Graphic courtesy of Sofía Savid ‘24.
By Tasnia Mowla ’23
Op/Ed Editor
Foreign films have had a hard time escaping American art houses. Acclaimed Italian moviemaker Federico Fellini may have won the most directorial academy awards, but his works never made it to mainstream American audiences. This has earned Americans a reputation of being disinterested in foreign content, but this is not the whole truth. Major studios have often bought the rights to popular international films, but withhold them from large audiences, opting instead for remakes. For example, this happened to France’s “The Intouchables” (2011), which was given the Hollywood treatment and remade in 2017 as “The Upside” starring Kevin Hart and Nicole Kidman. In many ways, the success of “Parasite” can be considered an anomaly. To see a similar mainstream reception for foreign films, we must go back to the year 2000 to Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Instead of remaking films, American film and streaming companies should give original foreign media a platform.
The subtitling and dubbing business has never been bigger — and no, Oscar winner “Parasite” did not lead the charge, but it has certainly contributed to wider intrigue. Chris Carey, an executive from Iyuno Media Group, one of the largest subtitling and dubbing companies in the entertainment industry, shared to IndieWire how much momentum the business has gained since winter of 2019. To him, “Parasite” is “just one of a thousand data points” that contributed to that shift.
Since the turn of the century, English language films have been introducing segments of foreign language into their productions. After insistence from director Justin Lin, Universal Studios reluctantly agreed to let Uncle Kamata, a Japanese character, speak Japanese in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006). After the film was a hit, one of the next films, “Fast Five” (2011), shot in Brazil, had multiple characters speak Portuguese. This, however, did not prevent Universal from making all characters speak in English in a historical epic set in Japan, “47 Ronin,” released just two years later. This shows that despite progress, Hollywood is still resisting linguistic and cultural inclusivity.
A greater impetus for change is coming from the streaming industry. The exponential growth of streaming services abroad is increasing the foreign language offering to all countries, with Netflix at the forefront. Through their 21 international branches, Netflix collaborates with local content makers on production. Local writers, directors and behind the scenes talent know and understand their native country’s context and are able to respectfully introduce American audiences to new landscapes.
Netflix’s recent success story, “Squid Game,” has become their most lucrative property. This is not Netflix’s first foreign language hit — these successes started with Spain’s “Money Heist” (2017), followed by Germany’s “Dark” (2017) and most recently with France’s “Lupin,” which was released earlier this year. Both “Money Heist” and “Lupin” are featured on Business Insider’s list of Netflix’s top 10 highest performing TV show hits of all time at 5th and 4th place respectively. “Squid Game” leads comfortably with an astonishing 142 million household viewers within four weeks of its release.
Other streaming services are also recognizing growing public interest in international productions, as well as their low-cost basis. According to CNBC, Amazon, Apple and, notably, Disney are all looking to diversify their catalogues with international content. On Oct. 13, Disney announced 27 titles for their Asia-Pacific slate, tying in with the Disney+ service set to launch in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan next month. Jessica Kam-Engle, Disney’s head of content and development in the Asia-Pacific region, called this “by far Disney’s most ambitious production effort in Asia.” The media has been headlining this move with the participation of K-pop sensations Blackpink and Kang Daniel.
Though “Squid Game” was a monumental success, it received little to no attention from the media for its Sept. 17 release. Instead, it was largely eclipsed by another Netflix property debuting on the same day, “Sex Education” season three. Although countries can stream localized content wherever Netflix is available, so far the role of foreign content appears to be relegated to attracting new users and driving up subscriber count in countries with growing audiences.
“Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
Netflix’s big-name English language properties, such as “The Witcher” and “Stranger Things,” continue to be advertised on their homepage under original content and made available with subtitles and dubbing. These are the properties that get media attention and greater social media promotion. This is a disappointment, as foreign language content has a strong tradition on Netflix. Three of the top ten most watched Netflix originals are foreign language productions, so it is curious that Netflix is not capitalizing on the business opportunities here. Judging from audience reception alone, Netflix ought to invest more in the promotion of their foreign language content outside of targeted regions and to their U.S. audiences.
Traditional distributors are a bigger obstacle. “Parasite” may be a success today, but American distributors initially received the movie with reluctance. It opened in only three theatres in the United States even after winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. “Parasite” eventually expanded to more theatres following positive audience response. This provides further evidence that American audiences are excited to dive into new cultures and settings. Yet the transition is not happening. Distributors see little financial incentive to change their preference for remakes, and audiences are missing out. “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho said, after receiving the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, “Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” For some time now audiences have been more open to the world of subtitles and dubbing, despite persistent outdated assumptions from studio executives. It is now up to mainstream distributors to truly transform the culture behind foreign language content consumption across the country.