Media and culture in a globalized world: Difference between revisions

==Americanization, Homogenization or a new diversity==

Americanization means "a global media-culture under Anglo-American leadership" (Jarren, Maier 2000). Considering the film industry, most of the big concerns have their place in the United States. Most movies in the cinema all over the world are produced in Hollywood. Of course America has an influence on the world's population through movies. But not only movies, there's also American advertisement everywhere. But why are the American filmmaker such Global Player in this industry? Incidents in the last centuries (e.g. national markets should become international, the strengthening of the infrastructure in the Third World was disturbed and the influence of the World Bank and the IMF became stronger) lead to a dominant position of big media-concerns. It didn't change much over the last centuries. It's a fact that America has great influence on the world's thinking and acting through movies, advertisement and also news via CNN.  

Critical voices of globalization advise against the formation of a global culture with the standardization of products which influences the experiences and lifestyle of generations. According to Hans-P. Müller, the process of globalization leads to a loss of cultural identity. There's a big warning about the destroying of individualism coming along the globalization and standardization of media. The world coalesces to one "big whole" with no space for individualism. This is called homogenization. As media and culture are connected, there’s the danger of melting together in a negative way. Every culture will fade away, every individual

The opposition characterizes globalization as a "complex connectivity" (Hepp 2006). "Globalization doesn't impose a cultural standardization, [...], there'll be no global culture" (Ulrich Beck in Jarren, Meier 2000). It's a new diversity raised out of the closeness between the nations. It's a process of learning from each other, a benefit for everyone. Although there's a new variety concerning food, music and movies, the individual cultures persist. It's closeness in contrast to a "melting together".

As a conclusion, it's the perception that matters. In fact, the world grew together because of the globalization of media. Through the news at the television, the internet and also the radio we know what is happening at the other end of the world at any time. The images in the television are suggestive of experiencing the event directly. That leads to a new closeness and feeling of togetherness. Everything is near and that leads us to a sensibility concerning catastrophes. It's also easier to help when something happened in another place because we know about it. To give an example, think about the Tsunami in 2004 in Asia and in parts of Africa.  

It was Christmas when the news on television showed what happened there: A strong seaquake killed more than 230.000 people. Everybody knew about the Tsunami not long after it happened because of the new media. Local information are shown on the television all over the world so that they become international. The catastrophe was awful, only hearing from it was terrible. But by seeing it on the television, seeing all the humans running and screaming and crying made it even more dreadful. A feeling of commiseration was everywhere, everyone wanted to help. It wasn’t far away. Through the internet and the television, every country became aware and there were appeals for funds everywhere. Through the globalization of media, the Tsunami was a painful event for many people all over the world and it was easy to help with funds as money but also with active help (Federal Armed Forces, Red Cross…) giving blankets, food and a place to stay. Also psychological help came from other countries, Asia and Africa experienced aid from several different countries. Without globalization of media, that wouldn’t be possible in that dimension and rapidity.  

“Homogenization or a new variety regarding the individual cultures?” Looking at the world, people may see a big diversity, new possibilities but also many different cultures. Despite the process of globalization, there are still things we associate with certain countries: Baguette and cheese stand for France, Pizza and Pasta are characteristic of Italy. Thinking of Russia, everybody will have vodka in mind and German people always drink beer. There's no destroying of individual countries and their cultures but a huge assortment in cinema, stores, restaurants and also the internet. The assortment seems to be unlimited and that’s what the globalization of media stands for: "unlimited possibilities"

Books:  

Essays: