Reader Response - Draft #2

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence that often assume a homogenous culture and disregard the importance of understanding the local culture. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media play in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

I agree with Kraidy who perceives culture globalisation as hybridization that pay attention on the audience local preferences instead of culture imperialism that promote homogenous culture. Kraidy assumes that the audience-recipient of media message have the power to interpret and assign meanings to the imported media message based on their own cultural beliefs and attitudes. Thus, the media eventually has to indigenize to meet the audience’s needs and wants.

This is evident in several countries such as India, a country that inculcates strong national culture, has made the media to act in accordance to the Indians' needs and wants. For instance, the main foreign satellite channels such as Star TV is forced to adopt Hindi-language programming as Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India. The Indian market was estimated to account for 55 per cent of STAR TV’s revenues in Asia at the time (Jacob, 2002 cited by Chang, 2007). Another example is the globalization of Spiderman 3 that illustrates how mass media successfully adapt to the Indian's local culture. The reason Spiderman 3 becomes the biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India is due to the indigenization of media that dub a Hollywood film in four main Indian languages (Press, 2007).

In conclusion, globalization through media should not be deemed as a process of complete homogenization. A cultural identity is not something that can be easily change and destroy by the globalized media. The way imported media works is by adding and mixing the cultural elements without eliminating and dominating over the uniqueness of local culture.

Word Count: 381

References

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers

Chang, Y.-l. (2007). The role of the nation-state: Evolution of STAR TV in China and India. Globa Media Journal, 2.

Press, A. (28 May, 2007). 'Spider-Man 3' biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India, sinks 'Titanic'. Retrieved from Pravda.ru: http://english.pravda.ru/news/society

 

Reader Response - Draft #1

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence that describe individuals being strongly impacted by media messages in favour of industrialized countries. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media plays in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

I agree with Kraidy’s idea about the globalized media serving as a powerful tool in cultural hybridization. It often generates new forms of culture in combination with the tradition culture. For instance, the Disney production of Mulan, one of the hybrid cultural product illustrates a “Chinese-looking” girl who has an “American-individualistic” character. This film production involves transferring and mixing American and Chinese culture that give rise to cultural reformations.

However, in my opinion, it seems to me that Kraidy is trying to convey an idea that people hold a more pleasant perspective of globalized media towards globalization as compared to cultural imperialism. People who support the idea that globalized media is cultural globalization view mass media as a process of localizing and hybridizing the traditions and cultural forms. On the other hand, in the perspective of cultural imperialism, these supporters view mass media as a “dangerous tool” that may invade and damage the national culture. It seems like the mass media is causing the negative effect of cultural imperialism. However, I believe that the audiences who are the recipient of the media message play an important role in this process. They indeed have the power to interpret and assign meanings to the media message based on their own beliefs and attitudes. Although media can control the content of the exported information, but not the way the audiences shape the imported information. Thus, the audiences are also the key element that determines the characteristics of the information flow in which the media has to consider and respond to them.

In conclusion, I agree with Kraidy that global media plays an important role in intensifying hybridization. Nevertheless, I believe that the audiences who are the active recipients do play a part in the process of defining the characteristics of information flow.

 

Word Count: 397

 

References

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media.

Summary of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence such as the “magic bullet” theory that describe individuals being strongly impacted by the media messages in favour of industrialized countries. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media plays in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

An event that has shaped my life and the person I have become

My life changed after I moved to my grandfather's house. My grandfather doted on me but was very firm with me as well. He was more than just my grandfather. Till today, I respect him as my mentor and I will never forget what he  taught and did for me.

I remember at the age of 7, my grandfather never failed to bring me to the neighbourhood playground that we used to visit after my school. Besides spending time with me during his free time, my grandfather would play Chinese Chess with his neighbours. Although my grandfather was good in playing Chinese Chess, I refused to learn from him whenever he offered to teach me. Thinking back, I regret not appreciating his hobby and refused to learn and play with him.

What I looked up to him for was his patience and unconditional love to people. My grandfather was faithful to his religion and job as a church volunteer. He never failed to attend church every weekend and would share his experiences as a volunteer with me. He also taught me to appreciate whatever I had and not to take things for granted. However, at the age of 89, he passed away. All of a sudden, I felt a sense of emptiness without him in my life as I was so used to seeing him everyday.

Today, there are still memories of him whenever I went back to my grandfather house. He was the most influential person who played a major role in shaping my life and the person I have become. His attitude towards serving people motivated me to participate in various local or overseas community services.

Words Count: 284