Page 21 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Policy and Industry 5

for 85 percent of world box office revenue, while European fi lms account
for just 5 percent of the US market. In 1998, of the top 100 grossing

films worldwide, 88 were American and 7 of the remaining 12 were co -
produced in the US. With a few British exceptions, all of the fi lms on

the list of top 100 grossing films of all time are American. American

film producers clearly have a knack for making popular films that have

worldwide appeal. A study of how they are made shows why this is the

case. American filmmakers have mastered the art of effi cient narrative;
very little time in US films is devoted to dialog that is not connected to

the evolution of the storyline. In contrast, French films are renowned
for being “ talky, ” for including dialog on philosophical and personal

issues that is not efficiently connected to the narrative. Moreover,
American films have “ high ” production values that depend on strong

funding not available to filmmakers in other parts of the globe. A Jurassic
Park costs huge amounts of money to make, money that is not available
in other nations. The average cost of making a film in the US in 2007

was nearly $80 million, compared to $7.4 million in France.
The French government instituted policies based on the idea of “ cultural
exception ” in 1994. And the European Community (EC) government
followed suit. In France currently US film producers are limited to 60

percent of the market. While the EC requires that all television channels
carry at least 50 percent European programming, France has increased
that amount to 60 percent, with 40 percent devoted to national French
programming. This allows such “ talky ” shows as Apostrophe , a popular book
discussion program, to thrive. At the same time, France taxes movie ticket
receipts and uses the funds to subsidize domestic fi lmmaking, something
American critics say should not be allowed because the US government
does not do the same thing for its filmmakers. French filmmakers are given

loans that have to be repaid only when the films they make turn a profi t.
The results of these quotas and subsidies are striking. The French share of

the French film market in 1996 was 35.4 percent. In other countries where

similar protections for domestic filmmaking are not in place, the share

is uniformly lower. In Spain, American films in 2002 accounted for 70

percent of the market while Spanish films only had 12 percent. The
protections put in place in 1994 in France clearly had an effect. In 1995, the
US share of the French market fell to 54.2 percent from 60.5 percent. In
Europe in general, where similar protections of domestic fi lm industries
have been put in place, the share of the market rose to 28.8 percent

for European films in 2007 from 25 percent in 2005. Compared to the 85