Global Media Flow

Global media flow is the flow of cinema culture that is being produced and traveling globally. Practices of Looking, mentions how sometimes we, as the cinematic audience view some cultural products as maybe "nationally" like Hollywood films, when in reality these have been circulated through global networks. A great example the book uses is the television series Survivor, which originates from Britain and Sweden, they have been franchised across the globe and have been nationalized now all over the world. I think it is definitely safe to say, Hollywood no longer carries the torch on popular film culture. Which I think is absolutely great, because there is only so much you can reenact instead of actually packing up and traveling to other countries to film, which in lots of cases, makes a film so great. Globalization has come a long ways in the past couple decades, that's for sure!

Concepts of Globalization

What is Globalization? Globalization as the book describes, is a set of conditions that have been escalating since the post war period (POL 404). Some of these conditions include increased rate of migration, globalization of capital and financial networks, and rise of international corporations just to name a few. What helps this globalization is the movement of people from place to place all around the world every and any way possible, either as tourists, travelers, workers, legal and illegal immigrants and global citizens. I think every single person has either traveled somewhere different or knows of someone that has traveled somewhere due to either work conditions or vacation get-a-ways. That is the one thing that I find most interesting about America, is that we’re not all just one race. We all come from tons and tons of different ethnic backgrounds and generations from all kind of places, either here for good, or just simply for the change of weather.

Global Brands

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Global Brands? The golden arches that are incorporated as a trademark of Mcdonald's Corporation. Or possibly the iconic black Swoosh representing Nike. These are major global corporations that have expanded rapidly internationally, and can be seen as symbols of global dominance of U.S. capitalism (POL 402). The book makes a really good point in all these brands, it says that since they are so big and most have been franchised out, it makes these brands marketed many different ways and also marketed under the banner of the one company. Although this can be beneficial to the business, it can also have its downfall just like anything else. Not everyone likes the United States, so there has been cases where these companies in other Countries have been protested and raged against, because they thought it symbolized and profited the United States. So these corporate owners really do have to be careful when and where they choose to do business.

Cultural Imperialism

Cultural imperialism refers to how an ideology, a politics, or a way of life is exported into other territories through the export of cultural products (POL 397). Since the start of the television era, t.v. images and messages were a great source of communication because they can reach out in ways the human body cannot as the book describes. Although not all the messages being sent were received as positive from the people, many viewed this form of media intervention as an act of cultural imperialism, rather than making democratic choices available to the people. And we see that still go on today. For example, I work at a bank, and we recently this year had a whole reissue of new credit cards sent out to all members with this new chip technology inside them being able to make it more difficult for cards being able to get compromised. But a lot of people didn't take it as that, they questioned whether its a way the government can now keep track of everyone's spending and what not. So there is always going to be two sides to a story, and it's just how that person perceives what is being said.

I found this image on the internet and thought it was a great example of U.S. imperialism because it represents cultural hegemony and showing that the U.S. is sort of wrapping around the world as if it is showing the perception of global domination.

Global Flow of Visual Culture

The circulation of images has brought a whole new perspective to the world we live in. Before, images would get around through newspapers, television and theaters, and now it is most common to receive by satellite and the web. This new wave of global image flows has increased in circulation with concepts, ideas, politics, and images (Pg. 389). It is just absolutely amazing how much technology has changed in the past 30 years, I don't think anybody could have seen this coming. Not only does this broaden our communication as a whole, but it also allows businesses to send and receive products a lot sooner to keep up with the people's needs. The improvement of technology has been a plus for everyone.

Google 'Fights Piracy'

The entertainment industry has been long criticizing Google for allowing users to download entertainment illegally. So as a solution to this problem, Google has added extra measures so that links pointed to illegal content will fall lower in the results, when being searched. As a reporter said, "The best way to combat piracy is with better and more convenient legitimate services." Which is definitely understandable. I understand how difficult it is for any music artist now-a-days to go 'platinum' because of how many illegal file sharing sites there are on the web. It must be very frustrating to devote all your time and life into doing what you love, and making music and then for someone to go download it all for free. But we got to understand, Google can only do so much, it really comes down to the people and their own decision-making process.

Advertisements

We, as consumers, are confronted with all kinds of different advertisements any and every way we walk, look, or hear in our daily lives. Advertisements present an abstract world, in which they promise more than they can deliver (Pg.265). In a consumer society, we are surrounded by tons of goods, and advertisements for those goods, that are constantly changing to keep up with society. The idea that consumer products will offer self-fulfillment is crucial to marketing and consumption (Pg.269). That is exactly why I don’t like marketing, because companies say what you want to hear, but then put the side effects in very small print at the bottom, which is what you don’t want to hear. Especially when you see something that looks really good to eat and it’s for a very cheap price, and then you go to that place and it’s something very tiny that won’t even fill you up, that is exactly why advertising is dumb. But everyone is in it for the money, so I guess companies got to do whatever they got to do to get customers over there.