“Really great cultures emerge when you use the very best of the past and have the courage to reinvent it and re-create it” – David Puttnam
IT all started with cowboy films.
That was how the United States, which until the late 19th century was largely an immigrant nation comprising dozens of languages and no central identity, was able to forge a coherent ethos to project to the rest of the world.
This was one of several examples of the tremendous power of film to shape ideas and attitudes that were presented by UK Trade Envoy and eminent film producer David Puttnam during his visit to Yangon last week.
“[The cowboy film] was very important to America because it created a set of identifiable figures who were mythic, who could be identified as good guys, bad guys, principled people, unprincipled people, positive influences, negative influences,” he said.