(Source: danikkardash, via courtney-davis)
(Source: kushandwizdom, via courtney-davis)
Yao Ming only played eight NBA seasons, but his mark on globalization was arguably more impactful than any professional basketball player. Helene Shugart in “Crossing Over” argues that Jennifer Lopez was massively appealing to an American fanbase because of her unobvious race and her lack of an accent.
Professional sports is one of the final frontiers of entertainers where your appearance and race do not matter at all in the United States. But Yao took it a step further by captivating the even larger fanbase of China. China’s fanbase is possibly even bigger than the United States’ and more economically impactful. One of Yao’s former teammates on the Houston Rockets, Tracy McGrady, still has one of the most successful jerseys in the world because China loves him. The Cleveland Cavaliers even gave a Chinese investor partial ownership of the team in hopes that the appeal of being a superstar to the Chinese would convince James from signing with a larger market (he did, with Miami, but his jerseys would be successful no matter where he signed).
While Lopez opened the gates for more Hispanics to get opportunities in American music and film, sometimes it is more important to attract to other countries. Yao’s race is obvious, and for the longest time, Asians did not have a place in the NBA. But Yao’s success showed not only do they have a place, but they are an incredible asset. Yao differs from Lopez because he was more appealing to Chinese fans than American fans. Perhaps the music and film industries should consider what influential foreign markets want more, as it has benefited the NBA’s globalization.
This was a video from IBM’s “solutions for a small planet” campaign back in 1997. It is a combination of depicted foreigners who were in other commercials. Nakamura claimed that these commercials depict an American image of technological knowledge and prowess defining a person’s intelligence and worth.
However, IBM did something right with this one. It takes away the imperialistic connotations that their other commercials depicted in the most effective way possible. There is still a message that other countries are best suited by following American ways, but it constructively suggests a solution to bring people together, rather than imperialistically depicting these people in a negative light.
This commercial is still controversial though. Are the imperialistic notions still there or did IBM do a good job suggesting a constructive solution?
For the first time in history, a native Asian reached the second spot on the Billboard Hot 100. PSY’s “Gangnam Style” hit the viral lottery this year, which is a mark of financial progress for K-pop and Southeast Asian hip-hop. However, a closer look shows less of a feel-good tale.
The United States heavily influences the music of Japanese and Korean rappers looking to make it big domestically or internationally. This video timeline will display the elements that have left the cultural hybridity of Southeast Asian hip-hop resulting in little original identity.
First video:
Eminem was on top of hip-hop in 2002. His album, “The Eminem Show” went diamond, and his film, “8 Mile” was a box office success. “Without Me” is a prime example of the kind of hip-hop that dominated the United States the early 2000s. It still relies on samples, yet it has a more fun vibe that the gangsta rap that dominated the 1990s.
Second video:
PSY released “Go Man Go (Hooray)” in 2002. PSY has had a lengthy career, but he was not famous outside of South Korea until “Gangnam Style.” PSY uses samples that sound like funk or jazz in this hit, and it shares similarities with his current work. He loves writing about having a good time, and he will never shy away from showing a woman’s butt.
At around 3:40, a speech bubble appears next to his face that says, “No MP3.” This is because the major K-Pop labels’ music did not make it into the Apple iTunes store until 2009. Upon that, singles became more important than albums in Korea because of the new gateway to success.
Third video:
Meanwhile, Japan was still very much into gangsta rap in the early-mid 2000s, and it is still quite prevalent in their rap scene today. DABO’s video, “LexusGucci” displays the luxurious, idealized side of the gangster life of a life of crime getting him on top. The obscene gestures and alcoholic bottles show luxury, yet his clothing that is stereotyped as ghetto signifies a more difficult life.
Fourth video:
The Far East Movement was the first Asian band to hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with 2010’s “Like a G6.” This is the single that got them off the ground, from “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” which came out in 2006. “Like a G6” is a catchy dance beat, but “Round Round” has a different vibe from when hip-hop and dance music were not so intertwined.
Fifth video:
Fast forward to late last decade, when mainstream hip-hop changed in the United States. Will.i.am. returned from a trip to Australia with a realization that “whoever cracks dance music wins.” The Black Eyed Peas subsequently released “Boom Boom Pow.” There is one note in the entire song, and they say “boom” 168 times. It also reached the top spot in 16 countries’ charts and the top five in nine others. The Black Eyed Peas were right, and mainstream hip-hop toned down its lyrics and amped up its beats.
Sixth video:
This is a single from most Korean labels’ first full year of access to put their music in the iTunes store. This single was one of the first steps to more of a club vibe in Korean music. That vibe include lighthearted lyrics that hip-hop was not originally known for outside of the alternative circuit.
Seventh video:
This was also one of the biggest hits in Korean hip-hop in 2010. Dok2 wears several hats of MLB teams, and his fashion of flat-brimmed hats and informal shirts resembles several mainstream American rappers. He also wears a large scarf over his head that looks like a racist interpretation of an Arab man, which could also be a mark of desperation to impress the hip-hop market that the United States dominates.
Eighth video
Here is a more recent single from DABO, released in 2010. DABO keeps most of his attire, but he tones down his subject matter. He has directed most of his recent music away from gangsta rap, since it is no longer that popular in mainstream (and even most prominent underground) American hip-hop.
Four rappers find themselves in the latest Billboard Hot 100: Flo Rida, PSY, will.i.am, and Kendrick Lamar. The first three have made their mark on the club scene through hip-hop fusion. Hip-hop lives in an era when dance music currently dominates, but it lyrically and musically conforms to be mainstream. Japanese and Korean hip-hop have needed to conform for far longer.
My submission for Campus Movie Fest’s Social Justice Category!
I just submitted this Monday and it depicts what forced prostitution (human-trafficking/modern-day slavery) looks like. The music artist is a good friend who is a professional music artist. It’s her original song. I went to a hostel in the city and it surprisingly and looked eerily like a brothel. The actors/actress are all friends of mine who fight human-trafficking in different ways.
Hope you guys enjoy and if you do, share it with others!
-Gisella Gutierrez
Here is my final presentation on Western media and the message it sends about thinness as the most (or only) valued body type. More specifically, it shows how the pervasive Western media has affected women of indigenous cultures, such as Samoan women, who in the past have valued a larger body type versus a thin body type.
Enjoy!
-Katie Rider
My media project is about South Korea’s quick and intense adoption of English. English has been mandatory in Korean schools since 1997, and some special economic zones were even set up within the country that are English speaking only. The government implemented various English education programs in order to make their citizenry more competitive in the global market. I examine the causes of “English fever” and what the implications are for globalization, cultural imperialism and cosmopolitanism.
-Rebecca Wills
Marketing Muslim Lifestyle in Magazines (Final Project)
For my final project, I looked at how Muslim women were represented in Muslim women magazines in the United States and the United Kingdom. These magazines serve as a great gateway for understanding the complexities in much of the relevant themes in our class including globalization and hybridity. These magazines including Muslim Girl, Azizah, Sisters, Emel and Alef show how there is an interaction between western consumer culture and Islamic lifestyle. Modesty, in this regard, becomes a form of consumption or it could alternatively become a form of resistance. In a way, these magazines show how the contradictory processes of sameness and difference, cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization and cultural protectionism and cultural imperialism are working simultaneously in the most intricate ways.
-Ahmed C
