3 mediating globalisation 2015

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MEDIATING GLOBALISATION

Communicating hegemony or technologies of resistance?


Challenging the local 

Whilst nationhood provides a powerful sense of identity for some, and a common bond between many, it has come under threat from a number of sources:  

 

The emergence of global political and economic institutions The spread of global cultures The presence of multiple national identities within a nationstate A return to localist politics

These factors challenge both the way we think of ourselves and the way our lives are organised through the nationstate


Today…and next week 

Globalisation entails the “intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa”

The primary influence upon this intensification is the global communications system: the means through which cultural exchanges and clashes occur

This week we consider the development of global media system and the impact of mass global media

Next week we will debate its impact upon local and global cultures, along with social media and the potential for active audiences


Today 

The (global) importance of media

The development of a global media system

Privatising the public sphere

Entertaining Americans

The developing influence of Chinese and Indian culture How do the dynamics of the global media system affect global cultural identities?


What elements of your cultural identity do not come from your family?


Mediating our lives 

The media ‘mediate’ communication between distant peoples

Consequently, how we understand the world around us is largely determined by how it is represented for us

Conversely, we don’t just take on the exactly what is presented to us, but have competing influences and the ability to reflect upon information

Our identities may adapt to new circumstances, but they don’t necessary change completely


What are ‘proms’ like at American High Schools?


Filtered Knowledge


Mediating global culture 

In a pre-global world, cultural resources would primarily have been sourced from our local environments

The advent of a global media systems means that these referents are not necessarily local

Global media sources allow us to become ‘spectators of the world’, consuming cultures from our living rooms and beyond

Conversely, the media we consume is not evenly spread: it is predominantly American


The development of global media 

Initial forms of media were local and nationally controlled

Through the interrelated development of global political economy and communications technology, media with a global interest was able to develop, even if it was locally based

The first steps were ‘wire-agencies’ such as Reuters, which sold international news to domestic newspapers

This was followed by Hollywood movies and short-wave radio


Transnational media 

The development of transnational media corporations was the pivotal moment in this globalisation of culture

The global media system increased the representation of distant localities and the communication between these localities

These organisations allowed media to push beyond national boundaries, often filling the place of domestic media 

In 1982 there were three channels in the UK!

Additionally, digital and satellite technology allowed for the instantaneous transmission of information




Privatising the public 

The new global communications system was based around transnational corporations whose primary purpose is profit



Information and entertainment is produced for private profit rather than to serve the (local) public good


Locating the public sphere 

The public sphere is the structures through which public opinions can be formed

Historically this might have been town squares or meeting halls

The media has extended this sphere, allowing greater public participation in understanding and producing public opinions



Where do you find out information about what is happening in the world?



Who cares? 

As media became more globally focused and commercially orientated the way that the world is represented for us changed



As a result, our conceptions of the world around us are dependent upon what is profitable for transnational media corporations


Advertising 

Advertising is the primary source of funding for most media outlets

The ‘product’ being sold is not the content, but the audience, who are then sold to advertisers

Consequently, in order to produce a maximum return, the presentation of information is generated in order to gain the most advertising revenue

This has a significant influence on the representation of local and global cultures in the media


Who is the audience for this report?


Media and imperialism 

Concerns over the impact of global communications on developing countries emerged in the 1960s as these nations began to enter global society

As many nations were establishing their independence, global media influences were seen to be stifling this growing cultural expression

Yet Hollywood, and other forms of Western media, found an enthusiastic audience in post-colonial cultures

This process is not the old colonialism of forced cultural assimilation, but occurs through a desire for the media content and an increased homogeneity of its form


Write down the top five television shows you watch


What country are they from?


Entertaining culture 

The explicit focus of entertainment media is not to produce cultural change, and yet because popular culture has such a large influence on our lives, it cannot help but influence us



Entertainment media mediates between cultures: our primary expose to a culture is through their films, music and television


Entertaining Americans 

The world is primarily exposed to American culture in two ways: through its foreign policy and through its media, which acts as a form of ‘soft power’ that allows for the glamorous and desirable portrayal of America

The United States of America is the largest producer of popular entertainment media in the world

This portrayal is multi-faceted and allows a wide range of access points, from romance to personal excess and expression, to oppositional modes such as hip-hip culture, which appeal to excluded youth around the world

Most of these American sub-cultures are underlined by appeals to youth, individual aspiration and expression, and consumerism


The case of MTV 

Music is often the most easily transferable of cultural forms and was at the ‘vanguard’ of the spread of American culture

This dynamic was seen in the global success of ‘Music Television’, or MTV, which was created in 1981 and has spread to approximately 160 countries in 18 different languages

MTV sets up local operations that allow it to promote America music but, most of all, to do what is profitable and play what is popular at a local level


Influencing local identities 

This pushes the American format of popular culture, sexuality, violence and individual expression (and popular slang)

Through its local affiliates, MTV mass-promotes a cultural lifestyle whose local roots are in American, but inspires demand from local youth

The soft power of the likes of MTV or the e channel and reality TV allow for American values to become more acceptable and more understandable and consuming movies and television more desirable


Is there anything that you or your friends do that is ‘American’?


The rise of the American local 

MTV doesn’t just promote American music onto local cultures

MTV sets up local operations (often working with local cable networks) that allow it to push America music but, most of all, to do what is profitable and play what is popular at a local level

Whilst MTV sought to respond to local demands, in many localities MTV has been superseded by local alternatives in the same format


American style 

The owners and content may change, but the style remains the same

As new cultures are entering into the ‘global market’, this has begun to produce substantial changes in entertainment media – but does it affect our cultural identities and can we develop a truly ‘global culture’?


Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures “These are not signs of Hollywood's homogenizing effect on the world. They are signs of the world changing the way Hollywood works. It makes sense to marry our production, marketing and distribution experience with the growing global appetite for entertainment tailor-made by and for a variety of cultures.�



Global cultural identities 

Hollywood films are seeking to remove American cultural references and cast a more diverse range of actors



A focus on American military interventions is particularly troublesome, and the same applies to local cultural events and stars



In some movies, plots are being re-shot to include culturally-specific scenes


Is there anything that you or your friends do that is ‘American’?


The influence of China 

In 2012 China lifted its limit on foreign films from 20 to 34

With a rapidly growing economy and increased discretionary funds, the Chinese film market is booming

The Chinese government is planning to support the construction of up to 35,000 more cinemas screen over the next five years – up from a current 5,000

In 2012 foreign films made $US1.41billion out of a total of $US2.74billion and American films were seven out of the top ten



The Chinafication of Hollywood 

Hollywood films are being specifically designed for the Chinese market, with more Chinese stars and locations as well as more Chinese friendly plots

Because the market is controlled by the Chinese government, Hollywood has to comply to the strict controls set, including restrictions on the ‘supernatural’ and negative depictions of China

As China will soon be the biggest market for films, entertainment corporations are ‘forced’ to comply with these practices



The case of Iron Man 3 

In 2013 Iron Man 3 set the Chinese record for the biggest opening weekend for a foreign film, taking in over $US65 million

Whilst Iron Man is a continuation of the US cultural tradition of ‘super-hero’ blockbuster movies, Iron Man 3 was designed with the Chinese market in mind   

It was co-produced with China’s DMG entertainment Scenes were filmed in Beijing with famous Chinese actors and a product placement deal with TCL electronics The main villain was changed from Chinese ethnicity to one of indeterminate identity


The counter-hegemonic global 

Globalisation might be a story told by the dominant players but, in film, counter-hegemonic movements are becoming more influential

China’s financial influential and cultural-political restrictions mean that the biggest budget films are more likely to portray China positively

But, villains have to come from somewhere – they can either be from smaller film markets, or be of non-local identity

Culturally specific films from the Western world are increasingly being remade with local actors and plots, rather than being dubbed

Still, the vast majority of films play to a local audience and local practices still rule in some genres



What translates? 

Yet where action films are popular with global audiences, comedies struggle

To succeed across cultures, films have to empty themselves of any unrelatable content: comedy relies on insider knowledge of a culture, whereas special effects and action do not

Our identities have some flexibility, but are deeply embedded in cultural understandings



Not funny? 

Comedy relies upon insider understandings of culture, and it also expresses a truth of that culture: to laugh is both a social reaction and a cultural reaction



It is often very difficult to translate these understandings between cultures, even between quite similar cultures



In order to get around this some big-budget companies, like 21 and Over, have different plots to suit different cultural understandings


Do you ever watch films from a different culture?


Concentration of Film Production

Source: UNESCO, INTERNATIONAL BLOCKBUSTERS TO NATIONAL HITS ANALYSIS OF THE 2010 UIS SURVEY ON FEATURE FILM STATISTICS


The case of Indian identity 

The increasing global popularity of Indian film, or ‘Bollywood’ signals the presence of a counter-hegemonic globalisations

Bollywood was once largely limited to the local Indian film market and remains a hugely influential element of Indian culture

Bollywood has a very distinctive style, often focusing on song and dance and ‘epic’ stories that are culturally different from Western cultural practices

Although they are very popular across Asia and parts of Africa, they had struggled to have an impact upon American audiences


Globalising Bollywood 

Indian films have become increasingly popular in London, however



Cinemas in Feltham and Ilford are some of the highest grossing Bollywood cinemas in the world



This shift has come less from an cultural change in either audiences or in the films, but from targeted marketing at the Indian global diaspora



Indian diasporas 

Diaspora's are geographically scattered populations with common origins

At an estimated 25,000,000, the Indian diaspora is the biggest in the world and is increasingly affluent

As diasporic populations are geographically detached from cultural traditions, many had struggled with their cultural alienation and had attempted to assimilate into the local culture

In the era of global media, however, diasporas are able to carve out cultural niches through satellite and internet technology


The global in the local 

In appealing to these scattered populations, Bollywood films are becoming increasingly globally popular, but only within a single nationality



In this case we have cultural similarity detached from geographic location and greater cultural difference both across the world and within localities



This leads to increased possibilities for split or multitude points of cultural identification


Summary 

The development of a ‘global media system’ has fundamentally altered the dynamics of mediation between ‘distant localities’

Our sources of information about the world potentially favour some forms of the local about others

American culture has spread through entertainment media

Although new entertainment markets have emerged, are our cultural identities changing through this exposure?


Next Week WEEK 4

WHO CONTROLS THE GLOBAL VILLAGE? CULTURAL IMPERIALISM AND THE CONVERGENCE OF CULTURES

READINGS

Core reading: Zayani, M. (2011). Media, Cultural Diversity and Globalisation: Challenges and Opportunties. Journal of Cultural Diversity. 18 (2), pp.4854 See also: Chapter One, Ritzer, G. (2008) The McDonaldization of Society (5th Ed.). Pine Forge Press: California


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