Politics & Power Quote by Michel Hazanavicius

Hollywood as a place is a few square miles; Hollywood as a fantasy is an export so successful it stops feeling like an export. Michel Hazanavicius, a French director whose most famous love letter to the industry (The Artist) was itself an international hit, is staking a claim that’s half celebration, half power analysis: the American film machine long ago outgrew the nation that built it, and it now lives in the imaginations, tastes, and even political reflexes of audiences everywhere.

The intent is diplomatic but pointed. By saying Hollywood is “much more than America,” Hazanavicius flatters the idea of shared culture while quietly decentering U.S. ownership. It’s a director’s version of globalization: the mythology is collectively maintained. You can shoot in Prague, finance in Shanghai, cast in London, stream to Lagos, and still sell “Hollywood.” The brand survives because it’s portable, a template for aspiration and spectacle that local industries remix and sometimes resist.

The subtext cuts both ways. “Belongs to all of the planet” can mean democratic access, but it also hints at soft power: a private industry that shapes global norms more efficiently than many governments. Hollywood doesn’t just entertain; it standardizes what a hero looks like, what romance should sound like, how violence gets justified, how success is framed.

Context matters: this is the post-streaming era where “American” content is produced by multinational conglomerates and consumed borderlessly. Hazanavicius is naming the obvious, then using it to argue for something less obvious: Hollywood’s authority now depends on the world’s participation, not just America’s self-image.