As I sat and though about a topic for this paper, I began to think about what interests me. The first thing that came to mind was entertainment and media. As I thought more about it, I saw connections in both the forms of entertainment coming into America and those going out. The media in America today expresses foreign cultures in a way that helps us understand their significance and diversity. In other countries, the same can be said about the way American culture is expressed in the media and how it influences other cultures.
It is very easy to say that the rate of electronic media traveling across the globe has rapidly increased this past century. Although in the earlier years when television was traveling only through the airwaves, it was more difficult for overseas nations to view our media. However with advances in technology, the world has been given television, radio, internet and vocal communications through a satellite connection. With technology as great as this, it is very possible for underdeveloped and developing nations to have the very same access to media outlets that we enjoy here in the United States.
The low cost and availability of modern communications technology is just staggering compared to ten years ago. Ten years ago computers cost a considerable amount more than what they do today. This decrease in cost has given a larger percent of the world’s population the opportunity to both own a computer and have access to the internet.
As the number of people on the internet increases, the amount of information that can be viewed is nearly infinite. One can view the internet as the world’s information supermarket. Teenagers in Japan can log on and type up a search for American music bands and download their songs. The same is happening in America and all over the world. As influential as teenagers are, cultural patterns of a nation are easily molded to imitate those of others. In Japan, there are an increasing number of teens that are listening to American pop and rock music. They dress and act how they perceive us to be. Granted not all of the teenage population follows this pattern, but the number is growing daily. In America, it is very plain to see the effects of Japanese forms of entertainment. The television shows that many adolescents view come from Japan. There are a massive number of anime cartoons that we have access to. Anime cartoons in America have very distinct Japanese features. The clothing the characters wear, the location of the story, and even the food the characters eat are all Japanese. Yet one thing that I have noticed, the faces of anime characters look very much American. It’s hard to say whether or not this facial appearance was changed when the cartoon was translated to English or if this was the way the original characters looked in Japan. This makes it apparent that there is an American influence in Japanese pop culture.
As I mentioned earlier, the way music can leak through to other parts of the world is quite impressive. One of the most dramatic influences on American culture in the field of music would be the British Invasion during the mid to late sixties. What started as an effort for The Beatles to expand their own horizons to the American public, progressed into this huge popular movement we now call the British Invasion. Americans were introduced to an entirely new style of music that caused a great deal of people to change their lives and beliefs. One prominent reason The Beatles were such an influential force was the fact that one of the members, John Lennon, was a huge activist against war and this occurred during the time of the conflict in Vietnam. This personal opinion on the negative effects of war and a strong emphasis on peace combined with the bands massive popularity and helped shove America into hundreds of anti-war movements. This unified America for some time. Even today, the effects of the British Invasion in America are still alive and kicking. Just recently a movie was released onto dvd titled Across The Universe. The movie featured an entirely Beatles soundtrack and focuses on the era of American history during the conflict in Vietnam. It goes through the lives of a group of people who deal with the effects of Vietnam, by means of loss of loved ones and the draft, the age of drug experimentation, and the movements of peace trying to bring back the troops in Vietnam. The movie spans through a few years starting from earlier on in the Vietnam conflict to the point where it almost ended.
This cultural influence raises the question about whether this change in pop culture is a good or a bad thing. I believe that the world can benefit from a diverse culture around the world, not only the diversity of the world’s cultures but diversity within those cultures. One way the world can benefit would be the chance for a better understanding of those that may live differently.
We live in a world where there are thousands of peoples trying to live by their way and make it through the world. In many cases, cultures begin to struggle to keep traditions alive. One of the most effective ways for this to happen is to try and spread the ways of their culture to other parts of the world with the slight hopes of someone picking up the trends and continuing those traditions. Most times, cultural trends and traditions are found by cultures across the globe, as is the case with Japanese animation in America and American music in Japan. This kind of cultural saturation is the key to a closer relation between nations. We have many contract deals with Japan. Many of which involve video game technologies, vehicle manufacturers, and software development. These are only a few examples that help stress the point that a union between nations can and will advance the economies in both parties. Some may pose the argument that the traditions of a culture should not be tainted by any others. It may be viewed as a sort of corruption. But I see it differently.
Again, with the British Invasion, the anti-war movements were just beginning yet they were accelerated by the influence of The Beatles. Just try to think for a second. What might have happened in America had the British Invasion never existed? Would our anti-war movements have just dwindled down to nothing because there was no strong force behind it? Would it have taken longer for America to pull out of Vietnam because there would have been fewer protests? Although this may have been the case, it wasn’t because the influence that the British Invasion had on America was so great that it changed our culture forever. The methods of protests and opinions of war that were introduced and expressed during Vietnam are used and practiced in today’s society. The only difference is that today, with the technology we have, it is much easier to get the message to a larger number of people and we can do it quite quickly.
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