internationalmediaspring2013 - Tumblr blog

[internationalmediaspring2013]

With regionally inspired menu options and advertising, McDonald's portrays itself as a diverse and culturally-minded company.  However, the western culture continues to shine through in an imperialistic nature regardless of these glocalization attempts.

-Casey Shaw

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Starbucks has continued to be successful in the United States since its inception in 1971. After saturating the U.S. market, Starbucks aimed to expand its economic success by expanding overseas. Since the birth of Starbucks International in 1995, the chain has seen varied successes and failures throughout the international market. 

One of the most successful is Starbucks China. According to the corporation, China is projected to be its second largest market outside the U.S. by 2015. On the contrary, Starbucks France has been unable to yield a profit since its inception in 2004. Why is Starbucks’ popular in Asia and not in France? 

The success of Starbucks in China and its failure in France points to the vital role of cultural interpretations, store presence, Europe’s debt, labor laws in France and glocalization. 

-Kelly Velocci

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Advertisements are the running force behind most fashion companies from local brands to designer brands. Over the years, advertisements have become more explicit and overly sexualize women, but who is behind this?

-Chealsea

[internationalmediaspring2013]

The Hershey Company can clearly be defined as a glocalized company but not in the sense that the recipe of milk chocolate was altered from country to country. Milton Hershey focused on building communities wherever he established the company. These communities adhered to the local needs of the people such as the health care in Cuba. He was awarded for coming into Cuba, who feared foreigners, with the highest award achievable for keeping in mind the people of the land.

- Satinder

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Textual Analysis

  1. "Alabama Tobacco Free Families"

2. If you smoke you will have unhealthy babies. You don't DESERVE to have a healthy baby

3. Mothers

4. It's bad to smoke while you're pregnant.

5. "Department of Babies", judgmental, panic, unhappy, you're a bad mother because you have harmed your child, she's desperate.

 6. This commercial wouldn't air today. Shows the mother in a "panic mode." They used this technique to try and show people how harmful it was to babies. "Scare-tactics." Scientific studies came out and proved how harmful it was to people.

-Kelly, Chealsea, Raluca

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Who is the author of the text?

Newport

  How is the PSA/commercial’s message framed?

The message is framed around how Newport can bring about a bond in a relationship and its new line of Deluxe 100’s. The ad emphasizes on the bond of two people by the pack of Newports.

  Who are they targeted towards?

Everyone

  What position is taken?

Newport is the way to go, out of all smoking corporations!

  What stylistic/narrative/structural features work towards the construction of the message?

Newport portrayed a romantic atmosphere by creating a soothing beach scene and having a slow-calm music in the background.

  What is the larger ‘semiosphere’ or world of meaning may have effected the way these texts are interpreted?

The interpretation of this ad by the people in the 1960’s was that smoking was considered cool, and without any gender boundaries.

- Susan & Satinder

[internationalmediaspring2013]

A Case for Contamination

Appiah talked about tradition and modernity. He gave reasoning for why he feels that being your own person is important and that following traditions to the T isn't always necessary. Do you feel that  following traditions fully is necessary or do you think that it's acceptable to be your own person and follow what suits you best as long as you respect your traditions in some way?

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Hybridity

The first image that comes to mind when I think of hybridity is New York City. This city is a collection of cultures, people, smells and tastes. Then, within this larger community you find sub-communities where people from one country or culture make a more��condense community. 

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- Kelly Velocci

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Disjuncture & Difference.

Arjun Appadurai explains that in the new global economy, there are five disjunctures that pertain to it.

The first is ethnoscapes. Ethnoscapes consist of people who move from their origins, such as immigrants or migrant workers. These people affect and are affected by the new society they move to.

The second is technoscapes. Technoscapes consist of the various growth of technology and its importance to a society. It tends to be a major factor in relationships because of money, power, and resources.

The third is finanscapes. In today's world, global capital is more difficult to follow because big businesses are moving fast. 

The fourth is mediascapes. Mediascapes refers to both the distribution of information and the images of the world created by the media. This is how ethnoscape experiences are passed throughout the world.

The last is ideoscapes. These are the ideas of political power and the reinforcement of them by political leaders.  These have to be carefully translated through action and words.

Keep in mind that each culture varies in their disjunctures and that, in one culture, all disjunctures may not be even with each other.

-Alysha Ramphir

[internationalmediaspring2013]

When I think about Cosmopolitanism, I think about the Art Deco style, that tries to embody different eras into one building as if it were one community. The picture above is the Chrysler Building in NYC.

- Satinder

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Hybridity

I feel that this Dove commercial is a good example of hybridity and that idea of evolving into something new. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U

[internationalmediaspring2013]

HYBRIDITY

The first thing that came to mind when I thought about Hybridity was Marcel Duchamp's "The Fountain" because it reinforces the idea of innovation within art, but at the same time, it contradicts the idea of "high art." However, this "Readymade", as it is called, is considered one of the most influential pieces of artwork of the 20th century.

