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.