Just Looking ...

One thing that struck me about the wedding video we watched in class on the last day was how similar it was to the wedding videos that are popular now within the Somali community. I never understood these special effects, music and so forth to be indications of the Hollywoodization of ‘weddings’, but I suppose that it could be true in part. In the few South Asia weddings that I have been to in the past couple of years, I did notice that they do tend to get more ‘cinematic’ with time in terms of having dance groups, the music chosen and the final video product. I even had a friend whose entire ceremony was influence by a wedding scene from one of her favorite movies. So I would agree that Bollywood has a certain amount of influence in that realm. However, Bollywood itself has been largely influenced by Hollywood, which is evident just by looking into some of the more recent movies like Hum Tum, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Krish. At the same time I would like to think that Indian culture has a certain amount of weight in Bollywood as well. I find it hard to believe that this exchange is just a linear one (Hollywood to Bollywood to South Asians). Or maybe it is?