The Problems with Cultural Imperialism (the theory)

1st)  The theory fails to define what culture is.  This gives the theory an incredible amount of flexibility when it comes to proving its legitimacy.

2nd)  Culture is a huge and complex subject.  It is a very literal part of a society found in its history, art, and stories.  As well as an assemblage of ideas pertaining to religion, government,  philosophy, beliefs, values, right and wrong, and anything else you can think of.   Culture is also associated to people in a funny way, we apply it to the masses but forget that it is the product of individuals spread to the masses.  Though things like government, democracy, imaginary geographical borders, and peoples’ ability to collaborate and work together make this a hard thing to remember.  Culture is also associated to language but, this is wrong.  Because language is simply a tool in which to share ideas, thoughts, and stories.  The more people you can reach with a language the better a tool it is.  Though it is true that some languages convey some ideas better than others but, languages also evolve and change over time to keep pace with an evolving culture.  Cultures evolve when new ideas are introduced to the society.  New ideas are introduced to a culture from one of two places, from within the culture or from outside of the culture but, always ideas are the product of individuals (though sometimes ideas are the results of individuals working together).

Example:  Something like 75% of the worlds media is broadcast in english (although, I’ve been unable to confirm this statistic or how that number breaks down).  This is usually pointed to as proof of cultural imperialism.  However, if a broadcast is produced in a foreign country but in english. Chances are that broadcast is supporting that countries culture and not American or British culture.

3rd)  No component of cultural imperialism accounts for the role of the individual within society.

4th) Cultural Imperialism does not account for how ideas are spread and integrated into the individuals’ life and ultimately society as a whole.  In order for a new idea to be accepted it must be in agreement with the individuals pre-existing notions of the subject, whatever that may be.  When a new idea is not in agreement with an individuals pre-existing thoughts a contradiction is created within the individual and must be reconciled.  Reconciliation happens in one of two ways, one of the two ideas in contradiction will be abandoned in favor of the more appealing idea or some middle ground will be found between the two ideas and they will be hybridized into a new (and somewhat unique) idea.  This is why Mcdonalds doesn’t sell hamburgers in India and the sitcom Cheers was a complete failure in Israel (http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=israel).

5th)  Cultural Imperialism does not account for the “weaker” cultures’ ability to influence the more dominate cultures’ society.

Lets cover some examples.

Mcdonalds, Pepsi, and Coke~Cola are often cited as examples of cultural imperialism.  However, the introduction of Mcdonalds to a culture does not mean people stop cooking their culturally relevant food and only eat there or that all other restaurants in the country are put out off business.  Furthermore, go to a Mcdonalds in a foreign country and check out the menu, what you will find is a menu uniquely suited to the country you are in (though, depending on how far that culture differs from your own you may see some of the same or similar items).  Better yet,  google it, this one’s fun, or India.

Mcdonalds in India

(oh neat my first picture…)

Clearly, Mcdonalds is not shoving American culture down the throats (pun intended) of other cultures.  And don’t even get me started on Pepsi and Coke, I mean what about tea, coffee, beer, and wine!?  Does anyone honestly consider China when they drink tea or wine, how about Ethiopia when they drink coffee, or the Mesopotamians when they drink beer?  No, because beverages do not displace culture they are simply added to them.  How about it, would anyone like a Ramune from japan (Chicago Tribune), how about a Jarritos from Mexico, or how about one of these other 10 brands of foreign soda you can get in the U.S.

Sure, soda was introduced to cultures via Coke and Pepsi but now those cultures are turning out their own variations on the drink.  Just as it happened with Tea, Coffee, Beer, and wine.  Sure these drinks are not as popular as Coke and Pepsi but give them a decade or two.  Rome wasn’t built in a night after all.  (Oh, and you can find many of these drinks mentioned here in sleepy little Athens).

Oh and what about media!? (may as well cut right to it…) America…  Well it’s often thought that American media dominates the world and therefore is culturally imperialistic.  However, lets look at Canada as a case example.  Our friendly neighbors to the north have been receiving American broadcast since the early days of radio.  Yet Canada has remanded its own unique culture and even developed in three major ways that differ greatly from American culture (ideals).  First, Canada’s laws on handgun ownership remain strict and prohibitive, despite all of the American action, pro handgun, sitcoms that the Canadians’ watch.  According to the U.N. only 12% of the estimated 20,000,000 guns in Canada are handguns (source ).  Compared to the sum 80,000,000 to 150,000,000 estimated guns owned in America (figures are all over the place on this one) but, 64% of these are reported to be handguns (source).  Clearly Canada didn’t get the message, owning a handgun is cool… Second, socialized medicine, well we should all know by now where America stands on this one, you know, because its communistic.  Yet Canada has been doing comprehensive socialized medicine since the 1960’s.  And we should all know that the one thing America never transmitted in its media is a pro communist message.  Third,  gay rights.  Since 2005 Canada has allowed same-sex marriage, making it the fourth country in the world to do so and the first country in the Americas (source).  Yet, until recently (1997 on the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom) there was no pro-gay message being sent out by America.  (Interesting side note, at the time of the show, when Ellen “came out” on the air several major sponsors, including Wendy’s, dropped the network for supporting Ellen.  I cannot imagine the blowback a company would receive from the public now if they were to react so harshly.)  And despite it being 2010, 5 years after Canada granted equal rights to homosexuals and 13 years after the first pro-gay “message” went out across america, we still do not have federal legislation granting equal rights to homosexuals.  Obviously Canada just isn’t getting the message.