- Chealsea Carter

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Communication Technology

Globalization of Information technology is necessary and ideal for effective communication and equal opportunities for all countries. Although, there has been progress in this area, and we are moving toward a more globalized society, the big companies such as News Corporation are treating this progress as a commercial race. Who can develop the next best thing and the next biggest breakthrough in communications. Golding believes the approach to be a positive one, however it has its set backs. When big companies are "racing" to reach into developing countries, it creates competition, which is good, but also it accelerates the speed to which all countries could potentially benefit from information technology and quicker and affordable communication mediums. This immediacy to get technology's reach into developing countries, the author also argues that this approach has only furthered the inequality and commercial exploitation of these developing countries. Golding mentions News Corporation, CNN, Microsoft, etc.. and their accomplishments into globalizing access to technology and internet, but in there is still a lot more work to be done in this progress. This progress towards new technologies, although not fully egalitarian, it is working towards a global village. From person experience, Romania is a good example of this. When I moved to the US in 6th grade, no one had a computer, not even schools, and of course no internet connection. I didn't know what the internet was when I moved here. As the years went by more and more people got computers, but again no internet. It wasn't until a few years ago when Romania had an IT boom and everyone somehow had computers and internet in their homes. Today, everyone has smartphones and 3G networks. It happened all very very quickly and sporadically. However it's only Bucharest, the capital that gets to benefit from this boom. Many other cities, still have trouble accessing the internet. I also know Ukraine and Bulgaria have not had the benefit of having an IT boom as Romania has.

Zack and Raluca

[internationalmediaspring2013]

Receiving End

Information technology affects different countries in different ways depending on their economic status. Information technology has reduced the communications and transaction costs and enhanced the tradability of services.  Technology, however, tends to nurture the idea of globalization; the U.S. alone only invests 6% of its stocks and bonds towards inward investments. In the video we saw with Africa and America as children, that America finds more investment in other countries through their natural resources. In the first video we watched, “The End of Poverty?”, an American corporation established itself in an African country, promising the government to boost their economy. In return, the people of the land received no benefits. We help out other countries with money in exchange for our investment in their resources, and it is all done through technology. Technology also makes the thought of boosted productivity more believable through elaborate, but the truth is that productivity gains are limited.  Information technology reduces the trading advantages of low labor cost economies, which supports the idea of cultural imperialism. Information technology instills the belief that it creates an “information economy,” but what really happens is that with the use of technology, individuals become more and more involved with only their area of expertise; one might become more knowledgeable with the use of technology but they are only more knowledgeable in one area rather than in many.

Alysha & Satinder

[internationalmediaspring2013]

"Convergence: More Fiscal than Digital"

According to Golding, convergence is how about how megacorporations are made up of smaller companies, and they just get bigger and bigger. Sometimes, we don't even know who those smaller companies are. He also talks about how persuasion is a major factor that helps megacorporations invest in foreign companines due to the fact that "across cultural industries the structural shift that matters has not been so much digital as financial."

[internationalmediaspring2013]

"On Pessimism and Modes of Resistance"

In stating “Pessimism is not determinism,” Golding is giving light to the idea that simply recognizing the negativity and uneven flow of cultural goods is not enough; there must be determination for change.  Using the MacBride Report as an example of where change could have but was not implemented, Golding offers up 5 alternative “modes of resistance.”

  1. The Impassive Audience

Audiences aren’t as passive as some believe. We should have faith in their ability to derive their own meanings and messages from what they consume.  This is in part due to the fact that these consumers are not blank slates; their cultures, experiences, and anything else that shapes their personality affects how they receive and interpret messages.

2. Local Power

Local power refers to locally produced media, be it solely by the locals or by an international company with a division that produces culturally relevant material.  An example of the second idea could be seen in the 2007 Disney partnership with Yash Raj Films of India to produce animated films specific to the region.

  3: Regionalism

This idea avoids news flowing through the major news organizations of top cities (New York, London, Paris etc.). This is because many of those receiving the news do not live in these cities, let alone the same countries sometimes, and want pure, unfiltered information.  Al Jazeera functions as a regional news source for the Middle East, providing an outlet for the region that does not require information to be passed through a desk in the US first.

4. Communication Policy

Communication policies have the power to create change. But that change is dependent on the political forces behind it (Golding, 84). During the time Golding wrote this article, the people creating the policies were more concerned about sustenance of their power than creating alternatives and change. To create change, there has to be an element of action in conjunction with changing written policies.

5. Doing it differently

Alternative media has a constant presence in the media. Throughout the world, people depend on alternative forms of media to provide them with information on the issues that is often ignored. Alternative media acts as both a complement the traditional media as well as an alternative content option. Alternative media holds the power to illicit change and provide a voice to the voiceless issues. However, at the same time, it can be difficult for alternative media to create a powerful change. When compared to traditional media, it is even more evident the struggle that alternative forms of media are up against.