Hi--
I've been feeling like both the new "Star Wars" movie and the film "Spider-Man" are taking over the news sites on the web recently...and that got me thinking about how American movies are received in Spain.

I only saw one film while living in Spain (a dubbed version of "Look Who's Talking," of all things, in Salamanca in 1990), but had several conversations with friends about American films. One of them told me something I haven't forgotten, which was that most (at the time) American movies were too "black and white" in their portrayal of moral issues. This friend said that this overly simplistic formula was laughed at by most Spanish moviegoers.

I wonder if that's a common view, and if anyone senses that this is changing? And if it is true that Spanish people think American films are too formulaic, why do you think they do so well at the box office in Spain and in the rest of Europe? Even films that "flop" here seem to have new lives in Europe.

What do you all think? Obviously movies are (for good or bad) one of our biggest cultural exports!

Hey Tarab,
My two cents: Many people think American movies = commercial movies. FXs everywhere and millions of dollars. American movies are made to make money.
Did you see "Abre los ojos" vs. "Vanilla sky"? Same movie, one is Spanish, the another one American. The Spanish movie seems more "artistic" however, the American movie has more money invested and it shows... (make up, special effects, etc.)
I love American movies, they entertain me a lot, but I like European movies better. They have a lower budget, but somehow it seems they take it more like the seventh art than the "money maker"
Nuria

I'll tell you how this AMERICAN feels about American movies in Spain. SPIDER-MAN ISN'T HERE YET!!!! WHY?! WHY?! WHY!? I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE LIKE CRAZY! WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME!

Ahem. Okay. I'm better now. I guess it'll be here in June. Do you know how hard it is to avoid the "spoilers" on the web since so many people have gone and seen it already in the U.S. and whereever else in the world it's playing?

-Russ

But Russ, I think I heard that Star Wars would be out the same day in Europe as here in the US, so you can catch that one! Of course, if you spend any time on the web (and I KNOW you do!), you probably have run into lots of spoilers for THAT movie too!!

And I can hardly believe my husband hasn't ditched me one evening to go to Spider-Man yet...this is, after all, the guy with FORTY FILE BOXES of comic books in our basement (is Tara just a little tense about the comic book collection...whatever gave you that idea?).

Baby news??????

Tara

LIM, if you really want to see Spiderman before it opens, you can download the movie with a program called eDonkey2000 It´s kind of like the napster for movies. I use it a lot to download movies and TV shows in English.

I´ve heard people refer to movies as "tipica pelicula americana", but I find that a better description would be typical commercial movie. There are lots of small independant movies made in the US that are compareable to Euro movies, but aren´t distributed well. Commercialized movies are a part of life and if the US didn´t make them, someone else would.

Uhhh, this reminds me one of the first threads I participated in

I totally agree Russ, why the %&·$")=& aren't the movies showed at the same time all around the world? Non-sense for me...

What I seek in a movie is one of the following two things (multiple choice, as when I were in school ):

a) Entertainment. Lots of FX, huge amounts of money invested in the production. For example Episode I.

b) An interesting argument. A one which makes you think, that surprises you. For example the Sixth Sense.

When both conditions aply to a movie... well, that's the cinematographic extasis for me The Matrix is a good example.

What do I prefer, a european movie or an american movie? Without thinking it for a second: An american one.

Though the arguments may be as good, I do care also for the money invested in production, and that is something european movies do no have.

Don't tell me that paying 5,40 € for The Matrix is the same good investment than paying the same for a spanish movie...

I hate spanish movies in general... with only two exceptions: Alejandro Amenabar and Santiago Segura.

As for american movies having black or white in portrayal of moral issues... that might be true some years ago. But it has changed. Look at movies like American Beauty. One of my favourites The cinism made a movie. Great!

Fernando

I guess almost of the people just look for easy enterteinment when they go to the cinema. That's why that kind of movies are so successful. In my case I usually prefer a better argument and deepness in the characters. I hate films like gladiator where they make such a big inversion and they make such a bad film (for me), the characters are planes, the dialogues boring, I enjoy one hundred times more with Spartacus, for example. I haven't watched yet Titanic or The planet of Apes or Stars War I (although I enjoyed IV,V & VI). When I go just for enterteintment I ask a little bit of art or something new like in Matrix or The tyger and the dragon.

The last time I went to the cinema I watched Gosford Park.

Ahhhhh.... That's better. I downloaded Spider-Man last night (iMesh). A bootleg from some cinema with Korean subtitles. What a great flick! I can't wait to see it in the cine... however, since my pregnant wife is a day past her due date, I'm sure we'll have no free time when it does come, so I'm glad that I got a sneak preview so I don't die in suspense. ;-)

Now, I should have given my answer to the real question: Spaniards, from what I can tell think of American movies as the 'real' movies. Though unlike many countries, Spain is lucky enough to have it's own movies too. They have the Goya Awards every year for movies made here and have internationally famous actors and actresses and directors like Antonio, Penelope, and Almodovar. These home-grown movies do receive almost equal billing when they come to the cinema, but nothing can beat Hollywood's marketing machine and money. My wife saw Gladiator before I did and liked it a lot and we talked about it while dating (I had heard it was a bit gory). People here go to American movies without batting an eye and think about the quality of American movies as the standard.

Case in point: My wife's sisters who live together not far from here and very Spanish (i.e. don't speak English and don't really have any interest in the U.S., unlike my wife) they have a collection of videos that they ordered through a subscription to the newspaper ABC. All the videos are from the U.S. They've got a good 50 of them and counting (I guess a new one comes every month). There's no thought on their part that these movies are particularly 'foreign' at all. They're just movies. If you go to Blockbuster, obviously the vast-majority of films are American and El Cortes Ingles' video section is also all from Hollywood. This is just a fact of life.

