National image and celebrity

“Even though the celebrity, in fact, is a complete stranger whom we are never likely to meet, he or she can have significant effects on how individuals negotiate the experience of their daily lives (Andrews and Jackson, 2001).”

 

With the development of the globalization process, the main body of national exchange also tends to become diversification. Traditional diplomatic mode (the national government as the main diplomatic mode) gradually weakened.  More and more individuals and non-governmental organizations become the subject of diplomacy, which is different from the traditional elite diplomacy play an important role in terms of national image building. No one can deny that individual has become the main role of the international relations in contemporary world, especially celebrity.

For example, in most people`s mind, the United States has already become synonymous with “equality of rights” or “right of everyone to the enjoyment of opportunity”, most people believe they can reflect their own values in America if they are industrious and intelligent. Lots of talents in the world see immigrating to America as the beginning of their success, at same time, America has benefit. The main body of reflects “American Dream” is not government but individuals. They are people like Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rosa Parks (a black women refuse give white’s seat).   

Most of countries have their own great people, for instance China has Confucius, Mao Zedong, their legend experiences interested lots of foreigners. However, they are too far away from us, they are too mysterious and perfect but that is not what we need or what we want. People don't need a high perfect image; they want someone normal but successful to encourage themselves or give them hopeful. For example, Yao Ming become a positive sign of modern China is not only because his basketball skills and hard-working spirit of Chinese but also he play the kind of role in his philanthropy and public ads.  

Andrews, D.L. and Jackson, S.J. (2001) Sport Stars: The Cultural Politics of Sporting Celebrity. New York: Routledge.

Hollywood movies and third world movies

The Unit States is producing and exporting massive quantities of movies and television programming to other countries. Hollywood as the biggest movie industry in the world always takes the main part of movie market.  Some movies opposite to Hollywood and made by colonial countries normally be called third world cinema. These kind movies are always use local language and the target audiences are native people.  

 

Hollywood movies have non-local identity, but one directed at global audiences. English is an official language of many countries and this is another reason that Hollywood movie easy to takes main cinema market: most of people around the world can understand it, bigger audiences. Vartan Messier (2011) says language is a tool of director to control the message who they want to send to. In some third world movies, director choose some information did not be translated, so this information likes a kind of invisible rope, link same language speakers together. Which is also strongly emphasized the national identity in the movie at same time.   

 

Not only language in the film but also traditional music, traditional customs, traditional dances. Third world film try to use all these cultural symbolics to make people attached their own cultural, their cultural identity.  And fight with Hollywood cinema at same time, in case that postcolonial by cultural attack. However, local film as a kind of local identity only can worked as remained people don't forgot about their cultural but cannot really against to Hollywood. Actually it is impossible due to American cultural already takes place of world cultural.  

 

·         Messier, V, 2011, Decolonizing National Consciousness Redux: Ousmane Sembène’s Xala as Transhistorical Critique, Postcolonial Text, Vol 6, No 4 City University of New York

·         Kearney, M, 1995, THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL: The Anthropology of Globalization and Transnationalism, Annual Reviews Inc., University of California

 

Who are you?

“Migrants may become more possessive on issues of national sovereignty than do their compatriots at home, in spite of the fact that for these migrants, a peopled and territorial nation called "China" is becoming increasingly a fantasy space.” (Sun,W 2002)

Where are you from? You probably look like Indian but speaking Cantonese because you were born and grow up in Hong Kong.  You probably don't like Chinese food although you are Chinese because you living in England for long time. Can you tell where are you belonging in when your mom is Asian and your dad is Aussie?  Making cultural is not just simple like mix cultural together or create new cultural. We have to consider about cultural identity, cultural history, and the effect of cultural changing.

Internet creates instant cultural by fast speed of information highway just like immigration and national trade create globalization by global organization and global economic.

So what is the effect? Virtual community with high rate internet criminal, make friends online with fake identity, don't going out anymore, and fell in virtual world and then loss the abilities to join social activities.

What is the relationship about all these stuffs with globalization? Thinking about it, if all people can connect together in the one world, virtual world, these negative effects will only a drop in the ocean.  Scenes in The Matrix are not impossible to become true. In the new global but virtual world, what is the new ethic and law for us? Still have people care about where are you from? Can you still remember the history of your country long time ago? It is still necessary to know where the food comes from when people eat lemon chicken in Chinese restaurant but lemon chicken is not Chinese food actually.  When global village become true, the identity is still important?

Sun,W 2002, Leaving China:media, migration,and transnational imagination, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 113-36.

Making cultural and Refugee

“Transnational organised crime which threatens to damage our societies and our economies” (Morrison, J 2003).

Australia received approximately 10900 asylum applications which take 1.04 per cent of the entire world in 2010(Ross, M, 2012).  Why Australia is a country with so many refugees and immigrations?

“I never heard Australia before, I come here with smuggling people for survive.” This is the answer from an Afghanistan refugee who named Najaf. He feels lucky that he can stay in Australia because Taliban as a famous terrorist group in Afghanistan. He does not realized the really lucky thing is smuggling of human beings as key element of crime did not stop he become an Australian.

Najaf write his story and his story be published as a novel book now. He is interviewed by lots of media department in Australia; cooperate with famous writer. Even Hollywood ever shoots him for documentary film. Najaf become a hero in a short moment under magnesium light. His book is read by lots of students as a kind of text book now. In his book, he talked a lot Afghanistan cultural. The traditional Afghanistan food, dance, tales and music, all of them become very attractive by his description.

