Browsing through all of the campus student organization opportunities, nowhere did an international media club appear. Netflix is creating a larger international catalog, and they are also purchasing more international content to stream, so where is the conversation about the eventual rise of international media?

In 16 other countries, they have produced around 100 shows within the last four years. Those would be considered non-English speaking scripts and shows that would require most American citizens to read subtitles. Not including all the films that Netflix produces, it’s easily over one hundred international films. Why is there no international media club?

Thus, I believe it’s important that somebody on campus starts one. There are several reasons to start an organization. The first one is obvious; an international club presents the opportunity to bring everyone together. A film can teach the individual or a large audience a tremendous amount of information on culture. Seeing how other humans interact, their comedy, tragedy, joy, sorrow and pleasure, what is eventually discovered is that yes, there will some differences, but in the end humans have much in common.

You could discover a new culture. After watching, “Season of the Devil,” a film directed by Lav Dezi, the discovery of the history of martial law in the Philippines was intriguing to me. Not having any previous knowledge in that area, my research was inevitable. The film also lead me to the discovery of the “slow cinema movement.” Slow cinema are films that are over four hours in length and “Season of the Devil” is a four-hour long musical. Yes, four hours does sound strange to an American, but the pacing of the film makes it work.

Unfortunately, there is nowhere to go locally in this area and talk about the treasures that have been unearthed in international movies. The real reason to create an international media club is to start friendships. An organization is more than just its title. People can go to the location of the organization and have other conversations about international media. What new shows, directors, artists (Yes, artists cover a large assembly of people/titles, but let’s just keep it to painters and non-digital creators for this topic), musicians and other content creators are out there to explore. An international media club would start several fiery conversations on these topics.

Americans could learn what local shows that a country such as South Korea has to offer. They would also be informed of what the Netflix shows get wrong and right, or of history of that said country, movements, current social problems or other issues at hand. They could also be introduced to an amazing new comedy.

There are endless possibilities for conversations and new educational adventures in these movies;  if you just want to do something different on that night, it’s a good opportunity to learn something new.