Reader Response Draft 2

In the article of "Globalisation of Culture Through the Media", Kraidy (2002) has evaluated the highly debated issue on cultural imperialism and its alternatives. He mentions about a debate if the West is unfairly imposing their culture on Asian countries through the media. The inequality of the flow of information exists and is due to initiation of new media technologies intensify the debate. Kraidy (2002) stated that globalisation is seen to be a better alternative than cultural imperialism as it depicts the ever-changing complex environment which includes the different stakeholders would weaken individual nation’s cultural unity.

In the article, Kraidy (2002) stated the different views of how free flow of information is more advantageous to the Western countries.

This is mainly due to the difference in the values and priorities held by Asian countries and the Western countries. For example, in the film-making industries, there have been clearly more bans in Asian countries such as Singapore and China as compared to western countries such as America. Majority of the reasons that these movies were banned was due to explicit and controversial images, violence and ideas that threatened the Asian’s more conservative values. With the promotion of free flow of information, this would encourage more Asian countries to lift movie bans and censorships facilitating the flow of information from the Western countries to Asian countries. This may seem to be advantageous to the West, as this would allow movies to not be restricted in anyway, allowing it to be marketed globally. However, I beg to differ.

The flow of information neutral and goes both ways, with the increased flow of information, Asian culture would be able to extend its influence and be encouraged in the West instead. Successful Asian classics such as Akira and Godzilla has been adapted and remade in the Western film-making scene. This may in turn help promote and strengthen Asian culture on a long-term basis. Therefore, it is one-sided to think that the free flow of information would only help expand the West influence on Asian countries. 

Reference:

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization Through the Media. Retrieved from

http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers 

Krai