Reader Response Draft 3

In "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" Kraidy (2002) discusses the controversy between cultural imperialism and globalisation. Once the dominant view of the way that media impacted cultures, “cultural imperialism” has evolve into a perspective of globalisation and hybridisation, where cultural flows are multilateral. He suggests that "cultural hybridity" is not a new phenomenon but one that has existed in the past.

Kraidy (2002) discusses the opposing perspective on globalisation, homogenisation and hybridisation of culture. However, I feel that rather than homogenising local cultures, globalisation actually reinvents and revives local cultures. The exchange of ideas and information, from the interactions between traders and villagers in the past to the present prevalent usage of media, causes culture to evolve and change over time. During interactions, parties pick up relevant ideas and information, adapting them into their respective cultures, modifying and reinventing their local cultures, leading to cultural hybridisation. With globalisation, the interconnectedness of countries accelerates interactions, resulting in more intensive exchange of ideas. Cultures that operate at a global scale are what Featherstone (1995) mentioned as "third cultures", perpetutated by the transnational companies (TNCs) that nation states have no complete control over. This resembles many of the cultural influences in the world we see today, where globalisation has weaken the power of governments to influence TNCs' production processes.

For example, as shown by the recent K-Pop craze, by adopting Western pop culture into its music genre, Korea has not only modified its local culture but also marketed it to the world. With the extensive use of media such as television and internet, people around the world are constantly being exposed to K-pop. The popularity of K-pop and its worldwide appeal sells Korea as a tourist destination. Fans from around the world are eager to learn Korean, and through the language are able to better understand the local culture. This is not a one-way interaction where Korea adopts the Western pop culture but also the promotion of K-pop around the world in countries like USA, Singapore and China.

In this context, it can be said that popular consumption of K-pop has led to its commercialisation. As McEwan and Daya (2012) suggest "culture has become increasingly commodified". One can see in the global market, K-pop music is usually catchy and contemporary, which appeals to the general audience. Instead of portraying the traditional cultures of Korea to the audience, media companies are producing commercialised music for mass consumption. Therefore, a balance has to be struck by the music producers between commercialising and promoting the local culture, in order not to undermine and dilute it into a totally different culture, where local identity is lost.


References

Featherstone, M. (1995). “Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity”, in Volume 39 of Theory, Culture & Society, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

McEwan, C. and Daya, S. (2012) "Geography, culture and global change", in P. Daniels, M. Bradshaw, D. Shaw and J. Sidaway (eds.), An Introduction to Human Geography (Harlow: Pearson), Chapter 13, pp. 272-287.