Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Bonded by American Culture

The article “As Canadian As Possible”, reflects the common theme of transnational identity of the media. The American culture has a very strong impact on the media (especially television) of other countries. In the article, Bodroghkozy states that Canada fought for their own broadcasting system (the intent was to keep American culture out of the picture) but contrary to this government funded proposition, American T.V. shows became some of the most popular in Canada. “… after a century of attempts to carve out a space of cultural sovereignty, the bulk of Canadian citizens still prefer to engage with high ‘jpm’ American dreams rather than sedate northern grayness for their entertainment…” (567). A widely recognized example of this is the series of James Bond “007” movies. Watching these movies it becomes relatively clear that the script(s) reflect American ethics and attitude, yet the main character is British, and travels all around the world, still keeping American values while amidst a multitude of international environments. The series is one of the many examples of Hollywood perfection. American dollars structure our cultural portrayal, exhibited in these stories, even in this scene. After Mr. White is shot, the clean, professional looking James Bond appears focused on his cell phone, which he continues to gaze at until he places it in his pocket and ends with his trademark phrase. This climactic scene exhibits the reflection of American’s fascination with technology, and proves it with Bond’s callous inhumane reaction to Mr. White’s injury.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting. Remember to embed the video and not just link to it! Other than that, I'd suggest that the assumption that talking on a cellular phone is a quintessentially "American" activity is itself a bit of a nationalist statement. In other countries, including the UK, cell phones have been adopted faster and more broadly than in the US. So in fact, cell phone use in Hollywood film and television was actually a mimicry of the rest of the developed (and in some part undeveloped) world! Now, on the other hand the production of that film is in fact very American, in that it was (1) a Hollywood film, and (2) was shot to resemble (at least in that part) a film noir from the 50s.

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