Looking at how national identity has changed through popular movies is quite challenging. This is mainly because culture is complex and the movie industry is focused on making money.

1. Commercial Influence:

   • Big box office movies usually aim for fun and profit instead of staying true to cultural details.
   • When decisions are made based on what will sell, it can water down or misrepresent national identity. This often results in a more uniform picture that tries to please audiences around the world.

2. Temporal Context:

   • Movies often show what life is like during the time they were made, and this can change a lot.
   • Because these changes happen, it can be tricky to connect films to national identity over time. A movie that represents a nation well in one period might seem old-fashioned or even offensive later on.

3. Diverse Perspectives:

   • National identity isn't the same for everyone. Many films show the views of the majority and leave out the thoughts of underrepresented groups.
   • This can distort our understanding of culture, missing the rich variety of voices that exist in society.

Even with these challenges, there are ways to make things better:

• Critical Discourse Analysis:
  By using methods like critical discourse analysis, researchers can look closely at movie stories and how they were made. This helps reveal deeper cultural values and changes in society.

• Diverse Film Archives:
  Collecting and studying a wider variety of films, including those that are less famous and from other countries, can give a more complete view of how national identity has changed.

• Interdisciplinary Approaches:
  Working with other fields like sociology, history, and cultural studies along with film studies can make the analysis richer and help people understand society better.

To sum it up, while it’s hard to trace national identity through popular movies, using different strategies can lead to important insights into how cinema affects culture.