From a very young age I had always enjoyed playing video games whether it be by myself or or in a serious competition with my friends. Considering that we have discussed video games in class, when this project was announced, I thought this would be a great chance to relate certain in-class topics with something I enjoyed. Although this is true I realized that too many people were writing about video games so I thought, well I guess I can talk about movies. Although I enjoyed playing video games, I also enjoyed watching movies with friends. This is why I decided to talk about the impact that the East Asian cinema industry has on soft power.

I found the movies we watched as assignments to be very interesting mainly because of the variety. Every movie we have watched so far has been a type of action film but they are all seem to be unique in their own way. I specifically decided to talk about Kung Fu Hustle and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because of the positive feedback when viewed internationally. Although these two movies were drastically different due to the fact that one was a traditional martial arts film and the other was an over exaggeration of the the typical martial arts film ,to the point where the film turned into a comedy, I felt as if they were both similar in the sense that they both promote soft power. I believe that the reason Kung Fu Hustle was an international success due to the fact that it had many western influences, making it relatable to a wider audience. Some of these western influences involved people running like roadrunners, similar to most american cartoons. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did not have many western influences but it became popular because it had a great storyline and it shower traditional martial arts. Many viewers enjoyed Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon both in China and internationally in fact it was considered the highest grossing non-English film. Due to this success, China receive more tourists, higher enrollment of foreign students, and years after the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing, China.

When deciding what form of media I wanted to present, I initially thought I would write an essay, mainly because I wouldn't have to improvise in front of the class, but after thinking for a while I realized that I chose to major in accounting for a reason and that was because I hated writing essays. I came to my senses and realized that I should probably choose a different form of media. After going over my options I thought about making a collage. Considering that I am usually not very good with technology, before I went through with my idea of creating a collage I wanted to make sure that I had a simple website that allowed me to make a collage. After I looked up different websites and I realized that it would not be too hard, I decided to go through with this idea as my form of media. When creating my media project I had a hard time trying to find images to use that directly involved soft power. By improvising I decided that I would put an American flag as one of the pictures in order to represent the western influences of Kung Fu Hustle. In conclusion I feel as if this project helped me solidify my understanding of the in class topics and I thoroughly enjoyed working it.