The article by Jonathan Gray illustrated the idea of cultural imperialism. To put this term simply, cultural imperialism is when one culture dominates – they have all the power and influence and impose themselves onto other cultures. By using The Simpsons as a way to criticize how the view of an opposing-America is seen in the eyes of foreigners, I was reminded of my own experience with this. I happen to have a large portion of friends from The Dominican Republic who will many times comment, while watching “American” shows, “why are American’s so crazy?”, or “weird”, or whatever. They’ve said to me many times, “this is what we think Americans actually do because it is depicted this way in so many of them” (referring to television shows). Sometimes I argue and say its an exaggeration of the reality and other times I will laugh along and say, “yes, actually this is exactly what Americans really do” and they accept that by saying, “its ok, we know its not real”. Their understanding of “Americans” is highly influenced by the media but at the same time they know that the shows are simply mocking the dream as well. They see the ideal, the ‘American Dream’ but they also see the satirical nature of the text within the popular shows.
To touch on the other article, my friends have often commented on how much they hate watching American movies or television shows in their country because of the dubbing effect. Just like the article by Gallagher mentioned (on pg. 178 -179) the voices that are dubbed over the original actors voices in the television show are often very different from the actors natural voice and make the shows more comedic. A horror movie or action movie looses most of its drama because the voices do not match up to how the person looks, acts, and most importantly, how their lips move. When the show is re-watched in English, my friends will say, “wow that translated completely different in Spanish, but now it makes way more sense” showing that they might not be receiving the show in the way in which it was intended.
As an advertising major I see cultural imperialism as a company trying to expand its consumer base, while gaining more power, and above all, increasing profits. Like my classmates have previously mentioned in their blog posts, the fast food industry is a great example of this. Companies and brands like McDonalds, Starbucks, and so many more love to bring their products to as many new places as possible to gain dominance within their industry. Strong brand recognition is key to having a successful business and every international based restaurant has the same logo, color scheme, and (for the most part) menu items. Currently McDonalds is in 119 countries with products that are extremely similar and a brand image that is essentially globally recognizable. While my friends do argue that the McDonalds in the Dominican Republic sometimes offers different food and the pricing is much higher (its almost a luxury to eat at a McDonalds there), it is at the end of the day something that they knew they could rely on when moving up here to the United States because it had such a presence in their country already. I even remember being in Greece and seeing a very historical, long-column, beautifully carved building, and looking up to see a giant sign that read, “Pizza Hut”. I was absolutely blown away because such a Grecian building was completely Americanized on the inside but happy because I was able to get food that was relatively familiar to what I was used to. At the same time (I was only 12) I was ignoring the different/new culture around me and instead thinking about how great it was that American things were everywhere.
McDonalds in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
(TripSuggest.com) http://trip-suggest.com/dominican-republic/santiago/bartola/
Globalization of Starbucks/McDonalds
http://www.princeton.edu/~ina/infographics/starbucks.html
axs5449 says
I thought you brought up some really good points in your post. I especially thought it was interesting how you brought up the point about restaurants like McDonald’s or Pizza Hut being built in other countries. It’s really interesting that places like these that are considered to be cheap in America, will have much higher prices in other countries and seem like a luxury restaurant to eat there. I have talked to people from other countries that say they have restaurants like McDonald’s or Friday’s (restaurants and fast food places that would typically be considered cheaper places to eat) that are really expensive to eat at in these other countries and are seen as “fancy” restaurants that would be special to go and eat at. It is interesting that these places are seen in such a different way in other countries, but that it is of American culture. Because these restaurants have much higher prices and are thought to be a luxury to eat it, it makes these restaurants and American culture seem luxurious to these other countries, and this is where the cultural imperialism comes into play.
mwb5778 says
Living in Egypt, many people including myself watch American TV shows, and I could personally say that a bunch of them would take these shows too literally. I agree with you that people like these have some sort of different understanding, their interpretation of Americans is influenced by what they see and hear, especially on the media. Although, deep down inside, I do think that these same people know that the media they are exposed to is also in a way just teasing “The American Dream”.
There is also an Egyptian movie talking about an Egyptian guy who lived his whole life in the United States but decided to go back to Egypt, this movie show the difference between living in Egypt and in the United States and their pros and cons, and as an Egyptian who lived in both I can say that the movie exaggerated in showing both lives even some stuff were completely true, but still there is a lot of exaggeration which lead to misinterpretation of people who haven’t been in any of these country or know the real difference.
mjb596 says
I have to agree with the the points you have made in this post. While there is often America’s depiction of other cultures, it is nice to see it flipped. On a way it could be eye opening, but unfortunately I believe that some would be proud of the offensive stereotypes.When you describe the dubbing of English shows, I have to wonder just how many ways the show can come across. When you mentioned the Grecian Pizza Hut building your reaction was interesting. The fact that although the Americanization was awkward, it still was fine because it was familiar. If this mindset of “liking that American things were everywhere” is kept through to adulthood, Americanization will most likely spread faster and continue to grow to new countries. McDonald’s is in 119 countries now, but I’m sure that it will continue to expand and unfortunately crush most smaller brand businesses that oppose it.
mjc5742 says
I found your response very interesting, especially since you have personal experience with this phenomenon and are not just speaking in hypotheticals. I totally agree that when shows are dubbed over they tend to lose a lot of their value and do not have the same meaning as they would if they were in their original language.
I really liked that you used the fast food restaurants as examples in your post as well. It is very interesting that a restaurant like McDonalds can be so different than the ones we think of here, and are even considered to be a little bit of a luxury. It is very hard for me to imagine a McDonalds being considered a luxury, but I’m sure that is because I have lived in the US my whole life and only think of the type of McDonalds we have here.
Mark J Schanen says
I also agree with the points you made in your post. I have spent considerable amounts of time abroad and it is strange how literally they take the American TV shows that make it over. In many cases it is a negative portrayal, but at this point there isn’t much anyone could do. I also liked how you spoke about McDonalds and the alarming amount of locations it has around the world. Even when I was in France and there was great food that was cheaper I would find myself going to McDonalds once in a while because I missed American food. It is only the most prominent things that make it out of the country and often times this isn’t a good thing. Cultural imperialism happens everywhere it just seems that American companies that have the most money are able to do it quickest and best.
Brittany T Rizzo says
I agree with the points that were made in this post and think that the personal connection the author made to the topic made it even easier for the reader to draw conclusions. While it can be expected that people from other countries may believe or not believe that certain things portrayed in American television shows and movies are true, I think that it is interesting that the author said that sometimes she tries to explain that the characteristics are false while other times she will go along and tell them that they are realistic. One thing that I had never previously considered is how a message is lost or changed when the language is changed to appeal to a difference audience. I can definitely see how it would be annoying to watch a show that has words and mouth movement mismatched, but I do not think that it would make a big different in cartoons. The major problem would be the things that are lost in translation and the difference in cultural comments.
Jennifer E Sandora says
I completely agree with you about the idea that many other countries watch American television shows and think that these are depictions of “normal” American tendencies. It gives Americans a somewhat incorrect stereotype. Similar to your Dominican Republic example, I had a lot of experiences in Spain where shows would be dubbed over. Many of the jokes did not translate correctly and did not make sense in the Spanish language. I also really liked your McDonalds example. Although the same or somewhat similar slogan and menu is on display worldwide, the prices are steeper abroad and eating McDonalds is almost seen as a luxury due to these prices. But the strong brand recognition and cultural imperialism of this company makes the company extremely popular and successful.