Every time I have lived or traveled outside of the country, I am amazed what American television shows or movies I find on the television. Once in a while, I will find a solid movie or a television show I like, for example reruns of ‘friends’ or ‘When Harry Met Sally;’ But most of the time, the American shows or movies that are aired are either extremely dated, or just to put nicely, horrible. I find that most of what is aired either demonstrates incredible violence or totally unrealistic lifestyles like ‘The OC’ or ‘the real housewives or New York’.
I really dislike what is being shown to illustrate Americans and American culture in other countries. As Public Diplomacy practitioner John Brown noted in our class yesterday, unlike Russians or citizens of some of the Mediterranean countries, Americans do not define ourselves in terms of culture, but rather ideas. Even though I do care greatly about American ideas and ideals, I think Americans need to care more and put in a greater effort to make sure that these misrepresentation of American culture are either not sent to other countries for their use, or that there is a little more balance in what is presented to other nations.
As many communications scholars affirm, culture is a means of power, and how it is communicated is extremely important. Peter Van Ham notes in Social Power in International Politics, that social power involves “uploading norms and values”.[1] Exporting cultural products like movies and television shows is very powerful. Van Ham states that American popular culture “been instrumental in constructing roles and expectations in international politics, shaping identities of people as well as of states and governments.”[2]
Also, scholar Rhonda Zaharna notes in Communication, Culture, and Identity in Public Diplomacy, the act of communicating is extremely important and there are implications when the way that American culture is being presented through others is through their horrible entertainment.[3]
The exporting of Culture including through forms of entertainment can be a lever to bind people together, create repect and understanding of another way of life. I don’t think one could say that a TV show or Movie about another culture will have the overriding influence on ones own political/ foreign policy decisions, but one cannot deny that it does not have power.
[1] Peter Van Ham “Culture and Constructivism” in Social Power 47
[2] Peter Van Ham “Culture and Constructivism” in Social Power 53
[3] Rhonda Zaharna. “Communication, Culture, and Identity in Public Diplomacy” in Battles to Bridges: US strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy after 9/11 (2010).
Interesting post, Liza!
ReplyDeleteI've occasionally been surprised to see what US shows are airing in other countries as well, but I do think it's important to note that there's a pull factor as well as a push. The US isn't simply exporting movies/shows of its own choosing--other nations choose to import them.
International box office receipts for recent years show that the same movies that do well in the States often do well abroad too (http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/yearly/?page=overseas&p=.htm for example, or http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/yearly/?page=yearcountry&yr=2009&sort=country&order=ASC&p=.htm).
This reminds me of Kelton Rhoads' argument about cultural universalism. Twilight and Bride Wars may not present the most realistic picture of American Life, but there was an audience for them both domestically and abroad.
Of course, I think it's fair to say that the writers were thinking more about profitability than public diplomacy when they drew up the screenplays...