Jennifer Goldberger: The French Blockbuster Beyond the Martial Arts Genre
SINCE THE LATE-1980S, FRANCE has attempted to compete with Hollywood in the global film market. In this context, the big-budget French blockbuster, characterized by special effects and glossy production values, a hybridity of French and global cultures, digital post-production, foreign stars, and the use of the English language, has became a major industrial strategy. In his analysis of these characteristics in martial arts films, specifically Kiss of the Dragon (Nahon, 2001) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des loups, Gans, 2001), Charlie Michael identifies two contrasting impulses regarding the representation of what he calls “Frenchness”: one in which filmmakers seek to “mimic dominant Hollywood forms” (Michael 72), while offering audiences commodified images of France; and the other in which filmmakers advocate for a “cultural exception” to actively differentiate themselves from Hollywood, emphasizing the uniqueness of the French national culture. However, how do these trends manifest themselves in non-martial arts blockbusters?