Najaf`s experience makes me thought the terrorism attack in 2001 in New York.  America is always the biggest winner in global. However, why the US try to slow down in global now? Sometimes, cultural attack is much more horrible than physical attack, unless physical attack is visible.

I am not doubt the reason Najaf coming to Australia, but I am thinking about what effect of people moving by cross boundaries, even what is global bring to us? Najaf said, he is Afghanistan but he eats Chinese food with me, he accepts women going without Burka. And at same time, he organizes traditional Afghanistan night every year in Melbourne and teach girls traditional Afghanistan dance.

 

 

·                  Morrison, J 2003, ‘“The dark side of globalisation”: the criminalisation of refugees’, in R Robertson & KE White (eds), Globalization: critical concepts in sociology, Routledge, London, pp. 474–7.

·                  Ross, M, 2012, “Calling Australia home: refugees share their stories”, ABC news, Updated June 24, 2012 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-22/refugee-week-profiles/4036618>

Global empire

Industries of mess media are controlled by few large media companiesbecause the high concentrate of transnational media products in decades year(Chalaby, 2003).  Especially popular music industry, which are always main controlled by Sony, Warner, EMI and UMG 4 media companies after Sony combine Bertelsmann in 2004 during pop music industry development.  Another specifically example is advertisement industry, according to Tunstall and Machin(1999) report, only approximately 10 main large advertising groups have half funds of advertisements all of the world.  At same time, the the high concentrate of media industries and globalization leads the cooperation between media industries. The media companies cooperate and share benefit by purchase film together, co-product and commitment to budget together also promote the globalization. And America as the biggest country of mess media production got the most benefit during the process of globalization definitely.

We cannot simply say that globalization is Americanism. Although the products of media are much more than import in the Unit State, there still are lots of foreign cultural effects American cultural by immigration and  trade. So, the content of American media actually still globalization. For example, KFC have Peking duck burger and pizza hut have Peking duck pizza in China shops.The foreign cultural have to thinking about put in some local cultural if they want to into a country and be accepted by local people. 

In conclusion, we cannot deny that globalization threaten the cultural identity and make western cultural become dominant cultural gradually, but the foreign cultural still can be controlled when them be imported to a country by local cultural, like translation, editing, dub and so on.

Reference

Chalaby, J. 2003, “Television for a new global order”, Gazette, 65 (1): 19-29

Tunstall, J. and Machin, D. 1999, The Anglo-American media connection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

New forms of social interaction made possible by the development of new technologies

Interaction has become a long term use after the development of new technology, especially internet.  Internet as the new media form is described as “many to many” web of communication compare to traditional mess communication. Internet makes it possible that one-to-many talk. For example, you can have a conference call on Skype. Internet makes communication without the limitations of national boundaries. Internet gives a lot of information at first time no matter where you are. Internet makes it possible for information to be transmitted and received, communicated and redistributed. It puts the main body of modern and postmodern into the internet system (Poster, 1999:15, McQuail, D, 2005). Not only internet, people can surf internet anywhere anytime by their smart mobile phone. New technology lets distance and national boundaries just belong to traditional communication (Curran, J & Gurevitch, M, 2000).

One times, my friend uses his mobile phone checked in a public toilet by Facebook and then he told me it was because he lost his way in a so big market. 

However, every coin has two sides, interaction by internet bring dangerous at same time when its bring us convince. For instance, in 2010, a Sydney girl was killed by a strange man who she got to know on Facebook. This man used a fake ID and lied to her and then killed her.

We live in a digital world now. Digitalization makes us stronger and delivers information by a great speed (Curran, J & Gurevitch, M, 2000).

Reference

·         McQuail, D, 2005, McQuail`s Mass Communication Theory, 5^th edition, Sage, London

·         Curran, J & Gurevitch, M, 2000, Mess Media and Society, chapter2, Arnold, New York

Globalization, Postcolonialism and postmodernism

From last week study, we know that new technology play an important role in the development of globalization as it makes communication without the limitations of national boundaries.

It is not hard to understand the relationship between postmodernism and globalization, especially when new media puts the main body of modern and postmodern into the internet system (Poster, 1999:15, McQuail, D, 2005). People always want new life and better life, so them thinking and experiment and then created new things(Rantanen, T 2005), that is why the technology and sciences can develop, and also the reason we can stay at home but know everything through radio, TV and internet now. You can communicate with your friends by Skype, Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Gmail, and Hotmail by your smart phone without any space and time limitation.

Postcolonism is always the reason why people love postmodernism but fearing globalization. Cultural invasion is a very normally phenomenon in nowadays. Culture flows also bring culture embedding, cultural imperialism. For example, After World War II, the United States monopolized mess media, and the mess media always are thought as the most modernism and effective tool to against traditional mentality. We cannot deny the contribution of globalization for cultural spreading but we also need to know globalization threaten the cultural identity for a country.

I don't mind saw KFC and McDonald everywhere but I cannot accept that I feel uncomfortable if I cannot find them one day. (And it’s real!) My friend who studies in Canberra, she uses nearly half hour to complain and confuse why there no Starbuck.  

McQuail, D, 2005, McQuail`s Mass Communication Theory, 5^th edition, Sage, London

Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing media globalization’, The media and globalization, Sage, London, pp. 1–18.