The Impact of Western Movies on Palestinian Society in Malaysia
Introduction
The media were part of the people and the world. As a large part of most people's lives, the media has undergone severe transformations, making it a progressive industry, in developed countries such as the United States and Japan, the media industry has also made significant progress. In most parts of the world, television is the most popular public medium everywhere, offering diverse and available entertainment that is unrivaled by the print media (Abu-Lughod, 1993, p. 509).
Literature has shown that television programs can significantly affect viewers and have a tendency to instill new beliefs and visions, which later become social norms (Huei Lan Wang, 2009).
Cinema has been one of the greatest influences in our modern life, and it’s also a form of art, the seventh art along with photography, architecture, literature, play, painting and music. It’s the combination of technology, business, entertainment and aesthetics ,each and everything of these four has important role in present day world and it’s also visible in the variation of its forms, Film is technology(picture taken in the celluloid camera and editing),movie is the business and entertainment, and cinema is the aesthetics(Istiak Mahmood,2013).
Cinema, popular or parallel, a visual art of story–telling with rich inputs of music, screenplay, cast and script, mirrors the contemporary society in which it functions. From emotional dramas to candy-floss romances to action-thrillers, cinema derives its sustenance, ideas and imaginations from its surroundings. The images cinema creates, surreal or tangled wave of deceit, need to be in sync with societal aspirations and basic urge of humanity to recreate and have fun and entertainment. In its long journey of more than a century, cinema has transformed itself from being a taboo and absolute no-no to a virtual way of life .Social dynamics have always regulated the content of cinema. The main protagonist of any film fights villains who are manifestations of contemporary societal evils – from village money-lender to land-hawks to advocates of dowry, dons and modern day terrorists. It provides a platform that reflects the growth of economy, politics, and technological advancements. Films are useful for knowing the history of ancient world. A lot of countries of the world are involved with Film making through their own industry, among them the most powerful, organized, popular and influential is Hollywood which entertains the total world population and not only that it surprises the world with the advancement of technology. A movie is not only a visual treat to its audience but it also an account of societal, economic and political set up in which a person is living. If we want to acquire the critical tools to understand the medium of film in the context of economic, industrial, social and cultural factors, from its beginnings in 1895 right up to the present day, then we must have to work on this .In Palestine point of view, university students are the most potential resource of our country. In the world map we’re one of the poor but promising country and a lot of hope are reserved on manpower and universities are the key place to produce quality human being. For the globalization around the world media and art has opened throughout the earth. Now it’s possible to get an American movie today in Palestine which has released there yesterday. By this availability trends about thinking and total lifestyle has changed a lot. Generally it could be called as westernization but there is something more on that. Without knowing the student’s thinking condition and level towards life and society, we can’t fix our expectations from them. And this study is significant in present circumstance because it aims to find out different aspects of human behavior which is a big deal of all time, without any suspicion (Istiak Mahmood,2013).
Objectives (Aim) of Study
The study aims to investigate the impact of foreign movies that shows in website on the behavior, values and trends(Attitudes) of university's youth in Palestinian society by searching in:
1- The motives of watching foreign movies by Palestinians in Malaysia.
2- The level of youth's belief in the realism of the content that present in foreign movies.
3- The level of youth's belief in societal acceptance of the manifestations of behavioral deviations in foreign movies.
4- The level of youth's belief in the influence of behavioral deviations that present in foreign movies on the behavior and values of youths in Palestinian society.
5- The level of support for youth to censor the foreign movies that show on web site.
Scope of Study
1- Time limitation: The study will be conducted between 2018-2020.
2- Spatial limits: The study will be conducted on sample from Palestinian youth.
3- Human limits: The study will be conducted on undergraduate and postgraduate students in some universities between 18-24years.
Research Motivation
Many Palestinian youth watch foreign films on Internet sites, and this has a great impact on young people in terms of behavior, social life, customs and traditions, especially if young people are expatriates, since they are far from the society in which they grew up and thus are more vulnerable to the content of these films.
That's what prompted me to do a research into the effect of these films.
Significance of Study
– Theoretical Importance: The theoretical importance of the study goes back to:
1- The emergence of several Arab television channels that specialized in the field of Hollywood cinema and the spread of cinemas in Palestine.
2- The weakness of local film production leaves the opportunity for western films to penetrate among youths, and therefore this may increase the likelihood of impact.
3- Hollywood films, because of their high quality in terms of form and content, are based on the huge financial resources allocated to their production, in addition the Hollywood movies have attraction and excitement, all this increase the appetite of youths to watch.
4- The values of youth in the context of cultural openness are subject to change. They may also take opposite directions to the values inherent in Arab and Islamic culture, resulting in a value struggle between the individual and the community that threatens social cohesion in society, no doubt that Human values are closely linked to his behavior.
– Practical importance: the practical importance of the study goes back to:
1- The Palestinian library has lack of research that study the influence of movies on youth in Palestinian society.
2- This study seeks to identify the behavioral risks resulting from exposure to Hollywood movies that show in Arab television stations and try to reach recommendations and proposals to limit the negative effects of the content of these films.
Research gap
After research in published scientific research shows that the impact of online movies has not been examined on the Palestinian society.
Research problem
Cinema is the most complex and powerful art form in the present world. It can help us to better understand our own lives, the lives of those around us and even how our society and culture operate. They can shed light on political and spiritual matters too and can provide catharsis and perspective and may open our eyes to new ways of thinking, feeling and pursuing our lives.
Palestine is a developing country which plays a recipient role in mass media transfer from the U.S. and western European countries. News, films, TV programs, magazines, and music are examples. A major reason why the foreign mass media are growing so rapidly is the open, absorptive, and adaptive nature of Palestinian society.
The problem of youth deviation is one of the most important problems faced by societies in the world, with the psychological and social effects of the youth personality, and the negative and dangerous effects it has on society in the areas of crime, drug proliferation, corruption, moral decay and other negative behavioral manifestations.
Since movies are popular media that attract the different segments of society in general and youth in particular, which increases their potential impact on youth perceptions, attitudes and behaviors, exposure to content from foreign movies can pose enormous risks. The scenes of these sites are free to choose what they want to see, which can lead to serious social problems of destruction of moral values and the spread of behavioral deviations.
As youth are the future of any society, and because the youth stage lies in the field of social and cultural influences intertwined and the importance of this stage beyond them and their desire for imitation and simulation, this age group is a storehouse of cultural and social values that contribute to the crystallization of the personality of tomorrow's citizen.
The problem of the current study is therefore to identify the perceptions of youth of the perceived effects of the behavioral deviations presented by foreign drama on self and others in the light of the theory of the third person effect.
Even though the language used in foreign movies is not Arabic, the language barrier is overcome by translation. Overcoming the language barrier has been one of the main factors to facilitate the rapid flow and popularity of the online movies in Palestinian society.
These movies have an impact on Palestinian society in several ways: new life-style, new fashion, in terms of social structure, traditional values, society behavior and life-style changes.
Movies are of great importance to the lives of communities, may convey cultural influences from one society to another, and may lead to the transmission of behaviors from one society to another, and they have a role in cultural invasion.
Assessment of commercial potential of the work
In fact, my research is social research, since there is no future commercial potential for the research.
The research is based on the theory of the influence of the third person and the impact of films on society.
The key stakeholders
Who will use or benefit from this research
1- Other researchers who will study similar subjects.
2- The Palestinian government is expected to make control on foreign film sites after presenting the expected results to the Ministry of Information.