---
title: How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema?
date: "2022-01-05T10:05:45Z"
lastmod: "2022-01-24T04:37:00Z"
categories:
  - data
  - visualisation
wp_id: 3240
description: "Actor-network clustering shows that Bollywood is one of the world's more isolated film ecosystems, though not as isolated as some smaller national clusters."
keywords: ["Bollywood", "world cinema", "actor networks", "clustering", "film industry", "data analysis"]
---

![How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema?](/blog/assets/actor-network-0.5.webp)

These are the major [group actors based on who they act with most](/blog/can-foreigners-enter-hollywood/).

![Actors mostly act with other actors in the same...](/blog/assets/actor-network-100-1.webp)

1. **Language**. Not country. For example, the Spanish / Mexican group is across countries. But Indian actors divide into North Indian and South Indian. It's language, not country.
2. **Time period**. Old American actors are a separate group from Hollywood. (Naturally. Brad Pitt was born after Humphrey Bogart died. They couldn't have acted together.)
3. **Genre**. Hollywood Porn actors don't act with mainstream Hollywood. Same with Japanese Porn, Hollywood TV, and Hollywood Horror actors.

How are these groups themselves connected? Do Chinese actors act with Hollywood often? How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema?

<div class="video-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1S2JhlDIglk" title="YouTube video" loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

## Hollywood is the core group

Take groups that **act with other groups at least 5% of the time**. Mainstream Hollywood acts with British and Hollywood TV/Horror actors. All other clusters are isolated.

![](/blog/assets/actor-network-5-2.webp)

---

## Indian & Japanese clusters emerge

Let's go more liberal. Take groups that **act with other groups at least 2% of the time**. Hollywood forms a big connected cluster. It includes most of Europe -- British, German, French, Czech, Yugoslavian & Italian actors.

**North & South Indian** actors form the first non-Hollywood cross-language cluster.

The **Japanese and Japanese porn actors** form a cluster too. (Interestingly, it's easy for a Japanese porn actor to act with mainstream Japanese actors. Hollywood porn actors find it far harder to act with Hollywood.)

![Among groups thatact with other groups at least 1% of the time, we have:](/blog/assets/actor-network-2.webp)

---

## Chinese & Korean cluster emerges

**Chinese & South Korean** actors form the first cross-country cross-language cluster.

**Hollywood** expands to act with Scandinavian, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian & Nigerian films.

Other film industries (Russian, Greek, Egyptian -- even Hollywood Porn -- are still isolated.)

![](/blog/assets/actor-network-1.webp)

---

## World Cinema vs the rest

Among groups that **act with other groups at least 0.5% of the time**, we have:

1. **Turkish & Iranian** groups coming together
2. **Indonesian** actors acting with the Chinese
3. **Hollywood** expanding to cover Russian, Greek, Egyptian, and finally, Hollywood Porn. (It's easier for Brazilian / Nigerian to act with Hollywood than to be a Hollywood Porn actor.)

At this point, there are 6 actor groups that act with each other at least 1 out of 200 times (0.5%).

1. World Cinema (Hollywood & friends)
2. Japanese (mainstream & porn)
3. Indian (North & South)
4. Chinese, South Korean & Indonesian
5. Turkish & Iranian
6. Filipino

![](/blog/assets/actor-network-0.5.webp)

---

## One world of cinema

If we look at groups that **act with other groups at least 0.5% of the time**, we have a far more unified picture. Almost every actor group acts with another group at least 1 out of 400 times.

But even here, there's an exception. Filipino actors -- the most insular major actor group in the world.

![](/blog/assets/actor-network-0.25.webp)

---

So, **how isolated is Bollywood from World Cinema**? For its size, it's one of the most isolated actor groups. (But not as much as Iranian/Turkish or Filipino.)

---

## Comments

<!-- wp-comments-start -->

- **Dr Urmila** _5 Jan 2022 7:36 pm_:
  Hi Anand....i am not a technical person but I do use similar representations in my research as bibliometric, scientometrics etc...we use to understand the publication patterns...
  Any very interesting piece of information. I enjoyed reading
- **[How to find a Chinese actor to cast in Hollywood - S Anand](/blog/how-to-find-a-chinese-actor-to-cast-in-hollywood/)** _20 Feb 2022 12:39 pm_ _(pingback)_:
  […] For example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the time. […]

<!-- wp-comments-end -->