W3. Cultural Imperialism VS Cultural Globalisation

In this September, there is a 3^rd Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA). KOFFIA will showcase 20 of the best and latest Korean feature films and will allow audiences to discover their connection to Korean cinema and culture. As one of Korean living in Australia, I get a chance to volunteer in KOFFIA media team. That is one of the reasons why do I choose a ‘film’ as this week blog topic.

Why should we care about film? Because films stand for cultural identities and have long been the main vehicle for cultural expression. Regarding to film, there were disputes in Korea whether ‘the screen quota system’ should be reduced, if not completely removed a few years ago (Seo 2005, p.1). ‘The screen quota system’ is one of the major protective film policies such as subsidies, import quotas, screen quotas and television quotas (Lee 2005, p.1). To protect Korean film industry’s market share and help it grow, Korea’s screen quota policy prescribes the proportion of domestic films and the number of days on which they are shown.

 

The advocates of the screen quota emphasize cultural diversity, cultural exceptions and national identity as justification (Seo 2005, p.1). They argue that ‘the screen quota has contributed to cultural diversity as it protects local films from the flood of Hollywood movies’ (Seo 2005, p.2). On the other hand, the opponents of the screen quota contend that ‘the screen quota system hampers free trade and limits domestic consumers’ choices’ (Seo 2005, p.2).

References

Lee, H 2005, 'An Economic Analysis of Protective Film Policies: A Case Study of the Korean Screen Quota System', Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, pp. 1-38, retrieved 30 July 2012, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost.

Seo, Y 2005, 'The Politics of the 'Screen Quota System' in Korea: Art, Culture, and Film in the Age of Global Capitalism', Conference Papers -- American Political Science Association, pp. 1-24, retrieved 30 July 2012, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.

Picture source

koreanpopculture.blogspot.com

W2. The Promise of Globalisation

There were few iPod or iPhone users in Korea before 4 years ago and my older brother who is ‘early adopter’ was one of them. After he bought iPod, he explained its various functions to me excitedly. But I had an indifferent reaction because it seemed like just a ‘normal phone’ which has nothing to do with me. However, after I bought iPhone4, it gave me ‘new world’. I was able to talk with friends living in America using application ‘Skype’ whenever and wherever. Moreover, I was able to know world news through Facebook rather than newspaper or TV.

Thanks to electronic mass media, people can share the ideas, images, and sounds of different cultures over great distances (Croteau et al. 2012, p. 326). There is no doubt that it brings positive changes. For example, much greater personal communication is facilitated by new media technologies (Croteau et al. 2012, p. 329). However, let’s imagine that if I live in the place where there is no access to such media technologies or no internet? How do I know about world news quickly? Without the Internet, it is hard to share the information. As I mentioned in the first posting, the rise of Internet is one of the major driving forces to globalization.

This world map shows number of internet Users by country in 2009 and internet users mean the people who have access to the worldwide network.

As Croteau et al. (2012) argue, the promise of the globalization remains largely unfulfilled.

References

Croteau, D, Hoynes, W, Milan, S 2012, Media/society: industries, images, and audiences, SAGE, California.

Picture source

Number of Internet Users by Country, International Telecommunication Union, <http://www.itu.int/en/pages/default.aspx>.

W1. The Flows of Globalization

I have no idea since when does people use the terms ‘global’ or ‘globalisation’. There is, however, no question that ‘globalisation’ is a widely used word in a variety of contexts such as economy, culture, society and politics (Guttal 2007, p. 523). Then, what is the ‘globalisation’? There are numerous definitions of what globalization is. One of the definitions of globalization is that Investor Word (cited in Irani & Noruzi 2011, p. 1345) provides a useful definition: ‘Globalization is the name for the process of increasing and speeding up the connectivity and interdependence of the world’s markets and businesses and other institutions’.

                                                              

Investor Word (cited in Irani & Noruzi 2011, p. 1345) also notes that this process has speeded up dramatically because thanks to the technological advances, it is easier to travel, communicate, and do business internationally for people. And there are two major driving forces. According to Irani and Noruzi (2011, p. 1346), one is advances in telecommunications infrastructure and the other is the rise of the internet.

Then, why does ‘globalisation’ important to us? That is because it deeply affects life in direct or indirect ways. Some people may say that globalization has nothing to do with them, but is it? I do not think so. Here is an example. It is easy to find Italian, Asian restaurants as well as Australia restaurants in the Melbourne city. It is not just a food issue; there is also physical, cultural (music, languages, clothing), capital and media flows.

References

Guttal, S 2007, 'Globalisation', Development In Practice, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 523-531, retrieved 18 July 2012, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.

Irani, F, & Noruzi, M 2011, 'Globalization and Effects; A study on the effects of globalization in the society', Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1345-1348, retrieved 18 July 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Picture source

http://www.europaeum.org/europaeum/?q=node/535

welcome :)

Hello :)

Welcome to my blog ♥

I am Hyunjoo LEE from South Korea

I am an exchange student in Deakin University for this 2012 and this trimester is my last trimester in Deakin.

I have two majors ; physics /media and communication.

I take a class ALC215  so I will post a blog for the class (Globalisaion and the media) per week.

I hope  enjoy blogging :)