paper Lau Ka Hey 19055248D

Hollywood production. However, British films have higher cultural value, at the same time
economically beneficial, while Hollywood movies lack of culture elements.

Conclusion

Although, both UK and US are English speaking countries and both of their movies are
popular, British movies which have lower budget have higher cultural values due to the aim
and willingness of their government. Hollywood movies are more commercially oriented, so
there are huge production and fascinating movies, yet the industry may neglected the
importance of promoting culture while making films about it is the most effective way. It is
also related to the policy of the government and the atmosphere of the industry. Both
country can learn and operate with each other, so as to blossom this industry.

Bibliography
Council, U. F. (2014, April 28). UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook. Annual Review 2004/05.
Retrieved from http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-
council- statistical-yearbook-annual-review-2004-2005.pdf
Dudley, J. (2009, December 24). Flickering Myth . Retrieved from
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2009/12/hollywood-vs-britain/
Drexler, P. D. (2014). The British Film Industry and Hollywood: Joint Venture for British
Heritage Films. Humboldt University Berlin.
Napper, L. (2009). British Cinema and Middlebrow Culture in the Interwar Year. University if
Exeter Press.
Stephen. (2014, January 13). Stephen follows films and education. Retrieved from
https://stephenfollows.com/measuring-the-quality-of-british-films/
Stephen. (2014, January 13). Stephen Follows Film Data and Education. Retrieved from
https://stephenfollows.com/measuring-the-quality-of-british-films/