Week 7

This week the main focus was on this question;

What does it mean to live in an era of global media entertainment?

We talked about this topic for a while in small groups and then in a larger group.

I'm not sure what the class discussed really answered the question but this is what I think...

• The types of media we view is not just Western culture made anymore. Because of media being exported out of other countries we receive a number of different media from other cultures.
• Because of the amount of globalised entertainment franchises our own culture is increasingly being influenced from other cultures particularly Asian and American (Note; I think it could be argued that American culture is too similar to ours to be considered having a cultural influence. I would argue that American culture have just been in our media for longer and perhaps we have received so much of it through our media it has already had an enormous effect on our own culture).
• People are drawn to the exotic strangeness of a media product developed by a different culture. This creates fan bases that are particularly interested in a media product that isn't from their own culture. Fans of japanese anime for instance.
• Finally I've noticed that Australian media has constantly been attempting to re-create shows made famous in other countries. Some work. Others don't...

Next question was;

How does globalisation change the ways in which media is produced, distributed and consumed?

• Even if a certain media, such as that obscure japanese manga about transforming hats, isn't available in our shops it is still possible for us to get it through the internet. Distribution is not just done in shops anymore but through online stores which can stock almost anything they want. It gets better if the product is digital because you get it almost instantly and theres no postage costs.
• Quite often media from other cultures that might be profitable in western culture is changed slightly before being distributed west to make it more accessible to us. For example; Pokemon episodes were edited to change japanese food into doughnuts and segments of the power rangers were re-shot in California to make it more American.

A lot of these questions are answered in this weeks readings which I'll do a short summary on later.

At the end of the tut we watched some remediations ready to inspire us for our next assignment.

Heres another one I like;