Review Haiku statistics – places
Posted on August 21, 2010
It’s been more than a day, but it seemed like a good idea (now that the blog is working again) to add some more info about the movies I’ve been watching over the past few years.
One of the things I try to note is where the film is set. Knowing a film is set in a certain location adds to the viewer’s appreciation, IMO. This isn’t always explicitly stated. It’s often easy to identify the country where a film is set, but not as easy to identify a town or city.
For film buffs, it sometimes interesting to note where the film was shot. In some cases, the setting of movie no longer exists as it once did. Case in point is Amadeus, which was set in 18th century Vienna. Vienna still exists, but it’s much more modern, so the film was shot mostly in Czechoslovakia (Also, Czechoslovakia no longer exists, having split up after the Cold War). If I know where a film was shot, sometimes I’ll include this if it seems interesting.
Sometimes it’s also interesting to note which country produced a film, or put up the money to get a film made. For example, Marie Antoinette was set in France and shot on location in France. It tells a story from French history, and even received some funding from the French government. However, it’s not a French film. The actors spoke English, and the director was an American, as were most of the cast members.
If a film is tagged United States, that could mean it is set in the United States, it was shot in the United States, or that it was produced by the United States. It might mean all three, or only one or two. There’s no way to easily differentiate between these. The reason I point this out is so you can take the following statistics with a grain of salt.
United States: 364
United Kingdom: 104
France: 86
Japan: 53
Italy: 52
China: 32
Germany: 23
Spain: 16
Thailand: 14
Canada: 12
Australia: 11
Mexico: 11
Sweden: 11
Russia: 9
Austria: 8
There are plenty more countries that I could list, but that’s enough get the ball rolling. Looking at the list makes me think of the importance of these countries with respect to the film industry.
The United States is easy to account for: I live in the United States, so most of the films that I can readily access are American. That’s not to say they are all great. I’ve seen a lot of mediocre American films, but if a mediocre film is made in the US, it’s easier to distribute in the US than elsewhere. I don’t think Titanic 2000 ever got subbed or dubbed into another language (and I would be very surprised if it did).
The United Kingdom is also easy to account for. They also have a large film industry and since they are the definitive anglophone nation, it’s easy to access British films. Like American films, it can’t be said that all British films are great, because they can turn out films as mediocre as some American films. Like mediocre American films, it’s easy for them to get distributed to other anglophone nations.
For the other countries I look on it as a reflection of how many films they make and how often those films find their way to the US. The US has large immigrant populations, so it’s easy to see how the films of many nations will wind up here, but I don’t know how many of those film end up at Netflix. Netflix has a very wide range of films, but they don’t carry everything.
A couple of other things to note: I have 27 films tagged as outer space. This probably just means I like sci-fi, but it’s also an indication of how many films are set in outer space. Even low-budget films can be set in outer space.
I also have 16 films tagged Paris and 11 tagged Hong Kong. Both cities have well established film industries, but I think they also serve as locations in films because they represent something to film goers. Paris is a romantic location while Hong Kong is an exotic location. We’re dealing with archetypes. It’s more about what they represent than what they actually are.
Related posts:
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