Additionally, a correllary to all this is that the Spanish are completely unaware of dubbing. They've heard it all their lives and are almost more disturbed when a person's lips move and match their voice rather than not. (Just kidding). No, seriously, the dubbing on television drives me nuts! Horrible acting, the same exact voices over and over again, etc. But my wife can't tell! I'll say, hey! That's the voice of Chandler on Friends doing this yogurt commercial and my wife looks at me quizically and thinks I'm some voice genius. (I'm not).

What I have noticed is that people will review a film or talk about it and note its 'Americanisms.' These are things that they know about, but really have no bearing on every day life here. Barbecues, gangs, baseball, American football, anything from Texas, you get the idea.

That's my two-cents worth. I'm not Spanish, but this is what I've observed.

-Russ

I was going to add a reply but it's off-topic here so I posted in a new thread. It's about eDonkey2000 Roe is using. I wanted to warn all the people who may be using it. Read it here

Kind of wandering off the subject a bit - but Sundance Film Festival and a few production companies (that more or less sprang from the Redford/Sundance influence) have taken American films from the purely big budget, FX, etc. and created a second type of US film - often more realistic and "more European" in this sense than what is the usual mega-million production fare. I, for one, think its been a huge plus for both film goers and film makers.

Puna I agree, there are always a few exceptions, of course, but whenever I'm choosing a movie to go to and considering the big blockbusters or the "action" ones (violence is more like it), an acute feeling of laziness(I don't know how else to describe it) comes upon me....besides I know for a fact that those will be shown on tv soon anyway. However movies such as "The colour purple", "Thelma & Louise", "The Shawshank redemption", or the more risquee "Boys don't cry", are true gems!!!
On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of Spanish movies, I admit it, I think the younger generations are doing a much better job, but until recently, all the directors seemed to have lived very traumatic experiences during the Franco era, and that showed in their work....way too much in my opinion.
And then there's Almodovar....I don't really think his movies are that great at all, and being a Spaniard I've never related to any of his characters. I relate a lot more to some characters in American movies. I confess I like to watch a good chick's movie once in a while and Americans are the best ("Steel magnolias", "When Harry meet Sally"....)
Plus, we don't have anything remotely close to those great American classics: "Singin' in the rain", "The appartment", "Roman Holiday", "Some like it hot", "West side story", or the more recent "Schindler's list".

Hey LiM, maybe going to the movies would be a good idea to speed things up a little. When my mum was pregnant with me, she started labor at a movie theater watching "Seven brides for seven brothers" !

Pim, at least the movie didn't inspire your mom to give birth to septuplets!

I just LOVE the classic movies you mention--and I would add Casablanca and High Society to the list of movies that are just delightful to watch. And anything with Astaire, even though the plots are sort of lame...

I tend to like movies with clever dialogue more than films with lots of special effects and explosions...and have found that recently, many of the European films (and smaller American films)have "smarter" writing (an example--last year's French film Amelie).

That said, of course I will go see Star Wars soon, even though the dialogue is likely to be horrible. It seems there are some movies that are (or become) part of the popular vocabulary here, and people almost feel compelled to see them!

Tara, fortunately, there would be so many great ones to mention .

Isn't it great when you go to a movie not really convinced that you want to watch it, actually, thinking that it's not going to be "your kind", because your partner "takes you", or whatever, and end up just soo glad that he/she/they did?!

It happened to me with Shrek last year, and more recently, with an Argentinian movie that I was sure I wasn't going to like but that I LOOOVED!!! I recommend it to everyone, is "El hijo de la novia". Such great actors, they're much better than most Spanish ones.

I got this sent from a friend in spain, its in spanish and long, so I'm only going to pick a few. But its funny. Whoever came up with it certainly is a keen observer. If you put yourself in the place of a Non-american watching an American movie, it really does make sense!

Things we would not know if it weren't for American movies:

In any police investigation, its necessary to visit at least one strip club.

All of the numbers in the US start with 555.

Most dogs are immortal.

If someone is chasing you through the city, you can always get away from them by blending in with the participants of the St. Patricks day parade, no matter what the time of year.

Only one match is necessary to light up a room the size of a futbol stadium

Every morning, american moms always make eggs, bacon and waffles for the family even though her husband and children don't have time to eat them! :o

It is always possible to park in front of the building where you are going and have business in.

If you decide to dance in the street, you'll notice that everyone around you knows the steps!

Everyone in medevil times had perfect teeth.

When they're alone, foreigners prefer to speak in english.

Just a few! Hope it made some of you chuckle!

Sorry Pim, but I don't agree with you. I feel more related with characters in Spanish films, although of course, not Almodovar ones. I see almost of the American films as just cinema, but a few of them like Singles, Reallity bites or American beauty which could be a description of the American society. Anyway, I find more closer the description of reallity made in films like Barrio, Solas or Los peores años de nuestra vida. Anyway I think American cinema is not comparable to European

About the Guerra Civil, probably there are more films about the Vietnam War or the II WW, and probably is the only possibility for a Spanish director to make a film in a war environment that we could find more or less actual.

As for the classic cinema, I think the American classics are art, I love them, and I miss that quality in actual films.

I hate the films about themes too American, or the too American scenes in films.

Pim, a number of the American films you mentioned were independent films - released thru major studios. Taravb - totally agree with you - the old classics are just that - true classics. The scripting was superb - same as in so many of the independent films. Espe3 - loved it! thanks!!!

Puma, glad you enjoyed them! Maybe another day I'll post a couple more.