And hell! What about all of the media America produces that is about or supports other cultures? Even if the piece of media is not syndicated, exported, or viewed abroad it is still being viewed within America and therefore American culture is not even dominate within its own boarders.  (Hey this will be fun! Lets start a list of examples in the comment section about american produced media which showcases other cultures.)  One specific example I especially like, in part because it is dynamic and second because it is aimed at the most easily influenced demographic (children) is Avatar the Last Air Bender.  Produced by a U.S. company with animation inspired heavily by anime (Japan) and a story rich in Chinese history, mythology, and philosophy it is truly a hybridization and advancement of culture.

The show also received world wide syndication.  But whose culture is it ultimately supporting?  I’d say chinese, others may say japanese, while others will argue that the show is simply an attempt by an American company to capture, exploit, and profit off of some “market”.   However, the latter of the arguments is a true insult to the creators’ of Avatar, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.  Besides, isn’t it true that every artist, writer, or whoever that creates a work is aiming at selling into some market?  Bah, this argument is pointless, ultimately the answer is the difference between artists being sincere or shallow.  And that is based in the individual.  I mean, we may as well start accusing Shakespeare of being phony because he wrote in order to sell tickets for the theater.

Here are some general examples of foreign media entering the U.S.  Anime from Japan, telenovelas from South America, comedies from Canada and Europe, kung-fu movies from China and Japan.  Furthermore, Sony of America is going to begin producing telenovelas, and American movies and sitcoms have been borrowing kung-fu for films since Bruce Lee’s days on the silver screen (1960’s).  Lets not even get into the list of American actors that have had successful careers as actors thanks to martial arts training.  Or what to do about American films staring asian actors showcasing martial arts such the Jackie Chan films do.

(and back to the number)

6th)  Whether it be, this class’s (World Media, not our specifically) fault, the schools, media studies in general, or the fault of cultural imperialism as a theory.  We must separate cultural imperialism from cultural influence.  We must also understand that culture is not stagnate, it grows and evolves over time just as individuals do.  The culture of our past is also safe from cultural imperialism, mostly because it’s an illusion and already dead but, cultural imperialism cannot remove history.

7th and possibly last)  Cultural imperialism seems to assume some final conclusion to culture as a whole and some final great world culture in which everyone becomes (according to recent times and fears) “Americanized”.  But, even America isn’t Americanized and cultures never stop growing, evolving, and changing!  And there will always be the niche cultures found within cultures as a whole!

Okay, the one and only example Im willing to give of cultural imperialism is Europe’s attempted colonization of the world starting in the 1800’s.  In this case “culture” was often and quite literally forced upon societies at the point of a gun.  Though, if we look at a map of that time we see that Britain, the leaders of colonization, did not even come close to capturing the worlds’ cultures.  And I say  “culture” because most of what was being forced on the other societies was religion and politics and not so much art or stories.  And just like in todays world the smaller, colonized, cultures influenced the larger colonizing cultures.  However, Colonization had all but ended by 1880, though it was maintained up until the 1940’s.  But look at the places Europe did colonize.  All of those countries to this day maintain a unique culture.

Wait, another example and perhaps one of the biggest!  Rome, the Council of Nicea, and the conquering of the Pagans’ and ultimately the integration (or so it is thought) of the Pagans’ beliefs into Christianity (300 A.D. give or take)  Christianity is now a major world religion and commonly thought of as American, unless your talking about Catholicism (hey they are both based on the Bible).  But again we see a very direct attempt at Cultural Imperialism and the smaller culture influencing the larger and a new culture, essentially, rising from the two.  This example also changed the world forever and dates back so far that Christianity isn’t even considered a part of Roman culture anymore.

Well, I think that’s everything but, don’t be surprised if I’m back and adding more in the future.  Now if only I could compile all of this information into one well laid out and written paper.