Thi s thes is entitled Wes tern Influen ce on Ethiopian Media as Reflect ed in A mh ali c Mov ies: ContentrnA nalys is of. Films Produ ced from 2001 to 2 005 by Ethiopian Filmmakers Li ving and Producing inrnAddi s Ababa w as done by Marse ma Tari ku as a th es is for th e Addi s Ababa Un ives it y, June 201 4 . Itsrnpurpose wa s to explore via conte nt anal ys is, th e ex ist ence of westerni zat ion influe nce in Amhari crnfeatur e film s released in Addi s Ababa ove r the la st 5 years (2001 to 2005 EC). In fa c t, w ith the u se ofrnqu antit ati ve content analys is and qualitati ve in-depth interv iews, th e existence o f thi s influe nce and it srnmani fes tati o n modaliti es as re fl ec ted in th e 15 fil ms' tota l v iewin g and th e 12 in-d epth interviews w ithrnseveral peo pl e within th e di ffe re nt wa lks of t he fi eld were examined.rnThough c in ema is at its earl y days in Ethiopi a in gene ral , and in Addi s Ababa in p alti cul a r, we havernreac hed a ti me whe n an ave rage o f 5 film s are reported to be launched ever y week in A ddi s A baba,rnshowing a ve ry fas t nu merological growth . Mo reover, th e numb er o f film wa tchers h as also increasedrnremarkab ly. Since ci ne ma has a stro ng powe r to in fl ue nce yo un gs ters and eve n e ld ers a lot, a sc hola ri lyrnstu dy is necessary to id emify, und e rs tand and try to influcnce the k ind o f messages and pote nti alrnin fl uen ces th at are at p lay in these Amharic fi lms, w ith a p arti cu lar interest to the co nn otati ons .rnIn deed , the con tent of th e film s were ana lysed w ith a p articula r focus on th e occuren ce o r ab sence,rnfr eq uen ce or rari ty o f celtai n se lec ted att r ibu tes dee med to d ep ic t westem influ ence. These a ttributesrnwe re th e setting, th e eve nt , th e charac teri za tion, th e costumes, th e ha ir styles and c ol o rs, th e s ound tra cksrna s used to show asp ec ts o f life s tyle and langu age as seen throu gh th e u se o f Engli sh in th e dial ogue, th ernsubtitl es or th e castin g li sts.rnFindin gs co nfi rm t he ex istence o f an influ e nce, but o f rathe r Ameri ca n nature, m o re than w es tern .rnMo reover, th e fi ndin gs suggest that th e Am eri canization mo st ly is d epi cted tluÂ·ough covert ways o frnth inkin g, in stead of th e overt o nes th at account for costum es (84%), sound trac ks (59% ), eve nt s (52 %)rnand ha ir s tyles by men an d wo me n combin ed (5 0%). Th ese Ame ri ca n influ e nces were de emed influ encernand yet no t influe n ces re fl ected and imposed by the film s p er se, as the y s how th e ways life is currentl yrnun fo ld in g in the c it y of Add is Ababa , th ere fo re influ enc ing rat her the film makers , rathe r th a nrnfilmm ake rs generatin g th e influ ence.Results further indi cate that the influence has 3 kinds of characteristcs as to the influence 's potentialrnconsequence on the audience. Accordingly, the different types of influences were classified in terms ofrntheir perce ived result as beneficial , harmful and neutral. The conclusion here being no influence is badrnjust becaus," it is an influence so long as it contributes positively towards the social developmentrnsomehow. Some imperfections were thus found tolerable in this sector while others not, as they threatenrnthe local content and national ways and beings.rnOn another finding thoug ht, influence per se, regardless of its being positive or negative, was found tornlikely threaten creativity and originality as the Amharic fi lms were said to have many copy and pastrnfrom story lines, values, or life styles of Hollywood films and from one another.rnAddi tionall y, it was found out, that cUITentl y, the cinema sector does not have any responsible bodyrntrying to coach it, aside from the individual filmmakers, struggling randomly in trial and error, alsornprioritizing the income aspect over the quest for al1istic creativity.rnThrough the in-depth interviews, the inj ~c lin g of Ethiopian clcments and ways into the fi lms was onernoutstanding solution presented to fight the American influence that is threatening to swamp aboutrnanything on its way as imposed by the Ethiopian filmmakers themselves upon themselves.