Blog – What is Gitlin saying about the streams of rhetoric that pour out of America? Do you agree with him?
Gitilin is saying that America sends out a message of "with us". The kids in Hong Kong may not be able to be American, but they can experience America culture. They can go to Disneyland and eat McDonald's and watch Will Smith in a movie. These people can experience the connection with the most watched media in the world. In this regards, Gitilin says that it is not just because the media is American, but because it is so widely popular. "As devotees of Japanese video games, Hong Kong movies, and Mexican telenovelas would quickly remind us, the blends, juxtapositions, and recommendations of popular culture are not just American. American and American based models styles, and symbols are simply the most far-flung, successful, and consequential". While Gitilin recognizes the importance of the actual characters and settings (like Mickey Mouse and Disnelyand), the most important exported idea from America, according to Gitilin, is the models and ideas. In my experience, this has been true. When I lived in Kenya there were a couple of television channels. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on every night on one channel. Friends was on every night on another. The news, which improved dramatically over the years, kept increasing in similarity to the format that is common in America. Sometimes they would even show political meetings - a format that is American in both democracy and the broadcast of major events. If one wanted movies or music, they could simply walk over to the supermarket and pick up (often boot-legged) copies from the group of teenagers hanging out. The teenagers would often wear clothes that were similar to their teenage counterparts in America - Rocawear, Reebok, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Jordan, etc. Never mind that these clothes were brought at the local market, which imported them from organizations collecting clothes that were heavily worn already. They were wearing those clothes - a stark contrast to the clothing of other Kenyans.
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While many of the same ideas were presented in other people's blogs, I found yours to be especially entertaining for two main reasons. The first was that you did not seem to really state an opinion for or against what was happening, but rather stated that it was happening and that's that. Second, your own personal experience from Kenya greatly shed a more personal light on the exportation of American media. In a place as far off and some would believe culturally different than America, the local people still prized American goods and shows so much that they would buy heavily worn clothing or have a channel devoted to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Though many similar blogs depicted the same ideas, yours was able to give a larger message due to the personal connection within it, good job.
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