So if we make a simple relationship between the last two points, we obtain very interesting results: if what creates culture is the media, and the media are guided by the American; the Americans are creating our culture.
All the information that is broadcasted in any media brings a charge of intentions. By this, I mean that even in the most serious news program, the journalist always gives a bit of his opinion about a new. Even if trying to be impartial, maybe through corporal language or rarely directly expressing their own ideas, the intention can be seen.
But the type of TV that has affected more the cultures is the entertainment genre. Because through this artistic expression it’s easier to express different ways of life that through an informative type. Inside this genre, the most important parts are series and cinema.
Inside the entertainment, the television genre that has influenced us much is the series. The biggest difference between series and cinema it’s their duration. The series are broadcasted for a longer period of time, so their possibilities for affecting the population are bigger that for the cinema.
Inside series, there are many different messages. Each of these messages, if we look daily to images of people who are on a different social level that us, can provoke us many contradictory feelings.
The harder impact comes from countries who are on a very different social level that the USA. If for example in Spain, we are looking to a series where a guy goes to a refrigerator, takes a Coke and drinks it, while he is talking about his job in a publicity enterprise, we wont be much surprised. But if the same image is broadcasted in a Third World country the impact will be very different. Not only because maybe they don’t have Coca-Cola in their stores (something strange, I know), or because they almost don’t know what a marketing company is. Probably the worst influence will come from the image of a man who owns a fridge by him alone, and is wearing some super-fashion clothes.
The effects that the messages of the American entertainment provokes, can be divided in different types: short-term effects, long-term effects and effects in the media.
Short-term effects:
- Beauty standards: Creation of stereotypes that men and women ‘have to follow’ if they want to reach success. That can create frustration and discrimination to those that cannot reach them.
- Creation of needs: All the audiences are seen as potential consumers by the media. And what the media makes, through television series, is to put the idea of buying products in the minds of the audience, just to create the feel they are classified in a particular high socio-economic status. The problem is that not everyone has the same economical level in order to satisfy the needs that TV series export. That makes people, especially on the third world, unhappy with their life reality because of the impossibility of achieving the goals that the TV is marking them.
- Glamorous images: We can read two different interpretations in this concept. The images sometimes are used to escape from the daily reality people on third World are living. The other analysis talks about the identification with some of the characters that can provoke depression or inferiority feelings, because for example they don’t achieve success so easily as in the series
- Known context: The huge exportation of American audiovisual material makes citizens of around the world potential consumers of American series and films because of the knowledge of American society and culture. We buy what we know.
- Transmission of working class spirit: TV series encourage people to keep working in order to keep consuming. First world audiences can obtain easily their objectives; instead third world audiences get frustrated about the impossibility of obtaining goods.
Long-term effects
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Beliefs and values: LULL, J. et al (1995, p.12) comments: “Link good feelings to American Culture by encouraging the audience to laugh at the dramatized cultural and racial incompetence of foreigners”. That show us American beliefs and values, because of repetition, as the only correct ideals to the foreigner viewers creating as a consequence a global culture that discriminates and deteriorates local cultures.
- Conception of rules: They show us what is required, what you can and you cannot do and how to do it. Rules regulate social behaviour, people need rules to feel secure, and need to follow them to feel part of the society, so they are integrating in a society marked for American point of view parameters, very far from their own culture.
- Social habits and practices: Exportation of social American habits to a foreigner culture as local, because of the repetitive propaganda through series. E.g.: necessity of consuming specific products, such as Coca-Cola or Hamburgers. They export too social practices such as specific celebrations and events. E.g.: Graduation ceremonies.
- Migration: In the most extreme point, if the disagreement of the people with their own way of life grows and grows, finally the economic, social and cultural differences can create a rapid migration of the third world to the first world.
Effects in media
- Programme imitation: We only see American modalities of programs, because they are the ones that work better. That have higher rates of audience. That provokes the creation and consumption of the same unimaginative and unoriginal versions of American programmes. E.g.: Big Brother.
- Discrimination to own production: This problem is a consequence of the repetition of the American model. The clearest example is seen in the percentage of American cinema and other countries cinema. In 2001 in UK, 82% of films showed were US produced or co-produced. This is an enormously high level. Only 18% of the whole exhibition of a year in a country for the non-American lands demonstrates that the American cinema has invaded completely other states.
CONCLUSION
In a theoretical frame, globalisation is a very good idea. Poor countries receive help from the rich ones, and everybody wins different aspects from the different cultures, so all of them get wealthier. But in fact, rich countries get richer, and poor get poorer.
The problems in the economic aspect are very important, but in the cultural aspect are worse. If the stock market falls, can be recuperated soon or later, but if a culture disappears invaded by another, there are no more chances.
Homogenisation is a double blade knife: it is a good point if helps to develop the cultures, but when goes over the line of development, it becomes a negative influence, because a strong culture, more advanced technologically always goes over the weaker cultures.
In the beginning of this project, we have seen that the culture is created through the stimuli that are around us. And we have seen that the American series and cinema are changing our world constantly, not for better in a general way but for better only for them.
So through these asseverations we can extract that using the media, the American culture it is being able to squash the other cultures in the world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALBERTÍ, S. (1989) Diccionari de la llengua Catalana. 24th ed., Barcelona: Albertí editor.
FRANCISCO, M. GUARDIOLA, L. MESTRES, I. NAVARRO, J, SCHIAFFINO, M (2003) American series and Globalisation. Group project for Global Media subject.
HANSON, S (2003) Week 3 Lecture: Deregulation, globalisation and the rise of Global Media corporations
HANSON, S (2003) Week 4 Lecture: Media and Globalisation. Case Study: British Cinema, Distribution and the International marketplace
JARVILEHTO, T. (1998) Efferent Influences on Receptors in Knowledge Formation. Finland: University of Oulu
LULL, J. (1995) Media, communication, culture. Global approach. Cambridge: Polity Press
MCCHESNEY R. (2001) Global Media, Neoliberalism, and Imperialism. Monthly Review. [on-line]. Volume 52, number 10. March 2001 [cited December 2003], Media/communication. Accessed via google search at: <www.monthlyreview.org>
ANNEX
Complete results of the interview
ANNEX
Results of the interview
Question 1: Do you know what an Esbart is?
Question 2: Do you know what the country dances are?
AGE: 15
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Institute student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 16
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Institute student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 22
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: University student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 23
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: University student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 23
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Mechanic
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 25
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Works in a printing house
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 32
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Lawyer
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 46
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Lawyer
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 50
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Marketing department
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 72
SEX: Male
PROFESSION: Retired
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: No
AGE: 14
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Institute student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 14
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Institute student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 15
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Institute student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 21
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: University student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 22
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: University student
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 22
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Works in a Bank
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 38
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Operator
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 40
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Secretary
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 48
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Works in a shoe store
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1:No
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes
AGE: 69
SEX: Female
PROFESSION: Retired
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: Yes
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: Yes